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Collection 2 - colour and curves

Collection 2 - colour and curves

Collection 2 should be arriving in The Collection Quilt block of the month member's mail boxes round about now.  The low volume fabrics in Collection 1 were lovely, and that Euclid linen we used  is one of my all-time-favourites; but let's face it it was time for some colour.  Am I right?

Why so many colours?

When choosing fabrics for this installment I've flipped things around a bit, and unlike the original we will be using Carolyn Friedlander's prints rather than Kona solids for the backgrounds.  

Also, when pulling fabrics for the applique I found it impossible to stick with just three. Perhaps it is because our Kona collection has really grown - you can see all the colours here.

Then again it might be because pulling fabrics is one of my favourite parts of the quilting process

 I know that rusty brown - Kona Cedar, may not be a go-to colour for many modern quilters, but I think it acts as a great 'bridge' between the caramel linen and those pretty peach and oranges.  While one of the darkest fabrics in the bundle, it is also quite a vibrant, saturated colour.  

That orange solid is Kona goldfish and I think it also adds a bit of zest and interest and moves us away from a straight colour graduation in different shades of peach.

As I mentioned in last month's post; there are just so many options put your own stamp on this quilt by playing around with your fabrics  You might even want to dive into your stash - I did and added in just a couple of appliques using a cross hatch print from Carkai.  Just one sneaky floral in there could be kinda fun too.

Of  course if you want to follow Carolyn Friedlander's masterful placement of value in this section and limit the applique to fewer colours you have more than enough fabric.  But why not indulge in a bit of play?    Whichever way you decide to go, I hope you have fun with the layout stage.

Nailing the layout

I laid the whole unit out on my work table when working out where to place my appliques so that I could get the flow and movement of colours across the panel to my liking.  I then numbered them so I didn't mess up the order.  Well that was the theory,  though I did bugger it up in the end anyway.  

See those two orange/yellow hills in the second row from the left? They are meant to be on the bottom so I will have to go back and fix that up.  Grrr!

The Collection Quilt block of the month

 You have probably also noticed that I have added an extra strip to my panel.  I found with by adding it in I had a lot more scope to play with the flow of colour across the panel.  

As I keep saying - you've got heaps of options for play with the amount of fabric supplied.  Just go for it.

Now for the needle-turn applique technique...

This month we are practising our convex, or outward curves.  Strangely, this felt much more comfortable for me than the straight lines from Collection 1. I wonder if this is because I had explored curves before when stitching the Hesperides cushions last year?  You can check them out here and I will have the Hesperides pattern back in stock soon.

At any rate, these little guys are fun.

After a bit of experimentation, I found that using a reasonably small basting stitch really helped me achieve smoother curves without those nasty pointy bits and bumps.

I think this is because bigger basting stitches created  individual short straight edges. When I turned the seam allowance under until they butted up against  the larger basting  stitches, and I was ending up with applique that looked like the edge of a 50 cent piece.

50 cents

Not the look I was going for, that is for sure! 

So  there it is.  That is my tip for Collection 2 .  Keep those basting stitches on the small side - as well as reading through the great instructions of course.

Happy stitching everyone, and don't forget to show me your progress over on Instagram

 

 

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