Am I Either Wayward or Transparent? Or Just A Procastinator?

I promise, whilst all these lists of previous posts were being made up, there was some sewing going on. In the Autumn Yvonne,  jetquiltinggirl launched her 2017/8 quilt a long. Last year we all made Snowflake Shimmer, this new project is Wayward Transparency. Yvonne is renowned for her transparency quilts, using clean, clear lines and quilting. This has been very much her trademark, and I love them, though she is threatening to diversify a little . As always, Yvonne is very thorough. She made several versions of her own quilt, utilising various layouts and also varying between solid and patterned fabrics. She also sources fabric deals and has coupon codes.

I did blog initially about the fabric choices and the cutting and then my efforts got set to the side. As usual. There were many other things that got in the way. I had a lot of pink in my stash. Only when I began to make my choices did I discover that many of my pinks were similar in value.  If you lay them side by side, and take an iPhone photo, then convert it to grayscale, it shows the value. Who would know! And my original choice of pinks from stash were very similar. I shuffled them all around, asked Yvonne for advice, and ordered up the shortfall. Hence I was still on the first quartile and  everybody else was bounding ahead.


I did what I always do. Set it to the side. Set to the side but not forgotten. Once the #christmashats were all stashed in the loft, and the sewing machine came back out, I got stuck in.

I made quarter 1 and quarter 3 first, then realised that each quarter was  repeated. This made quarters 2 and 4 a dream. I have devised a system, I think I will patent it. I lay the completed block on the kitchen work top. I lay all the cut pieces for the next block on top and sew them and lay them back. Of course, this is only successful if the first block is sewn up correctly! It is usually at this stage I notice my blunders. To my credit, or rather due to Yvonne's very precise instructions, all were present and correct. Here are my blocks, in no particular order.

 

All four quarters finished, the fun began. Yvonne had given variations on layout in her instructions, and the associated FB page showcased what everybody else had done. Being a l.ittle Behind, this gives a wide range of options to choose from.

One of  Yvonne's original options

 

 the chasing corners layout

 

                                                 on point version, just requiring corner triangles

 

For me there was really no choice. What I liked initially about this quilt was the movement. The transparency of movement. The blocks seemed to float above and into each other. Some of the other layouts I felt had less movement.  As occasionally Mr Vertigo is my close companion, it is not like me to like fabric with movement. These have enough movement for me to fall in love, but not enough movement for me to hold onto the walls or the nearest available person.

                                                           My Favourite Layout
Yvonne knows when I say this, it is not a reflection on her in anyway. I know her design is completely original to her, her design, her concept  and not influenced in any way. Least of all by a 1970s British sitcom, BUT, when I see my quilt I find myself humming the theme tune of Dad's Army. And honestly, Yvonne, this is a nice warm feeling and another reason why I chose this layout.
hums, "who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler, if you think old England's done, we are the boys ....." much loved by 3 generations, maybe even 4 generations of my family.

To date, I have all 4 quarters made, pieced and nearly finished quilting.

This blogpost however, is long enough already. Hopefully by my next post, the quilt will be a finish, or a nearly finish. See you again on Friday.

Helen x
linking up with Lets Bee Social, Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts
linking up with Beth, Cooking Up Quilts
and looking forward to linking up my finish with Quilting Jet Girl!