Monday, November 26, 2012

A Sophisticate on Easy Street -- Fabric Selections

This is my first time making one of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts, so the entire process is a bit of a mystery to me. My daughter has been urging me to join her for several years, but I never felt organized enough, or de-stressed enough, to tackle it. Earlier this year she practically FORCED me to start sewing again, and it felt good. So I agreed to join the challenge, and here I am.
After brainstorming possible color combinations, we finally went fabric shopping. My only clear plan was to use fabrics from my stash. First we chose our fabric-in-common, a lovely gray that we both agreed we wouldn't normally pick. Then my stash busting plan took a left turn when I fell in love with a deep plum, teal and cream print. Dramatic and sophisticated, it required colors I couldn't be sure I had at home. So I bought fabric -- the all over inspiration print and a coordinating plum to start. The hunt began for suitable teals, which proved elusive. (Turns out I did have a few at home to mix in.)
Those of you making the quilt will realize that I needed a fourth color. Olive green seemed a good choice, and it was hard to find, too. I bought a large amount of one batik print, and added a couple of others from my stash. For the background we decided white-on-white prints were necessary to provide the proper pop of color.
In the end I had one gray for the constant, one plum, four teal and three olive fabrics. Not exactly the scrappy explosion I'd expected, but I'm quite happy with my colors and it will be fun to see how they interact as the quilt unfolds. Just to make things more confusing, I'm using my blues for Bonnie's greens and my greens for her blues -- got that? (I labelled them all and am counting on Betsy to keep me straight.)


6 comments:

  1. I "practically FORCED" you to start sewing again?! I gave you my sewing machine, loaned you my magazines, showed you my favorite websites, and took you to the fabric store!!! If that's being forced, I should get so lucky! ;)

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  2. Good luck with the blog. I love your dark fabric colour selection.

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  3. Thanks. It may not turn out anything like Bonnie's, but I think I'll like it. :)

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  4. I'm sure you'll love it. Your colors are so rich and elegant! They may not translate 100% in photos, but in person they're gorgeous.

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  5. They are, aren't they. :) And I love the idea of a scrappy, random quilt using a more "elegant" palette, for lack of a better word. I think the contrast could be really interesting and fun.

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