Autry Square - November 2014 BOM

I do not like this, Wilted-quilt

I do not like this on a train
I do not like this in the rain
I do not like it in the snow
I would not quilt a tic-tac-toe

I will eventually post a photo showing all of the blocks together. It will then become obvious that this square stands out like a sore thumb. Look at the photo of Marti Michell's quilt in 2104 BOM - Secret Garden (January 2014) to get a better idea. Hers is actually not as bad because she has more uniformity of color to tie the blocks together, and the crossbars tie in nicely with the sashing. That will not happen with my quilt top because the sashing is green and dark gray.

Lessons learned:

1) If you don't like a block, why not substitute another block?

2) Over-substitution of fabrics might solve one problem, but can create another problem when the squares don't have enough in common.

Kodiak Star - October 2014 BOM

I made a lot of substitutions this month. I am writing this several months later and can't remember what I was thinking. I assume I didn't like the fabrics in the BOM package. 

As it turns out, I don't like the lack of contrast between the inner star and the inner purple diamond. It is one thing to lay out pieces after they are cut and shuffle them around. It is another thing to be able to visualize the piece before you have cut anything.It is also important to think about how a fabric which seems to be black may give you large light-colored areas when it has been cut.

The July 2015 post shows what the typical instructions for a block look like. They are black and white, and the different fabrics are shown by using different designs, which may not be anything like what you are working with. I think you could get some idea of the finished piece by holding adjacent fabrics next to each other and trying really hard to visualize the finished piece. I was more focused on how the totality of fabrics in the block worked together.

Alternatively, I think if you followed Marti Michell's suggested fabrics consistently you would get a very nice result. That is difficult to do in this BOM program when fabrics are switched out all the time. One month a certain fabric is B, the next month it is D and a new fabric is used as B.

Lessons learned:

Stick with the tones/patterns suggested in the instructions or used in your model (if you are like me).

OR

Spend a lot of time thinking about, visualizing, and holding fabrics next to each other before cutting (if you like to be creative and don't like to follow directions).

Shutterbug - September 2014 BOM

Yes, it does remind me of the lens of a camera. I like the motion and the three-dimensionality of this one. I think this is my favorite block in the 2014 BOM series.

Crazy Anna - August 2014 BOM

Different block, same story. Too many fabrics, not enough contrast. I do like the way the black star design stands out.

Bloom Where You Are Planted - July 2014 BOM

Twenty! Make that twenty different fabrics. I bought two new ones to use as substitutes. I wasn't liking the fabrics provided in the kit.
 
I bought a purple floral and a green basket-weave.  You'll notice that the green basket-weave is the same pattern as the white basket-weave used for the background.

I really like the way this one turned out. It's brighter and it has better contrast. I think that makes the design of the block stand out better. It almost looks 3-dimensional, like a series of squares laid on top of one other. 

I am also very happy with the way the center pinwheel turned out. That's one of the things I wouldn't have known how to do without Marti Michell's instructions.

Hole in the Wall - June 2014 BOM

Another month, another BOM, another fabric. We're halfway through the year and we're up to 18 different fabrics. Maybe 19?

A new fabric showed up this month. It's also in the corners of the green square. Can't say that I like it.

For some types of quilts, that many fabrics would look great. I don't like it for a sampler quilt. You've already got 12 different blocks. You need something to unify it.

I don't have any life lessons to share this month. I guess that's good . . .?

Ladies Sashay - May 2014 BOM

Here is the extremely pale green fabric from March in the center, and barely detectable in the outer corners. I didn't fussy-cut it. I was just lucky that the piece I got actually looks like something.

The extremely pale yellow fabric is new. It's not the same as the yellow used in April. It looks pretty good next to the black pinwheels. I'm not sure it works next to the grey.

There are two new versions of the snakeskin. Despite the directionality, I like the snakeskin, though I would not have chosen the grey. At least I got the "stripes" going in alternating directions insted of that awkward 3-and-1 thing from last month. Since you are only given a small piece to work with, I don't think it would be possible to cut these so that all of the stripes are going in the same direction on the finished block. 

It actually looks correct on the grey snakeskin pieces because all of the stripes run crosswise rather than lengthwise on their pieces. With the pink snakeskin triangles the orientation of the stripes is a little jarring.

I think the points turned out quite nicely. :) Now I'm just gonna sashay on out of here.

Lesson learned:

If you think something is too pale (I'm talking to you, light green triangles), just go ahead and substitute something else. It is likely to be an improvement.

Waring Square - April 2014 BOM

I don't have that much to say about this month's block. I used a lot of my coral pinwheel substitute fabric on this one.

I'll be interested to see whether any future kits this year will contain any of the yellow, pink or pastel blue fabric that was in the April kit.

Lesson Learned:

Iron your block before photographing it.

Nesting Ducklings - March 2014 BOM

The learning curve is still here!

The four pink triangles in the outer corners are made from a single piece of fabric. Because of the pattern on the fabric I ended up with one triangle with dots, two with spirals and one with V's and dots. I didn't have any extra fabric to fussy-cut, so I had to make do with the fabric that came in the kit.

I think the pink fabric would be really pretty if you used it in a quilt that only had a few different fabrics and if the pink was used a lot. It doesn't work if the pink is only used a tiny bit and there are lots of fabrics a lot of the fabrics are similar. 

Which brings me to my next point. Here we have a close-up of the fabric used for the eight pinkish triangles in the center square. 

I'm going to call it "snakeskin" so it will be easier to follow along. I have no idea what it is really called. I believe this snakeskin fabric was provided in the kit. I liked it, but it turned out not to work as well as I expected.

The eight snakeskin triangles don't contrast very much with the four outer pink triangles. Luckily, the contrast is a little stronger in good light than it appears in the photo. 

The snakeskin also turns out to be a fabric that does not work so well if you have too much else going on and you are using very small pieces of it.
 
But, the bigger problem with the snakeskin triangles is the directionality of the print. I didn't realize this issue until later. When I first started working with the snakeskin, I "saw" an interesting swirl of colors and some dots. I didn't "see" that the dots formed parallel lines until much later. By that time, I had finished the block without realizing that I had three of the larger triangles going vertically and one going horizontally. That is not the look I was aiming for.

Finally, I'm not thrilled with the inner light green squares. I think it is a beautiful print, but the scale of the print is too large for the scale of the piecing, and the color is so pale that there is not enough contrast with the white background pieces.

Lessons Learned:
1. Avoid directional prints. There won't always be an obvious stripe, so look at the pattern carefully.
2. Avoid small-scale patterns if they only repeat on a large scale, such as the pink fabric.
3. Avoid large-scale patterns, such as the light green. You lose the design when you cut it up into small pieces.
4. Avoid low-contrast fabrics, especially when they are going to be touching.

Mexicali Rosie - February 2014 BOM

Here is the second 2014 BOM. I have already substituted some of the fabric. I think I threw out the little color pictures they give us to show the placements for your particular color run after I finished the blocks, but I have a pretty good idea which fabrics I substituted. It really matters whether you follow the little picture because you only get enough fabric to do it the way it is in the picture. If you want to do something different, you have to use your own fabric.

The coral pinwheel fabric is one that I bought to use for substitutions. It is the same design as the black pinwheels, but with very different colors.

The "kit" came with two different black prints.

I thought they were way too similar, especially if they were going to be placed next to each other, so I used the coral pinwheel fabric instead of the second black print.

I do not like the grey fabric in the corners. It doesn't go well with the other prints. It is similar to a Fossil Fern print, but with Baroque damask-style curlicues, and it looks out of place to me, both in terms of color and design. I will not be using it again.

Except for the grey, I am very pleased with this block.

Five Geese Flying - January 2014 BOM

Here is my first block for the year.

Ignore the dark sashing on the sides.

Note the white fabrics

There are two different white fabrics. One has a faint basket-weave print, and one has a random curved line print. The contrast is so subtle that the difference between the two fabrics is barely noticeable. It doesn't seem worth the effort of using both fabrics. If I were to do this project again, I would substitute something here.

I also feel that the values of the geese triangles don't work. Except for the black ones, they all should have been darker. The central square should have been something with a medium value. With this arrangement you don't "get" the geese. in addition, I'm not sure how they came up with "five" geese.

Lesson learned: Start substituting and re-arranging with the very first BOM block, even if you don't have any idea what the other blocks are going to look like. Follow your instincts. You may also choose to follow the general tones suggested by Marti Michell in the black and white instructions. In addition to her good use of contrast, she uses fewer fabrics, and I think this leads to a more cohesive result.

2014 BOM - Secret Garden

I am writing the blog posts for 2014 in 2015. I will backdate them so that the whole thing ends up in (reverse) chronological order. 

Read my January 2015 post, BOMS Away, for more background on the BOM program.

This year's BOM quilt is called Secret Garden, and it's from Marti Michell.  I chose the batik color run. It consisted of  mostly pastel fabrics, with a black print for the accent color. I decided to change out some of the fabrics, and I will note my changes as we go along - if I can remember them.

The blocks are 5-patch blocks. The patterns use Marti Michell's Perfect Patchwork Templates, Sets M and S.

I will write about this more at the end, but I want to mention the sashing, as it shows up in the photos. I don't like it that much. Try to ignore it for now. 

This is what Marti Michell's finished quilt looks like. Of course, when you are in the BOM class, you don't get to see the finished quilt until you are fairly far along.

BOMs Away

One of the fun things I have been doing is taking a "class" called Saturday Sampler. It is a Block of the Month (BOM) program sponsored by one of our local quilt shops.

You pay $35 to sign up for the class. It's once a month. The owner will have 4 or 5 color runs to choose from at the beginning of the year.  You don't really know what the finished quilt will look like until farther along in the year, when finishing instructions are passed out. What you do know is that you will make twelve different squares, thus creating a "sampler" quilt.

Each month you get a package with instructions and fabric for that month's block. You only get the package if you show up in person and bring last month's square - completely finished. If you know you are going to be out of town, you can reserve a block for yourself by paying $10 before the month you will be gone.

When you go to the class you are treated to wonderful snacks made by the owner's mother. Then you have an opportunity to show your square to the group. It is interesting to see the variations and substitutions that some quilters choose to make. It is also quite interesting to see the differences that can result from the use of different color runs and different placements of dark and light fabrics.

Most of the class time is spent being shown new fabrics and new products. We also hear about current sewing machine specials, quilting retreats, and so forth. It's not really a class. It's more like an infomercial. 

I enjoy this part of the class because I get to see new fabrics and I find out about products I wasn't aware of. For example, one of the recent items was a small rotating cutting mat. I may have seen this in a store before, but I never really thought about how it would be used. Not only did I find out about this, I had the chance to hear what others thought of it. I bought one not long thereafter, and I love it.

So far, the quilt patterns/instructions have come from a company called From Marti Michell. She makes the patterns available to quilt shops only, so you can't get the patterns on your own. The instructions in the patterns are EXCELLENT.

The patterns are designed to be used with various sets of cutting templates sold by From Marti Michell. The templates are nice, but somewhat expensive.  Most of them are designed for very specific quilts, as far as I can tell. If you really knew what you were doing, you could probably use them to create your own squares. She has a log cabin template, however, that is very nice. If you are going to make a log cabin quilt, try to get one.

I have to say that I am not wild about the BOM patterns that come from Marti Michell. Most of them are very traditional. Some are designed for specific fabric that she sells, and it's not the type of fabric I like. (I like batiks and modern fabrics!)

I have a lot more to say, but I'm out of time, so I'll have to finish this later.