Sometime ago, I bought a bundle of Half Moon Modern fabrics. They are washed and pressed and awaiting inspiration. For all the reasons I have stated in the past, it is ridiculous to want to use them together, but I do anyway.
Lately, these fabrics have been on my mind. Though I want to do a difficult, time consuming project as my next start, I also want to get these fabrics out of the Fabric Closet and onto a bed or a wall.
Some ideas have been coming my way including this Rusty Avenger pattern, called Summer Celebration.
I like the vertical look. I also like the ribbon effect.
I would use each of the colorways in one ribbon.
The question in my mind is: do I want to just use the fabric or do I want to use the fabric in a quilt that will matter? Is it possible that a quilt using the Half moon Modern fabrics will matter regardless of the design? Or will it be another flash in the pan?
I also saw this pattern, Raising the Bar, in Quilts and More, Spring 2014 magazine. I was reading in an orgy of quilt indulgence one evening while I waited for the Young Man. It is by Sheila Sinclair Snyder. I really like it for a couple of reasons:
- I think it shows off the fabric
- It isn’t difficult, but it also isn’t boring
- Except for the border I could easily resize it to accommodate more or less fabric
- I really like the border, which I think makes the quilt more interesting
The issue is that someone has already made this quilt. I don’t need to make a quilt that someone else has made. I showed the pattern to TFQ and she said that it would look great scrappy. The rectangles remind me of FOTY 2008.
This whole question makes me think about whether designing from fabric first or pattern first or block first is correct. I don’t think there is a correct answer. I seem to start from different places depending. Is there something more difficult about starting from a group of fabrics? What do you think?
I think it’s more difficult to start with fabrics. You can take any pattern and audition and change and mix and match and make it work when you have a choice of fabrics, but to do it the other way round is more challenging in my mind.
Absolutely true. Perhaps that is why I am having so much trouble? I do think I will be ok with adding in other fabrics. I am trying to think of this as a starting place.
I used a charm pack of this line — but removed some of the prints (the ‘coordinates’ if you will), and just used the “main” prints. It was a good compromise as far as I was concerned….allowed me to use a line, and knocked down the “whole fabric line” quiltness. (Hope that makes sense….I should probably not try to communicate when I’m exhausted!)
Can’t wait to see what you come up with! I love these fabrics!
k
I love the fabrics, too, and they have the potential of being using in a boring pattern because of the size of some of the prints. We’ll see.