I have been thinking back on previous mysteries, and trying to figure out why I have enjoyed some more than others. I realised I was happier with the results when I went with my own colour choices, instead of the paint chips suggested in Bonnie's instructions. I think there are two reasons for this. The first being the most obvious, choosing colours I like results in a quilt that is more to my personal taste. Duh, right?
Second, I am lazy. I need motivation to keep some forward momentum. Using a different colour way preserves the feel of the mystery just a bit longer. When the quilt is revealed, there are finished and bound quilts flooding instagram within fifteen minutes. Yes, I am exaggerating, but not by much! Once I see the reveal, I tend to lose steam. But, if I am not quite sure yet what MINE will look like, I am a little more driven to keep sewing instead of putting it in a box for later.
I still have two unfinished mysteries.
- Grand Illusion- not only did I stick with Bonnie's colours, because I am in love with The Grand Hotel, I also chose one fabric for each colour instead of going scrappy. I can't describe how much I regret that decision. The quilt is a mess. It falls flat without any variance of value. I have toyed with the idea of using the units for other quilts, separating them. I look at them, and then I put then back into the box and do something else. This quilt fail disapointed me so much because I was extra stoked for that project.
- On Ringo Lake- I am LOVING this one. I am almost ready to put the blocks together with the sashing. I used all shades of blue and grey, and was very careful with the values of blues, using only lights in place of one colour, and only very darks in place of another colour. I had to keep the contrast very clean so as not to muddy up the whole thing and create a mess of indistinguishable units. Even though I love this quilt so far, I was a little worried to see how many points I lost. I thought I was careful about cutting and sewing accurately, but with the sheer number of units, all I can say is that I guess I got sloppy.
Goals
- My primary goal with Good Fortune is to slow down and focus on precision. I will go as slow as I need to, in order to get them right. I am planning to make only about a dozen of each clue, until we get closer to the reveal and have a better sense of what is happening.
- My secondary goal is to be as scrappy as possible with this quilt. I am digging deep into the scrap bin for this one. I am trying not to repeat a print within that first dozen units of each clue.
My Colour Plan
I have been thinking of doing something with navy, aqua, and mustard. This may be the perfect opportunity to experiment with these colours. My initial fabric pull is not quite hitting the mark I had in my mind. Swapping out the intense aquas for a for washed out tone helped a bit. I'm still not sure which way to go. I know this particular print won't work with small units, but the base colour is a little closer to what I had in mind. I may look for one that are just a tiny bit more green than this. Making only a dozen units for each clue means I have plenty of time to find more fabrics and keep it scrappy.
The grey is just a placeholder for now, because I don't know what else would work with these colours. I also have not yet decided which of these colours will replace which ones in Bonnie's lineup. I am open to suggestions! Please leave a comment below.
I like your colors. I agree, I miss the string piecing too and hope she has some in this quilt. Not sure what colors I'm using, but I also will make onlo a few of each unit.
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