Whew, January flew by. I've started a king-size for our daughter. This time it is a simple design, not like our son's beach scene. She wanted subway tiles in graduated shades of taupe. She wasn't sure about the quilting so I made two cushion covers, one with plain lines and the other with the panto called Dazzle. I'll post photos next time. Right now, I'm cutting out bricks (430 or so) that are 9.5" x 3.5" and have already dulled one rotary cutter blade, never mind what this is doing to my muscles (or lack thereof)!
It isn't the most fascinating design, but she also asked for another Celtic applique to go with this one... A relaxing easy stitch.
I also started a twin-size for a friend. It will be like this only bigger and in peach, yellow, green instead of pink. The fabrics are similar but different colors. This pink one is a table runner that I whipped up for a charity auction. To my surprise, it was fought over.
When a friend suggested blue sashing for these red slabs, I cringed. I've never like red/blue combinations unless it was jeans and a cowboy shirt. In this case, the reds are fairly bright and the blues are loud, loud. However, I didn't have anything else in my stash so gave it a shot. When the top was done, I was not overly impressed, so decided to add a piano key border, partly because that would make it big enough for a Quilt of Valour. I had just enough scraps left to do it. Here is the result...
Now I changed my mind about red and blue, not because of the particular values, hues, etc. but because of the balance. The top had too much blue yelling at me, but adding those keys toned down the blue and gave red the prominence. Balance is another thing to think of when making a quilt.
This photo is the top. I've cut strips for the binding, blue and a bit of red. The backing is a wild pieced thing with almost all my red scraps from that scrap bin plus some blue/red plaids.
The bin has a few little pieces left and one that is about 8" x 10" so I am happy with that. Of course, my stash still has reds, but bigger pieces, not scraps.
Whew, January flew by. I've started a king-size for our daughter. This time it is a simple design, not like our son's beach scene. She wanted subway tiles in graduated shades of taupe. She wasn't sure about the quilting so I made two cushion covers, one with plain lines and the other with the panto called Dazzle. I'll post photos next time. Right now, I'm cutting out bricks (430 or so) that are 9.5" x 3.5" and have already dulled one rotary cutter blade, never mind what this is doing to my muscles (or lack thereof)! 
