Wednesday 13 March 2013

W.i.P. - HST Love and Layout Woe

There's still time to enter my blogiversary giveaway!

I'm starting today's posts with the stats or they might get lost along the way.

Stats

Finishes - 1
the bathroom is all sorted (kitchen still pretty much a construction site)

Ongoing Projects - 3
EPP hexies - 52 finished flowers + 14 nearly-theres
baby things
Grecian Waters HST quilt

Stalled Projects - 1
EPP parallelograms/stars

Planning Stage - 2
Wedding Anniversary quilt
Quilt for the husband - I might have come up with the design! More on that soon.

But onto the HST love. Having finished 216 by yesterday, I prepared these for today before going to bed.


And got sewing in the morning.


Feast yourself on 288 HSTs in 96 different colour combinations.


They look rather intimidating like that. Maybe less so from this direction?


Or stacked?


Sorry, I got carried away... Time to speak about my layout woes.


I need to work on my bed as it's the only place providing enough space and my back doesn't want me crawling on the floor. Husband won't be happy if the bed is still diverted from its intended use when he gets home. I started with dark colours in the top left corner and light ones in the bottom right corner, but decided against doing a whole layout only to rearrange it. Lazy? Sensible? I don't know.

I'm stuck with a couple of variants. Do I go for a completely "patternless" look? And if so, do I start with dark on one end fading into light on the other? (I think this will take half a day to arrange pleasingly?) Or just mix it all up?


Or do I make something more regular, like these mixed up squares?


Or how about chevrons? From dark to light, here a light example? (Ignore the mistake in the top row.)


Or mixed up?


Decisions, decisions. And certainly no easy ones. I think there's one or two options I'm drawn to more, but I'd love to hear your opinions.

Over the past days it's been suggested to me twice that my quilt might qualify for the Pantone 2013 Emerald Quilt Challenge. I'm still unsure about it and I've never yet entered anything anywhere... Anybody else taking part? I'd certainly only manage the quilt top category - and only if I overcome my layout woes first.

Happy sewing!

13 comments:

  1. I love your tons of HSTs! So pretty! I personally vote for totally random, in both pattern and color layout. I love the way those end up looking, although really with those colors it will look beautiful either way :)

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  2. Ahhh, just gorgeous. I also vote for random. Something like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29630389@N04/6931241690/ ????

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  3. Congratulations on your blogiversary! Sewing is such a good hobby, I think. It gives pleasure in the making and the using! I struggle with layout, too. The colors are very nice!

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  4. That s the beauty and curse of HSTs...the endless block combinations! But the stack of them looks very appealing.

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  5. Beautiful colors!
    I am working on Triangels like that as well, wondering how I am going to lay them out. Endless combinations :o)
    Mine are one colored and one white.

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  6. Oooh so many lovely HSTs!

    I'm probably no help on the layout - I quite like the chevron looking one! :)

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  7. Love the shots of all the HSTs laid out!! This is turning out beautifully! I can't believe I'm going to say this but I think I like random for this? Though I don't think you can go wrong with whichever layout you choose with this beautiful palette :)

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  8. I just love those colors! Remind me of sea glass every time (I am a bit obsessed with sea glass though). I love the idea of it going dark to light, but can't say what layout would be best, sorry! :-)

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  9. oh wow! That is ALOT of hsts! How large are they? Good luck choosing your layout... so many options! And yes, I'm participating in the Emerald Challenge with a fun set of placemats in emerald, black & white.

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  10. I admire your patience! I'm sure I wouldn't have enough for all of those HSTs. I vote for patternless fading from dark to light.

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  11. Wow, I just finished a top using 168 HSTs and I thought that was plenty!!! I like how simple it is, yet with the different values it is very interesting. I personally like the the last photo. The HST quilt top I just finished I went with a diamond pattern, alternating dark/light.

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  12. They are so pretty and I am so impressed with so many HSTs. Good luck choosing a layout. I love them all mixed up! Mind you I have just looked at the more regular mixed up square pattern again and think that would be stunning too! Too much choice!

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  13. I love your fabric choices. I have recently begun my first HST project using a method where you make 8 identical HSTs at a time. I ended up deciding to make fairly large ones - each is 5.5" unfinished - and am having a heckuva time with the layout. I like the random look but because I have only used a few fabrics and fewer still neutrals that each colorful one is paired with, I think I need to make more.

    One thing I discovered is that I love the BlocLoc ruler for trimming HSTs.

    Your quilt is going to be stunning no matter what you decide to do. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

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