You spin me right round, baby

 

Confession #1: I keep putting off writing this post because I want to talk a little about the process of how I got to this design, and I knew it would lengthy knowing me and my tendency towards verbiage, nevermind my proclivity for runon sentences, ha!

Confession #2: I have a terrible affinity for 80s pop, hence the working title of this quilt (and this post!) Apologies to those of you who end up with the tragically hip Dead or Alive's ditty rotating in their noggin for the rest of the day!

 

 

So, I had this plan (famous last words!) to come up with a quilt design to use up some jelly rolls, but I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted something quick and easy and effective, using strips. I considered doing a 1600/ jelly roll race -type quilt (I had no idea these quilts had a name back when I made some little snuggly quilts this way for the kids way back in 2008..pre blog. And pre precuts, ha. Note to self - photograph those, too!) but I wanted something more, so then I considered maybe doing a 1600 quilt but adding a thin line of solid to the 1 long line of strips so that it would end up alternating rows of jelly roll and thin solid. But that still seemed more lineal than I was aiming for. So I started thinking about manipulating it into a shape - maybe squares or rectanlges...and then I thought maybe I should marry that idea with the thin solid strip idea with the 1600 idea...and this is where I went with it!

 

And...I'm not sure. I really like the concept of the block, but I'm just not sure about colour execution here. The jelly roll I used is Ann Kelle's Remix which is full of gorgeous patterns and beautiful happy colours. I seriously considered using something like Kona Charcoal as the solid to give it a bit more grounding but I wanted to stretch myself by using a colour. I'm wondering if it is just way too busy? Maybe quilting it will tame it a little, I don't know. And I am planning to sash the blocks with the same width green tea, or possibly a smidge wider, so that might help calm things a little. What do you think?

I only had enough of the Kona Green Tea to make 4 blocks (more just arrived on my doorstep yesterday!) so I am trying to decide how I feel about it and whether I want to make more! I really like the pattern idea though so either way i think I'll be trying it again in a different colourway with a different jellyroll, and maybe I can even rummage up a tutorial, once we get a combination that doesn't make your eyes smart!

Comments

[Mandy]

Yep that song is stuck in my head already! That's ok, I like it & love 80's music too! Live on the stuff! Quilt is looking good! Nice fabrics too!

[Ady]

Haha - I'm an 80's girl too and this will play happily in my head all day now. :-D Love the quilt blocks. the fabrics are gorgeous.

[cas]

wow, i think those blocks are gorgeous :) full of lovely colour & the green works beautifully. look forward to seeing the end result :)

[Jolie]

Thank you! Im definitely warming to it being workable...its busy, but thats not always a bad thing, right? hahaha

[Jolie]

thank you - I adore these fabrics, too!

[Jolie]

Thanks!....I spent the weekend with Radar Love on repeat in my head...oh man, why is it only ever the 80s? hahaha