Monday, May 20, 2013

Lil' Retro Baby Revisit

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side again!  Such a pleasure to view all the wonderful entries during each quilt show.  For my second entry into the Spring 2013 Festival, I'm entering 'Lil' Retro Baby' into the Baby Quilt category.  My first entry is in the Scrap Quilt category.
Lil' Retro Baby
This is a quilt I finished up and gifted to my cousin last year, but it still holds a special place in my list of completed quilts.  Working with solid fabric was (and still is) completely out of my normal comfort zone and I admit to struggling a bit with it.
A peek inside my process
I bought a stack of fat quarters and then impulsively included a couple extra pieces that I thought would help balance out the color arrangement. You know that the very idea of working with ALL solid colors was practically guaranteed to paralyze me into indecision given that I had been taught that solid colors were the scrap quilters ultimate 'no, no'!  Eventually, after much waffling, I decided to just start cutting and sewing which resulted in a few chunky looking blocks.  My design wall is pretty small so I quickly ended up arranging the various blocks on the floor.  Ha!  I'm sure you already figured that out.

Anyway, it worked better than you might think and actually got my brain to start processing what needed to happen next. I moved the first several blocks round and round, trying to imagine the end result in my mind.  I played with my fabric bits and pieces, thinking about how to join big blocks and little ones all without ending up with funky set in seams. Finally, it occurred to me that I simply wasn't going to be happy until I added in a very few pieces of printed fabric.  Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!  Oh well.  So my first solid color quilt ended up with a printed fabric.  Next time I'll work harder to get it right. lol

18 comments:

  1. I like that design, and I think the circle fabric is perfect.

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  2. It looks wonderful! I think you have done amazing things with the solids. I would find that very difficult too.

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  3. I don't think it is your brain, Audrey. This quilt needed that fabric, it makes the quilt sparkle together with the quilting you have done.

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  4. Love this ...it's so modern and fresh. I agree - the pattern fabric adds something extra!

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  5. Oooh, I love this! The chunky blocks are great - so modern!

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  6. Great quilt...I think the added circle fabric adds movement to the quilt.

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  7. I think you got this one just right! It's great!! The dots are the perfect choice.

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  8. Lil Retro is really awesome. Love the design with the chunky spots and the added dots. The solids really come alive with the straight lined quilting. You did great.

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  9. The printed fabric actually give it that something extra, your choice for the printed fabric is really 'spot on' (English saying, don't know if you use it in the US), perfect.

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  10. I love this quilt!! The circles add some curvy fun to all the straight lines. The colours are lovely for a baby quilt, happy and bright and not too gender specific.

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  11. Lil Retro is a darling baby quilt! Modern, simple... and I love how you quilted it! I think the circle fabric was the perfect addition to the solids!

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  12. Oh, I love this quilt!!
    You did a great job - and it deserves to be special.

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  13. I love this quilt! It's so different from what you usually do, and you did a bang-up job on it! I love the dots you added - I think they bring some fun to the quilt. It's not cheating - it's exercising your creativity! I like the quilting too - it's just right for the quilt.

    p.s. I agree with you about solids. It's very hard for me to do all (or mostly solids) and not mix them much with prints. We must have listened to the same quilting "rules". LOL

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  14. This is such a pleasant quilt! The large color blocks and the large scale polka dot with the pop of red...it is all just right!!!

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  15. Simple and happy = a perfect baby quilt! I love the colors and the way you balanced and mixed the solids with the prints. It works so well and the quilting is the perfect touch.

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  16. you did great with the solids, this has my vote

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  17. Wow, this is gorgeous!!!! Very well balanced! Way to go! Ive never tried solids in my quilts before. You inspired me!

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