Sunday, May 27, 2012

Taking shape

Blue kyoto garden 2012-05-24

I was back in the garden again today but got a bit of sewing done late last week.  The pattern is Kyoto Garden by Judy Martin. I’ve sewn enough of each unit in the quilt to start getting an idea of how it will look.  The picture in the book is lovely but my random blues are a very different colorway and much less planned so I was impatient to see units come together. The plan for now is to make the quilt 3x4 stars, and perhaps use a plainer pieced border than the intricate one in the original pattern.

Back in high school I went to yearbook photography camp.  The first thing we were asked to do was shoot a whole roll of film in 30 minutes.  Being used to snapping the shutter very selectively because every snap cost film and developing, this was quite a challenge but it taught me to just jump in and take pictures willy-nilly.  I think I need the equivalent class for scrap quilting.  Even just using all blues, I’m taking much too long sorting my fabrics and trying to place them just so, with not too much light  together, or too similar, or too clashing… I suspect I’m even going to lay out all the units on the wall and move several around before I start sewing them all together.  Isn’t scrappy supposed to be random?  Perhaps this is the quilt that will help me let go a little, like that photography class.

6 comments:

  1. It's beautiful already! But I completely understand your problem with scrap quilting - I do the same thing and have had to force myself to just accept things. You'll get there and you've got a good plan to let this quilt challenge you to work on it. I look forward to seeing what you decide to do for borders. I'm sure it will be spectacular!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have that same problem with scrap quilts...or even ones that are jelly roll and charm packs where you just put them down and they flow on their own...I try to control.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't do scrap either I just help making it match !! Yours is lookig great though I love all the blues. I also love your header to your blog, I'm off to read old posts to see if i can find it ;)Karen xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like how it's turning out, but I understand your dilemma, too. I can't to random very well either.

    Liri

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't think that scrap quilts have to be particularly random. Scrap quilts are made with "scraps". Some blocks/patterns lend themselves to have scrap pieces "pulled out" and stitched together randomly. I think the most difficult task of making scrap quilts, is getting it all organized. Lights in one pile/bag/box and darks in another. Sometimes I pull out a light, and a dark, and they are too close together, I just drop one back in, and grab another.

    But you have made a start, and that is the first step! I like the blues.

    -Alice

    ReplyDelete
  6. So you're a slective scrapper? Me too. I always start out random but pretty soon the need for carefully co-ordinated scrappiness takes over! Your quilt is looking terrific. ann :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting. I truly appreciate your comments and will try to reply to comments by email if your commenting staus is not set to "no-reply".

If you have a question, emailing me directly at joanne@canuckquilter.com will ensure I have your address to respond. I promise I will not share your email address and I will not use it for any purpose other than replying to your message.