Oh, despair! My plans for
adding lots and lots of flying geese around my
Charley Harper blocks has hit a major setback! It looks waaay waaaay too busy. But you might have called that already
(face turning red). I thought that these Charley Harper birds were so cute that they could handle a
wild goose par-tay surrounding them! But it turns out they are way too serious and serene for such activity. So it’s time for these geese to
migrate on out of here (p.s. – I love puns), and now I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I thought that maybe if I toned down the wildness of the flying geese, maybe that could work . . .
but it’s still not quite right. Then I thought maybe I should try black and white geese. There is black and white in each of the prints so maybe that’s an option. Meh.
Finally, I have to say,
enough is enough! I have lain awake in bed thinking of these birds far too often. I am comforting myself with the idea that I will try a new array of geese in shades of grey, and that the entire quilt will shift its focus to the far left, bottom corner with movement up to the right. I think that will work. (this makes sense in my head). Stay tuned.
But for right now, I have more pressing sewing issues to get to — namely, a baby quilt for my future nephew — that I’d like to have finished in time for the baby shower toward the end of April. I’m feeling inspired by the
Lattice Love Quilt that Bonjour Quilts put together for her nephew. It fits with the geometric theme my brother-in-law and his wife have chosen for the baby’s room. I will hopefully have some work accomplished and ready to share with you after the weekend! Fingers crossed!
Sorry to hear your birds got a bit out of hand. It’s not fun when quilts won’t quite cooperate. that lattice quilt is great. Thanks for the link, as I’d love to give it a go.
I like all the different flying geese colors actually but I think I like the last photo best although truthfully I like them all! What is the name of the block you are using for the birds? It looks like it’s an economy cross! I don’t think I’ve seen it before. I have some of the Charley Harper bird fabric too. I couldn’t resist and now I also have 4 bird prints hanging above my bed and I bought Charley Harper Christmas cards for next year. It’s getting out of hand!
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your help on the layout! The name of the block is the Square Album Four Patch, but it does look a lot like the Economy blocks i’ve been seeing around. I didn’t realize it at the time I picked it, I was just trying to highlight the Charley Harper birds. I have to agree, the Charley Harper stuff is so adorable, it is addicting! I’m going to have to look into those christmas cards! 🙂
Gosh, I have to applaud your go at this: what a leap of faith! The boldness of colors and variety of fabrics is beyond places my quilts tend to go! What if you added sashing in a neutral color or presented the bird blocks and flying geese in a more predictable pattern? Maybe if you gave the viewer’s eyes a chance to rest with sashing and/or predictability, you’d like the end product better?
I definitely think you are on to something — it’s way too busy. I was thinking of allowing the eye to rest maybe by using a white background behind the bird blocks and still using the geese (in different greys) around that? It’s starting to take shape in my head, but it hard for me to put into words. I’m hoping the colorful geese will find their way into another project, since I have so many of them. But I think they were too, um, “ambitious” for this particular quilt! Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate it!