from Marta with Love

I’m putting this quilt to bed.

The past couple weeks (in between work, a little gardening, and some family time), I’ve been designing, cutting, sewing, and trimming half-square triangles for a quilt that I’ve now regretfully decided to hide away indefinitely.  Here’s how it went down:

Inspiration struck!  So I dragged my surprisingly agreeable man with me to Fancy Tiger to help hold bolts of fabric while I strolled along the shelves looking for the perfect prints (dinner was my treat that night so don’t feel too bad for him).  My idea was to make something colorful, with pops of black and white here and there, using Kona coal as the background fabric so the colors contrasted against the dark grey.  I picked yellows, pinks, greens and corals.  I then took to Photoshop to make a great design, and the project took shape.  I cut and sewed all 120 HST’s for the quilt, then realized as I began arranging the squares that the coral was all wrong.  The values were wrong, it looked wrong with the pinks, it just wasn’t working.  I grudgingly took the corals out of the design and started thinking of Plan B.

Back to Fancy Tiger (this time, by myself—I was a woman on a mission).  I needed a color to replace the corals.  Blue seemed like my best bet, so I found a nice batch that I imagined would be the deal-makers.  Here we go.  I’ve got blue, pink, green and yellow.  The yellow and blue would pair well together, as would the pink and green –I could incorporate these pairings into the design.

I went home, cut my blue fabric, sewed the half-square triangles, placed this stack next to my other color stacks and thought enthusiastically that this would be the answer.  “Okay,” I thought, “I think it’s safe to trim these up.”

120 HST’s later, the project is now scraps.  Mojo-less.  A quilt abandoned.

I trimmed and trimmed (120 HST’s isn’t that many compared to some of the 500-count projects I’ve seen, but it’s still no picnic).  Took all my perfectly square HST’s back to the design board and could not find a single arrangement of the colors that I liked.  Not one.  Shield your eyes from this next photo if you don’t wish to endure the dullness of the color scheme.

I wanted the quilt to be modern and colorful, and for the color combinations to be something an adult woman would like (I can’t give away much else about the possible recipient, but know that I’m very disappointed she won’t be getting a quilt this year).  I love these prints individually, but there’s something about the way everything looked together that wasn’t “brightly colorful adult mod” enough for me.  It looks a little childish, a little amateurish, and a lot uninspiring.

Rather than wasting time overexposing myself to such a lackluster project, I’ve decided to cut my losses and move on.  I have so little time for crafting as it is, and don’t want to waste any of it on something I don’t love.  Plus, I think my continued manipulation of the design of this quilt will not be doing it any favors.  Maybe in a few months I’ll pick it back up, take out all the colors except yellow, and make this:

For now, though, I’ve had too large a helping of this “quilt to nowhere” and will revisit when I’m more inspired.  Or maybe I won’t revisit it at all.  Don’t judge me.

Anyway, I’ll finish with an upswing.  All of the dullness above is nothing a little—AHEMFlea Market Fancy can’t fix!  Enjoy the eye candy and have a great week!

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12 Comments

  • mle

    Oh dear! I think you did the right thing by laying it all aside for now. You never know, maybe in a year you'll find all those HST's hidden away and inspiration will strike.I hate when that happens though, all that time and to end up with nothing. A little heartbreaking but life is too short for uninspiring projects! LOL!

    March 27, 2012 at 3:10 pm Reply
  • Basildon Kitchens

    I love your HST! But once you have lost the mojo, it's best to put it aside for a while…You could also swap with someone…for something you are looking for…Connie

    March 27, 2012 at 3:56 pm Reply
  • **nicke...

    step away for a few days and see what you think. i get tired of fabrics when i use them for too long. you might just have fabric fatigue! 😉 i really love them maybe you just need to make it scrappier… love the fmf though. i have some on its way to me now!

    March 27, 2012 at 6:12 pm Reply
  • Jenny

    I completely understand….I feel like I do that more often than I want to admit! I've got a drawer full of "not what I thought blocks"…with that being said I LOVE your blocks and you may like it after all…once they are pieced together and quilted. But if your not in love than it is hard to continue on. Good Luck!

    March 27, 2012 at 6:24 pm Reply
  • Marta

    Oooooh that's a good idea, Connie! I hadn't even thought of that…

    March 28, 2012 at 8:20 pm Reply
  • Melissa

    Go ahead and put it to bed, but I think the colors go very well together, and that the gray does make the colors pop. In a few weeks or months, bring them out and see if there is some other, totally new-to-you arrangement that can be modern, yet still incorporate those blocks. Bring them to a MQG sew (in a few months) and see what others suggest. I'm sure you'll come up with something lovely that your friend will totally appreciate. 🙂

    March 28, 2012 at 9:20 pm Reply
  • Molls

    So sad! I admire your strength in abandoning it – it DOES take courage to recognize that, in this case, the juice would not be worth the squeeze. We all look forward to your next quilt – it will be a showstopper for sure!

    March 28, 2012 at 10:06 pm Reply
  • Marta

    You are always so encouraging, Melissa. Thank you! I really do appreciate it. Maybe someone in the guild will swap something with me for these. 🙂

    March 28, 2012 at 11:13 pm Reply
  • Marta

    I'm using that figure of speech about the juice not being worth the squeeze. Thanks, Molotov. xoxo

    March 28, 2012 at 11:14 pm Reply
  • Marta

    "Not what I thought" blocks be damned! I'm now very eager to make some "holy crap these are even better than I imagined" blocks… Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in my plight 😉

    March 28, 2012 at 11:17 pm Reply
  • Christina Franklin

    Marta, I feel your pain! Sometimes it's best to walk away and clear your head. You'll be inspired again. I have to say, looking at your photos, I think you should trying paring the black and white dot and gray square with the top fabric in you last photo (black, white, gray and tangerine flowers)and maybe complete that square with the darker orange. Just a thought . . . I'm sure whatever you do, it will turn out beautiful and after all, it will be made from Marta with love!Chriswww.myfiddlefaddlesabbatical.blogspot.com

    April 3, 2012 at 4:55 pm Reply
  • Julie

    Hi Marta!I am Julie from Jolie Maxtin and I have awarded you the Liebster Blog Award! Here is the link telling you what it is – and what to do next! http://www.joliemaxtin.com/2012/04/incoming-liebster-blog-award.html

    April 4, 2012 at 1:42 pm Reply
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