Monday, January 2, 2012

Design Wall Monday

It's the first Design Wall Monday of 2012. I've always enjoyed Design Wall Monday, even when I didn't regularly participate. There is so much talent here! Thanks Judy for hosting this.

Here's what's on my wall today. The pattern is Weave It To Me  by Black Cat Creations and all of this fabric is from my stash. YEAH!! What a great way to start the new year.


I'm just about half way through piecing the top and I'm really liking it. I cut the fabric Saturday and spent a little time piecing Sunday. I'd love to finish the top today, but we'll see how that works. The pattern is a bit confusing at first, but once I got going, it was fine. I didn't particularly care for the way the pieces were labeled (I thought it was confusing) so I made myself a swatch cheat sheet and remarked them and I was ready to go. 

Other than the background white, this quilt uses fat quarters. Now, I have a couple of yellow stripe fabrics and because of the stripe spacing and me wanting to have them line up, I did have to use more than a fat quarter for those fabrics. Also, this quilt has reminded me that not all fat quarters are created equal. I understand that the 18" x 22" is an approximate, but when a fabric is 18" x 19.75", that's a problem for a quilt like this. I was really glad that most of the fabrics I picked to use were not fat quarters, but rather leftovers from another project. But I digress. Anyway, it's always a good idea to check a pattern to see how much "wiggle room" you have in regards to the fabric requirements. It would be heartbreaking to get to the end of this (or any) project and be short by just a couple of inches. 

I also made another Margarita Sunrise quilt top this past weekend. Click here to see the first one I made, and check out the latest one below.


This isn't quilted yet, but I hope to be able to do that soon. I'd like to have a faster turn around time for my quilts this year than I've had in the past, but we'll see.

I have a question for you all. What are your thoughts on black or grey design wall coverings? As I discussed in this post, I've been making some changes to my design wall and I still haven't covered the wings. I've been waiting to do that until I decide about how to cover the main wall. I've noticed that when taking pictures lately, the blocks often get washed out because of the white background. Of course I'm worried about when I use dark fabric in a quilt and that those would blend in too much if I use a dark background. (See the Margarita Sunrise above.) I just don't know. Thats why I thought maybe a grey would work. I'd appreciate any thoughts you might want to share. Thanks in advance!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.
Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.


3 comments:

marcella said...

Your quilts are looking great! That woven quilt looks like a brain twister to put together. I'm with you on the haphazard sizing of some fat quarters - it's hard when patterns expect the standard size and use every thread and some of the fat quarters are under or the selvedge is particularly wide. I think grey would be really nice for a design wall.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Two super quilts. I think any pre-cut is never the same. As for the design wall - just my opinion - but white helps to hold your fabric colors true - any color will wash out or distort the look of the color of your pieces.

quilary said...

The 'basket weave' quilt is fabulous, especially as it's using up some of your stash. I'd think white would be best, but you could always keep a few metres of a grey to toss up over the wall if you wanted that look for some of your quilts :)