Relish the Blues

jill.....Creating/recreating modern and contemporary quilts has its challenges.  The sample sewing for trunk shows continues.  So do we make samples the same as the original?  We weren't prepared to make  the patterns the same as the original so some variety is inevitable.   Alternatives are good but they still have to closely resemble the photograph.  It's up to you to make it even more spectacular!

This week a remake of Modern Pickle Relish was in the plan.  I found this black non directional background to act as my inspiration.

Once I gave myself permission to sew with gray instead of black thread, my life is easier (as I always have to "unsew" something)!

The subtle texture is in the color blue so I found values in blue.  Sound easy, right?  First of all, I don't have very much blue fabric so I had to shop.  What I ended up with was 2 half yard cuts of transitional blue.

I knew that just one of the panels did not have enough of a change in value to give me the variation I wanted.  I sliced the panels into sections and came up with 7 defined values.

I should have thought this cutting thing through as I ended up not being able to cut at least two 2.5" strips from each.  Oh well.  I used fabric that had some shaded area and tried to keep it oriented in the same direction.

From the values, I chose five and cut according to the pattern directions. I eliminated the darkest so that the 5th value was not lost in the background.

The background pieces were cut,  arranged and collated into the blocks, following the gridded pattern. I pinned them to my design wall in the appropriate order.

The valued grid illustrated the correct placement. Then I sewed the blocks, blocks to strips, strips to background and joined them just like a puzzle.  Ta Da!

The magic of the blues on the black background is the creation of luminosity.  It just glows.  It reminds me of the Marc Chagall stained glass that I once viewed at the Chicago Art Institute.  They are both better in reality.

The winner of a free pattern from last week's comments is Patty.  Please email us with your contact information.  Our question for this next week is what is your least favorite color to quilt with?  You could even tell us why, but not required!

So, step back, dim the lights and take another look.  If the piece doesn't fit the first time, keep on turning and trying.  Eventually it will all come together. (Except for the one piece the dog ate!)

Later, next Tuesday.....