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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Block 19 - Old Maids Ramble - Desperate Walkers

The first item on the agenda this morning was to get my block done. With all those little triangles I knew it was going to require extra piecing time but I was woefully ill-prepared for the fabric agonizing time. Yes, this block has given me a lot of grief.

The concept of the ramble through the green countryside was fine for my basic green color scheme. I chose a fabric with a leafy purple berried plant for my country walk and off I went. But alas, it was the thought of that horse galloping by and stumbling when it saw the purple triangles that began the downhill roll.

My technical advisor and I thought I could do something better than the safe two fabric option so we added in the big green dot and the purple stripe fabric. But from a distance (how far away is that horse and it's rider - twenty yards?) what jumped out were those purple triangles. So back to the fabric pile I went.

Now the next option (yes, the triangles are simply laid on top) was photographed in the closet so the color is not ideal but you can easily see that it is a pale green dot fabric that has overlaid the purple. I thought this was a better choice. But my technical advisor says that surely I should be using a purple fabric. So back once more to the fabric pile.

And now we have the third option.  So pretend you are on that horse and let me know which looks best as you gallop by.

Or there is always option four which is to make it the simple two fabric block as made by Becky and shown at the beginning of this mornings post on the Grandmother's choice blog.

I forgot another aspect that slowed me down this morning. Was I the only person who spent an hour puzzling what to do with the 14 larger triangles mentioned in the sewing instructions? Finally I figured out that it was a typo and I only needed 4 - one in each corner. A consolation prize is that by using the blockbase cutting dimensions my block did end up practically perfect in size.

Once I get the fabric for those four outer large triangles sorted out (and I have engaged in yet more reverses stitching!) I am expecting to use the clipping trick on the reverse side to deal with some of those lumpy seam intersections.

A simple country ramble has left me tangled in the brambles.

4 comments:

Sheila said...

you spin a great yarn Dorry, you have me biting my nails , worrying about my own fabric choices. I actually prefer the first version and would consider using the purple in all the large triangles. However they all look fine from "Down Under"

Dorry said...

Y'know Sheila, as I was putting up the post I wondered about doing just that - increasing the amount of the dark purple. It illustrates that comment that if something sticks out don't take it out but repeat it so it looks as though it belongs. Thanks for your input!

Cheryl K. said...

Before reading Sheila's comment I was thinking the dark triangles are the best option - four of them could not be bad-- Don't despair, Desperate Dorry, the solution will present itself!

pinkdeenster said...

Have you decided? I like the idea of using the purple all around - it will emphasize the "X" shape. I kinda like the lavender/light purple option as well.