Friday, April 24, 2009

A New Project: "The Road Less Traveled" . . .

Several of us are getting together at the Temecula Quilt Company on Monday mornings and working on "The Road Less Traveled." A quilt designed by Lori Smith. It is a very scrappy quilt made up of blocks in several different sizes--a good skill builder. Oh gee, I know, I need another project like. . . well, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. lol.

I am making these blocks in a series of component parts. Today's block is basically a nine-patch after the component parts are sewn.

Notice the huge difference in the two photos above and below, and all that changed was the center square.

Working this way gives me the opportunity to 'audition' the different colors and values and how they work together. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and these are the pics I took while rearranging some of the block elements.

The two component elements I changed were the center squares and the outside half-triangle corner squares.

It made a HUGE difference in a couple of the blocks. . . others, it didn't matter much.

I am happy with the last two units below, so will sew them together into blocks. There are a total of 10 blocks in this row, so I will continue making more component parts, auditioning them, and finally sewing into completed blocks. Also, working this way is faster--in the long run--as there is no 'laboring' over color choices. Following a suggestion by our teacher Linda, I chose to begin with these QSTs units. To begin, only make three choices: b/g, star point, and what I'm calling my 'zinger'. After that, deciding what to put in the center and finally the corners was easy.

I found this exercise very interesting in regard to color and value placement. I will do this again; it was time well spent. My camera has become an important quilting tool! *vbg*
All for now. . . thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting concept... love all the blocks! I wish I was closer to be able to take these fabulous classes with you. Great job Cyn:-)

Hugs,
Elaine in SLO, Ca

Cathi said...

It's amazing what one sees in a picture that we might not see looking at something in "person", so to speak. I've learned to take photos of fabric combinations and then look at the photos on the computer screen before I start.
Digital cameras are a fabulous tool!

Elly D said...

They look beautiful Cyn! :-D Those CW fabrics are just soooo.. incredible!! Just love them all.
huggies, Elly

Karen said...

Great blocks. Sometimes we just have to start a new project! :)