What have I been up to...

Okay, honestly I have been doing so much but it largely consists of things I cannot devote 60 minutes to blogging about.  Does that ever happen to you?  You are just so busy DOING that you can't spend any spare time for SHARING?

However, the point of this blog is to document my Doings so I can't just abandon that altogether.  So, here we go, a very short rundown.  A bookmarker so to speak...

I am largely still spending the bulk of my free time sorting through the Modern Low Volume Swap piles and finishing up the last bits of cutting.  While I am finding it very therapeutic and, this may sound weird, fun even, the Mr. is kind of getting sick of this as it is becoming a habit for me to retreat into my sewing room and cut, sort, cut, sort, cut, sort...  

So he made me take time out on Sunday to do a bit of this:

And of course as you can see from the first photo above...Miss O adored the swings.

Plus, all the time spent in my sewing room cutting has allowed my mind to wander and caused me to really fuss over the palette for Peaches & Cream as you may have read in my last post.  I was so frustrated that I pulled a whole separate set of soft pinky girly fabrics, tossed in some osnaburg, and threw this up on my design wall just to PROVE that I could commit to something soft and feminine.  It was like some wicked itch I needed to Get Out of my system.

Thanks to everyone who gave me their feedback on my post about value.  Overall, you each said in your own way Trust Your Heart!  With that in mind my heart really sings when I look at the set of fabrics I finally settled on for Peaches & Cream.

Last, but not least, is this random project using Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt.  I am calling it Distraction as I tend to do a bit here and there as I need mental breaks from other things.  It reminds me of what Mary Fons said during her QuiltCon Lecture (No, I wasn't there, I saw it via Craftsy for Free!) that creating blocks can be like eating little bits of candy?  I'm totally not quoting her exactly as this isn't what she said verbatim, but if you saw the lecture I think you will remember the comment she made.  Anyway...she's right, it is no pressure and has been really helpful to feel productive in between spurts of energy.

Back to cutting fabric and sorting piles.  

What are you all up to?

- rebecca lynne

Value Advice Please!

I always have a struggle with value.  It just isn't something that comes naturally to me when I work with color.  I have enough color theory at the forefront of my brain to intuitively know what colors *match* and what *complements* but even as far back as my studies in college my professor criticized the lack of value in my painting.  He kept saying it looked flat.  I thought it looked spot on and had no idea what he was talking about.  To me - flat looked good.  This is probably why I shied away from color altogether after that experience because it was just safer than defending my preferences for flat.

Option: Flat

When I chose this palette I wanted something soft and muted...but as it sat on my shelf and I worked on other projects around it I wondered if it was a bit flat.  All the colors are largely in the medium range.  I played around with a few layouts via computer and it still reads pretty medium all around.  But, is that what I want?  Does that give me the soft look I want?  Do I have to stick with all mediums?

Option: Flat Different Layout

So I looked in my stash and thought about adding Kona Eggplant.  It would add a dark and pick up some of the purples in the other prints.  

Option: Eggplant & Beige & Peach

The purple really stands out and everything else fades.  It just becomes Dark and Medium.  Plus, it is no longer soft.

Option: Daisy & Beige & Peach

Then I cut the purple and added the Posy Bouquet in Daisy which reads closer to white.  I left in a beigey print.  Still soft, but I missed the depth, maybe warmth, that the purple added.

Option: Eggplant & Daisy & Peach

THEN...I cut out all the beige, left in the peaches because I really do love all of those ranges, kept in the Posy Bouquet in Daisy AND the Kona Eggplant.  

This is where I am now.  I'm leaning towards this last option because it is still sweet, but warm, and tender.  I think I'd use the eggplant sparingly but enough to add depth.  Maybe more cream and less peach?

Clearly I need to mull this over before I cut anything...  I am thinking of adding at least a peak of yellow if not an all yellow binding to really make it that little sweet girly feel I am trying to get.  I tried adding it within the layout and it really popped too much making it a much louder composition than I am going for.

[Miss O pretty much wears all pink with a yellow sweater/hat these days!]

Critique Please?  What are your thoughts?  Which Option and why...or is there something else I haven't considered?

- rebecca lynne

Modern Family Tree: An Echo Bella Quilt Top

As some of you already know, I was working furiously on a very secret project in the beginning of March.  In fact, if you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen this in the works.  

I was doing so much sewing and I couldn't share it!  It was killing me...

I can finally reveal this very special quilt top.  Believe it or not, it is a Modern Family Tree!

For years I have wanted to make my mother-in-law a special quilt.  She is always making quilts for other people and mentioned to me years ago that no one makes quilts for her.  That was when I decided that we just had to make something special for her and I wanted it to relate to our family.  This was in 2008 when I was pregnant with Miss E.  The Mr. and I brainstormed for awhile...a block for each family member, a family tree, a combo, how do we do that, do we pick a fabric for each person, do we pick a style for each person...when finally the Mr. came up with a brilliant idea.  Creating a *key* where each piece of fabric represents a number, then creating a block with each person's birthday worked out in fabric.

Well, the idea was great and I got to work immediately using some really stunning reproduction Civil War prints.  But, I got pregnant again and we had to wait until we found out Miss V's birthday.  Then I worked on it a little more until bam, I was pregnant again!  And same problem...I had to wait to learn Miss O's birthday.

This year when my mother-in-law's milestone birthday was coming up I realized I had to abandon the first quilt top (maybe I'll finish it someday) and begin with new fabrics.  I chose Lotta Jansdotter's Echo and Bella lines because I know my mother-in-law loves them!

Here is the breakdown...

The Mr., shown here in the 2nd row at the end with a blue squidgy star, is the youngest of three.  I am the pink squidgy star...to be cute I decided to make my brother-in-law and I, the "out-laws" if you will, a little off center and in our own row to signify our being married into the family.  And the last row are the five grandchildren in chronological order with the three little Misses at the end shown here with their purple squidgy stars!  If you look closely you will see that Miss O (last block in 4th row) and her Aunt (left furthest block in 2nd row) share the same birthday...different years.  Pretty cool right?

I am so proud of this top because it is really personal without being in your face about its meaning.  Not only that, and clearly I am biased, but I also think it is a pretty gorgeous quilt top.  I can't help but see a little bit of each family member's personality in their individual block.  It was so awesome to collaborate with the Mr. on something so special.  I hope it will give my mother-in-law a great story to tell to people who ask about it.  

I will be using the Ikea Britten Nummer for backing.  

(I love how the written out numbers in the backing fabric will secretly play on the design idea from the top where each fabric symbolizes a number!)  

But, what shall I do for quilting.  Any suggestions?

- rebecca lynne