A week or so back I asked you all for your thoughts on the layout of what I’d started or the Modern Quilt Guild’s Michael Miller Fabric Challenge. I got loads of opinions and ideas and I appreciated them all! I was truly stuck on this one!
One comment from a new friend seriously turned a light bulb on in my head…
“Reverse 4: lighter blocks at the top, going down to the heavier ones”
From there…things went much more smoothly!
I’m not sure if you noticed but my original block was this one…
Fairly early on in the project, I realized the green corners were just not going to work with what I had for fabrics to work with.
The deconstruction of this Dutch Rose started from block one. Above, you can see that one corner is missing…
A new grey corner is in it’s place now…
And the final block – doesn’t it look completely different with grey corners instead of lime green!?
I did some more block deconstructing.
This one just wasn’t working for me. I’m an engineer at heart and all this asymmetry was bothering me enough…this was just too out there for me. I pulled the random chunks out and replaced them with grey…
This was the final block…
And here was my final layout…
With the weight of the blocks in mind…a whole new concept was formed. I waited patiently for my mother-in-law to finish her lunch and then I dragged her to the design wall to analyze it with me. I did want to add a little more width to the quilt since I thought the 48” x 72” was just a bit too long and skinny for my taste. As I was pulling out border options…the three strips on the side just happened. We both stepped back and thought…hey, that’s sort of cool. I went with it. It sort of reminds me of a book now too.
I sent the quilt off to my aunt, Barb Raisbeck of Quilts by Barb for quilting. All that solid just made me feel panicky…I was leaving this one up to the professional. She put on a linear, bubbly, tree-esque design. So cool!
I also had her put a back on it and I’m loving this gray modern log cabin-esque printed fabric. A perfect fit for the back!
Another view of the book binding border…
And here is ‘Deconstructed Dutch Rose’ in all it’s glory! I bound it in a dark solid grey. I was tempted to add a lip of green but I refrained…I’m thinking modern is more about ‘less is more’ rather than ‘more is more is more…’ my typical motto.
Pieced by: Kim Lapacek, PersimonDreams
Professional Long Arm Quilting: Barb Raisbeck, Quilts by Barb
Inspiration: Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller Fabric Challenge
Dimensions: 55.5” x 73.5”
What a fun concept for a quilt! I found you through the Crazy Mom Quilts link-up!
It's so amazing to me what everyone is coming up with for the MQG challenge! I finished my project this week too if you'd like to check it out. Your blocks are definitely more complicated that what I went for in the end! I love the grey you put with the prints!
This quilt is so interesting to me because I like to for the colors and concept and don't like it because those unfinished blocks are driving me crazy! Haha. I do like how you changed the blocks with the green–it was overly distracting I think. Beautiful finish!
This is lovely! I think you pieced it wonderfully and your Aunt did lovely quilting.
This looks really fab! I love the idea of deconstructing it, and the quilting has really brought it to life. Great work and a lesson to us all to break the rules and try new things!
Interesting. Thanks for giving your thought process in developing your quilt. I like the strips on the side – something I would have tried putting on both sides but truthfully that would have messed it up. They belong on one side.
Less is more in this case. I like how the block turned out
I especially like how we can all learn when you share your whys
Thank you for talking about your process. Being a math major and a computer programmer for years and years, I can understand your frustration. I laugh at the term "deconstruct." Yes, you do deconstruct and then you reconstruct, too. You can tell I'm anal about stuff. At my quilt guild's show one of the vendor supplied sewing machines for our classes. The sales lady who was helping us get ready for the class said something and I told her I know I'm anal about stuff. She said she was glad to hear me say that – it was progress. I told her I had always known that. That quilt shop used to offer a block of the month where you bought the first block for $x and then if you had that month's block finished and you listen to their hype about what was new at the shop, you got the pattern and the fabric for the next month's block "free." We usually did not have enough fabric for the block and it was always the customer's fault that we didn't have enough fabric. After two years of frustration with that, I dropped out and don't go there any more. You could go get the fabric – of course, a trip when you didn't plan to go and they would dig in the washing machine of scraps to get the smallest piece possible to give you the absolute smallest amount. They always told me and my friend we were the only ones who had a problem. That wasn't the grumble at the monthly meetings. So, you can tell I'm anal. I love your quilt and glad you stuck with it. I miss my mom – we used to sew even by phone long before we had PC's. My mother-in-law was not crafty at all. I'm glad you are surrounded by crafty people – that sure helps to have support and ideas.