Fits and Starts

I am itching to get those big stack n whack blocks sewn together into a top. Goodness, it's been over a year since I pieced the last one. No wonder I'm getting tired of looking at them on the design wall. I've been hesitating over the fabric for the corner triangles, thinking I want a more blended look but unsure of which of the set-aside fabrics might give me the proper look. Aha! With three experienced quilting friends on their way last month, I decided to let them help me decide. We all agreed that the fabric indicated by the red arrows was the best choice.

So with the string quilt done and in the mail, yesterday I happily got out the fabric, cut my triangles and arranged them around the blocks. To my horror, they looked absolutely awful! Well, this wouldn't be the first time I'd auditioned large pieces of fabric only to find they read totally different when cut to size. Not to worry - I decided that the blue fabric in the star points would work better, do my blending thing. But this time, I only cut a few triangles to try out. It was better, but that blue reads stronger than the blue in the border fabric surrounding each star (contrary to how the photo reads), really fighting for attention rather than playing nicely.

I started leaning towards the green in the other star point. It would have worked, but now the blue star points pulsed more than everything else. Come on guys, don't you know your place in this design???

I finally settled on a slightly darker green in the same family. My subconscious tried reading to me from the quilter's book of rules - Somewhere in my quilting history, I seem to remember someone warning against introducing a new fabric to the mix, that it would stand out and not look right, and initially I had listened instead of trusting my gut reaction to that darker green nowhere else in this quilt.. But now as I tried a few triangles, I could see it matched the intensity of that blue (again, not really reading that way in the picture) and balanced it perfectly, plus played up the green leaves in the other fabrics. I quickly cut the rest of the triangles and sewed them on today, and I am SO pleased with the results. I now feel the quilt is coming together with a nice balance. I hope that continues as I add the alternating vertical strips of border print (the burgundy stripe circling the stars in each block).