Wednesday 2 May 2018

Unfinished Changes - Barbara


I am afraid I missed the 1st May "Reveal" date for The Endeavourers. 

I had a plan, but my back has been playing up and I've not slept properly for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately this meant I have been so tired I haven't felt like sewing (or standing painting) and this was the week I’d anticipated finishing my quilt! 

Even though I haven't a "finish" to share I thought I'd explain what the title suggested to me:


When I made my first quilt for The Endeavourers I struggled to mix the colours I wanted, and I realised then that a colour chart would have helped so much! My first thought when I read "Change" was that of how paints change when they are mixed, so I decided to paint a quilt colour chart.

I am using calico, and have washed and ironed the fabric a few times before starting to paint, so that hopefully my "mini quilt to be" won't shrink in future washes. I pencilled a grid, and using a fabric pen wrote the paint colours across the top, and again down the left hand side.

Each colour in the left column is then mixed with each of those across the top of the chart in turn.

Theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk
The outer border is just my practising.

DH put me off my stroke a little when he asked how I was measuring the paint mix! Oops, I hadn't thought too much about that ..... I thought it would be just a dab here and there!

My quilt will end at the pencil line around the colour names. The colours round the outside are where I was using up some of the paint I’d mixed.

Theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk

Once I finish painting I am intending to machine quilt grid lines and add binding. 

My mini quilt will finish at 16" square.

Theflashingscissors.blogspot.co.uk


To summarise, maybe this wasn’t the best time to learn how to use a colour pen, or how to mix paints, but I did have fun experimenting, although it was far more time consuming than I originally thought ..... therefore it could be some time before its finished!




Barbara xx

11 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your back, Barbara. I too found obstacles throwing themselves up when I thought I would be finishing and it's so easy to underestimate how long these quilts take to make. I think I must make a personal deadline a month early and then I can just relax and wait for the reveal... I love the idea behind your quilt and I think its looking great. I hope your back gets better and you can finish it soon :)

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    1. Thank you for your kind comment, Janine!
      I’m definitely starting earlier next time!
      Carrying on with the painting and looking forward to the quilting!
      Barbara xx

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  2. I hope you are feeling better soon. I like the idea of the change of colors in a grid. I have seen color wheels quilted as flying geese blocks, so your idea is more involved and artistic in a structured manner. I do hope you are able to finish it as you envisioned.

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    1. Thank you, Nancy!
      It may take a while ..... I have done more of the painting but really didn’t anticipate it would take quite soooo long!
      I generally try to anticipate how long a project will take and then multiply by 3, but I think I certainly underestimated here!
      Barbara xx

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  3. Hope you are on the mend Barbara. Sometimes the simplest of ideas are the most time consuming to execute aren't they? I do hope that you manage to finish your quilt as it looks lovely so far.

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    1. Thank you Fiona!
      I painted for about an hour a couple of days ago, and then I’ve suffered for a couple of days since.
      I really thought this would be sooo much easier than it is!
      Barbara xx

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  4. I think it looks great so far. And isn't that so characteristic of "change"? Sometimes the changes take us away from where we intended to go, at least for a while. I'm glad you posted at the stage where you are!

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  5. And I just saw this link about a book of color swatches from the 1700s that is at the Smithsonian: https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/wienerfarbenkab00 If you go to look at it, the swatches start at page 521 out of 620.

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  6. Hi Barb. There are many things I like about this group. Members don't judge, everyone is encouraging and most have had similar experiences with difficulties in completing the project on time. Being a member inspires some to try new techniques that we probably might not have found "time for" or even thought about doing. When I started reading this post I thought "Man, that's a big project". I knew it would be time consuming. I hope you finish it It's a great interpretation of this theme.
    xx, Carol

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  7. There seemed to be a lot of "stuff" going on this particular quarter. Prayerfully everyone has a better one this time around. I'm hoping your are better now Barbera and can eventually post your finish.

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  8. Great Barbara - and I love the colours around the outside - do you really need to cut them off! xx

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