Sunday, December 28, 2014

SO Many Choices

When I walked into the studio this afternoon, I had no idea it would end up being so fulfilling. I thought I'd face some dreaded paper-piecing, but got waylaid on the way to the sewing machine by some blocks I had up on the design wall. Without going into the nitty gritty - that can wait for an upcoming quilt reveal post - the blocks were half-rectangle triangles made by the Always Bee Learning bee back in May. And I had no idea what I wanted to do with them.

Yesterday I placed one layout option up on the design board {upper left photo below} after referring to variations I'd been collecting on a Pinterest board created just for that purpose.  I liked it. I liked it alot. But if I sewed up my blocks into this design, the finished quilt would be 90"+, larger than I feel comfortable quilting right now. So I began to explore different layouts.
That's when I turned to my Instagram buddies, and boy did they encourage me along. I knew #2 {upper right} was pretty ho-hum when I posted it, but it was actually what most influenced my final decision. Well that and Debbie/shadowsoftheblueridge, who suggested I off-set each column. And with that, I made my decision right then and there. {lower right photo above}

So when I asked my bee to make half-rectangle blocks months ago, I had in mind a simple layout such as the one below. 
But that vision has been replaced. And the result pieced into a quilt top that I can't wait to quilt.
Good times.

14 comments:

  1. I love them all, but especially the square in the diamond!

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  2. loved watching this happen today. first I saw Zs.... but now I see lightening bolts!

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  3. Amazing layouts. This is exactly why I love the design process so much.

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  4. Beautiful layout each of them - and amazing how different looks you can get with a simple block!

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  5. Hi Debbie! When saw the up-left photo in IG, I really liked it! Wouldn't have thought that the half-retangle can make so fun block. But now I like even more the down-right 'zik zak'. That's good! Is your retangle half square or bigger? x Teje

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  6. It was fun to watch this process evolve Debbie :o) I need to do more of this...just make some blocks and see where they take me. I'm not sure I've ever done it...

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  7. very cool! Interesting all the options you can make:)

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  8. I'm glad you selected the lightning sort of one. It is interesting to see how the look changes as you change the amount that they are offset. It's going to be a great quilt.

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  9. I really hoped that was the one you had chosen. It will be so pretty!

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  10. I imagine some lovely straight line quilting on this, but whatever you do will be fantastic

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  11. You picked the right one! Love the layout and can't wait to see your finish.

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