Process Post - Asterisks

I know!  Four posts in a single weekend!  *gasp*  But, I promised to show off more of my process, and there's no time like the present, particularly when a sweet, but demanding two year old is off with Grandma!

Well, this is invariably the beginning of any quilt (that involves any real planning) for me: a basic black and white sketch, with notes about what colors I want to use, some basic size ideas, and what inspired this particular sketch.

                        

As clearly stated by the second image, I was inspired by a purchase of Omnigrid's new Flip-N-Cut Magic Templates.  The link leads to Set 4, but all the sets are the same templates, just in different sizes.  I think I bought Set 3.  

Once I cracked open my templates, I realized that the scale of my vision would have to be reduced drastically, if I didn't want to buy another set of templates, which I don't, teehee.  Nor do I really want to go exchange the things, mainly because I no longer have the receipt.  I've also become quite content with the idea of this becoming a mini-quilt, anyway.  I need some pretty stuff to put on my walls.

I was also inspired by the colors I used in my Modify Tradition Quilt, Modern Beauty: aqua, orange, yellow, lime green.  I wrote in to add pink, for a little more in the way of brightness, to contrast against the (intended) gray of the asterisks.  

I intend on recycling the borders I had planned on using on Modern Beauty, but I have to take them apart, so that I can intersperse the other colors.  The borders are comprised of the yellow and aqua fabrics from the arcs of the New York Beauty blocks, sized 1" X 3".  It's a nice size, perfect for the templates I have (I think).  

The color of the asterisks may morph into a cherry red...  I dropped the red fabric that I've been using in Japanese Disco on top of the borders, and really liked the way it popped off the blue and yellow, so I'll be doing some test pieces.  Who knows?  This could work out to be a whole series of asterisk based quilts.

And now, just to give myself a sense of perspective, so that I'm motivated to clean my sewing room before I get to sewing some more...  My list of quilts in progress:

• Sandi's Family & Friends Baskets
• Japanese Disco
• Asterisks
• Flying Geese III
• Blockade Scrap Quilt (from my LiveJournal Birthday Block Swap)

Yup, definitely time to tame the sewing room before I start up my sewing machine.  I won't show off pictures - I'm too ashamed.  Between my creative fits, and and Zeb playing, it's a disaster.

MMMQG Meeting - June 18, 2010

We met at Tea and Textiles, a wonderful quilt shop in Jefferson (sorry, no website).  I am totally in love with this store!  The owner is older, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the selection of fabrics on the shelves.  Food themed fabrics are clearly popular - I spotted French fries, raspberries, and chili peppers, to name a few.  I'm pretty much 'meh' on the whole subject of novelty prints, but I understand that some people just love them to death.  But anyway, Tea and Textiles has, by far, the best selection of bright fabrics that I've seen in a while.

Unfortunately, this particular Saturday, only three of us got together: Sandi of Piecemeal Quilts, Cheryl of Cheryl's Chatelaine, and myself.  Sandi and I showed Cheryl some paper-piecing, though Sandi is a far better teacher than I ever will be ;)

I brought a plenty to do...  I had intended to finish Block 12 of Sandi's Basket Blocks, and got through the handle - or so I thought.  Somehow, I had print and cut two of the same half of the basket handle.  Thankfully, it took a simple flip-flop of a single piece to make it all better, but that pretty much took the wind out of my sails for that particular project.

Tucking that out of the way, I decided, "Fine, I'll piece the sashing strips for setting the basket blocks."  That went well.  For the most part.  In showing Cheryl paper-piecing a square in a square, I decided to use the scraps from my sashing strips.  Then, silly me, I set that square-in-a-square next to a sashing strip.  My brain went on a creative tangent and said, "THIS IS A QUILT!!"

I quickly auditioned white, to sash the square-in-a-square blocks with, and decided it was too harsh.  Sandi made the brilliant suggestion that it needed something more silver-y, and we headed back to the sales floor.  She pulled out a bolt that we both loved, a gray paisley.  It was pretty, but not right - too dark.  However, just a few bolts down was a bolt of Michael Miller's Mirror Dots in a silver-y print.  It was perfect!  I'm going to fussy cut the Mirror Dots, so that there's a full line of dots in the sashing, but that's gotta happen after I was the fabric.

The quilt, unfinished as it is, already has a name!  "Japanese Disco".  Cheryl made the comment that the sashing strips looked like obi from kimono (if I remember right, lol), and Sandi said that the Mirror Dots gave it a disco look.  So, "Japanese Disco".  I hurried up and borrowed a pen from the shop owner and sketched out my idea, so that I would have a record of it.

The Mirror Dots was actually my second purchase of the day at Tea and Textiles.  After lunch, which was an awesome burger at a place called Urban's, Sandi and I did some shopping.  First, I thought I would buy a print that incorporated asterisks, to go along with the beginnings of a mini-quilt that's been burning in my brain for a couple of weeks.  But then I put the fabric along side the stacked coin strips I have pieced already, and it was just too white.  (I'll go into more detail about "Asterisks" in a later post, when I have more to show for it.)

So, I put the bolt of asterisk print back and wandered some more.  I kept getting drawn back to this wonderful print of simplified flowers.  What kept drawing me was not only the great graphic sense I got  from the fabric, but the unusual color combinations: robin's egg blue, burnt umber, deep orange, cobalt blue, kelly green, cream... I was in love, and after going back to look at it a third time, I decided to buy it.  Then, I had to get some solids - this fabric needed solids to ground, yet uplift it.  I picked up some Kona cotton in a robin's egg blue, and another in a burnt umber.  The solids are just a couple of shades off of those in the main fabric, but they're perfect because they don't match perfectly.  They give just a bit more interest:

These three fabrics will end up being a Flying Geese quilt (Edit: Now titled' Escapees'), because I love that print, so much!  However, I'm totally stuck on the idea of adding a green solid, to border in the print before adding the strips of Flying Geese.