Thursday 14 April 2016

creative mission 101



There's a lot of comfort isn't there
 in sticking with those now so familiar, low volume/neutral fabrics for backgrounds, yes?




... and I was going use my leftover lights to fill in the gaps with my latest WiP 
but suddenly that felt, and looked, a bit boring to me!


I did start out with a pattern this time around. It was in pastels (which looked lovely, and was what first attracted me to the pattern!) (go figure!) But I really wanted to use my new selection of VFW brights for this, so I changed a few elements, slowly, one at a time, just trying to make it mine I guess.The problem was that everything was still looking very bright to me, sans the light backgrounds, so what to do?

Thank goodness for a design wall!
This week I've focused more on playing with the values, looking for good contrast. Initially, I was also trying to use everything in my fat 1/4 bundle, but after lots of unpicking, and reshuffling, & even more cutting out, I've fine tuned it a bit. I think I may, just slowly, be getting somewhere now! I'm adding a few pieces of quieter fabrics in here & there to lighten things, without dominating, and I think I'll make the outer edges of more of those hexis more medium/darks.



Still very much a WiP, but have a little look... 



... and there's still a few gaps, still a bit of reshuffling to do,
still lots more sewing of course
but finally, I'm feeling really excited about this!




8 comments:

gayle said...

Much livelier and more 'you', I think! It looks to me like 'when in doubt, throw in some plaid' could be a good rule to follow. 8)

Maryse said...

Great background, it's perfect, love that plaid!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it funny how you can fiddle about for ages with a project, the suddenly it all falls into place!

Rachaeldaisy said...

It's looking wonderful!! It's great when you get that right combo to give a project that exciting spark.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you Rachael. Yes, I’ve been quite keen on trying to use more plaid lately, but it doesn’t always fit in so easily! I think it was Kathy from Material Obsession/Australia who said “plaid is my new black” :)

Mystic Quilter said...

Looking good Linda!! Pleased you decided to go with the plaid and your fussy cutting really showcases what can be done with these fabrics.

pandchintz said...

Looking good, Linda!! Fussy cutting looks great.

Nifty Quilts said...

Yea! It looks great. That plaid did the trick.