‘Booooorrrriiing!’ my best friend Jens said, when I said ‘pillowcase’ in reply to his question what I intended to do with this lovely deer panel. He said a pillowcase would not do it justice. Uhm, OK, then... Boring indeed. Pah!
Some back story
At the beginning of the very beginning of last year checked a few of the Finish-A-Long lists of fellow quilters to see what UFOs they had in mind finishing. June, a fellow bee at Stash Bee that year, had quite a few interesting projects on her to-do-list.
Among others there was a picture of this wonderful deer panel, which June hoped to transform into a finished pillowcase or… uhm…– June, say what did you have originally in mind for the deer? =) Anyway, I left a comment complimenting on the deer and also said half-jokingly that I would happily give the deer a home on my couch if she did not want it anymore upon completion.
This was around the time when I asked for help with the cancer relief Polaroid photo quilt. June jumped to my aide and one fine day in February when her Polaroid photo blocks arrived on my door step, what should fall out of the envelope as well? - the lovely deer panel. Since then the deer bid its time. Once the pillowcase idea was off the table other ideas started slowly developing.
I have wanted to make a quilt for my friend Jens for quite some time now. It was just not easy to settle on a design. Some of the things I really like he though horrid and when we checked for what he might like, I was in for a few surprises. We did not settle on anything but the wish to make him a quilt quietly simmered on the backburner of my mind. And the deer panel would go into that quilt just because - 'boring' - you know? =)
So what design then?
This has been a fairly long decision making process as I simply could not decide what design to go for with this quilt. I had the fabrics all pulled since forever but have changed my mind two dozen times as what to make with them.
Finally, I settled for a simple design of divisible squares of 10 x 10, 5 x 5 and 2.5 x 2.5 inches. The design, although it might be so basic it does not need a name or goes by two dozen monikers, has been dubbed ‘Penny Patch Quilt’ by Rachel Hauser @ Stitched in Color and you can see many pretty versions if you search online using that term.
The main idea for my quilt was to compliment the fabulous ‘Deer’ block. Therefore, my main colours are orange and blue combined with low volume prints and unobtrusive amounts of red. The contrast colour is dark blue and the pop colours were burnt orange and violet. All those fabrics make a fabulous impression together.
I cut my pieces and sewed my little ‘Penny Patches’ and arranged them together for the first time and … do not like it. It looks too busy, too overwhelming and smothers the deer. So I hope it is not one of these great-in-principle experiences that kind of crash and burn when you try them for real.
Back to the cutting table it is, this time reaching for a lot of white to create breathing space for the deer. I hope this will help to calm things down.
In case you wondered, that pretty deer block is a foundation paper pieced block designed by the super talented Julianna GÄ…siorowska of 'Sewing Under Rainbow'. It is called 'Not so spring Deer' and can be downloaded for free (!) on Julianna's Craftsy page.
I link up with 'Let's Bee Social'
Finally, I settled for a simple design of divisible squares of 10 x 10, 5 x 5 and 2.5 x 2.5 inches. The design, although it might be so basic it does not need a name or goes by two dozen monikers, has been dubbed ‘Penny Patch Quilt’ by Rachel Hauser @ Stitched in Color and you can see many pretty versions if you search online using that term.
The main idea for my quilt was to compliment the fabulous ‘Deer’ block. Therefore, my main colours are orange and blue combined with low volume prints and unobtrusive amounts of red. The contrast colour is dark blue and the pop colours were burnt orange and violet. All those fabrics make a fabulous impression together.
I cut my pieces and sewed my little ‘Penny Patches’ and arranged them together for the first time and … do not like it. It looks too busy, too overwhelming and smothers the deer. So I hope it is not one of these great-in-principle experiences that kind of crash and burn when you try them for real.
Back to the cutting table it is, this time reaching for a lot of white to create breathing space for the deer. I hope this will help to calm things down.
I link up with 'Let's Bee Social'