Friday, October 31, 2014

Scrappy Trip Around the World and a Note About Value


Well here she is, my scrappy trip around the world.  I know you guys already made them way back at the beginning of the year.  Yep, I'm that slow getting to projects I want to make!  But this one is different - really.


I started out making it just like the pattern says, but when I got my strips sewn and cut I got a crazy idea.  Why not make it really scrappy and spread out those strips of 5 so it would be even more scrappy?  Great idea if I had remembered what I learned this year about value.


What is value you might ask?  Value refers to how light or dark a color is in relation to surrounding colors. Value helps us decide how to layout a quilt to make the fabric either blend or contrastThis quilt needed a dark value for contrast as the running diagonals.  I thought the turquoise fabric would be contrasting enough to stand out, but I was wrong.  I should have used a navy. 


Since it was too late to start over, I was hoping to bring out the diagonal with some quilting. The turquoise is quilted with a terry twist and the centers with the straight line diamonds. It doesn't help as much as I had hoped for, but it is better.


So let this be a lesson to me!  Always think about value when picking fabrics for a quilt.  Even when you are making a rainbow quilt from scraps.



6 comments:

  1. I love it! There is nothing better than a good scrappy, bright and beautiful quilt right before winter! Great job!

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  2. Scrappy quilts are my favorite. I struggle with colors and I appreciate your explanation on values. Thanks for sharing Shannon.

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  3. I like it just the way it is. Sometimes it's good to be just scrappy without any obvious design. Love the turquoise background!

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  4. It is beautiful. I love scrappy quilts.

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  5. Oh, but it's so fun and random and bright! Lesson learned in a beautiful way.

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