Feedback on quilt design please
06-13-2020, 08:56 AM
#1
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Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: On the sunny side of the street
Posts: 45
Feedback on quilt design please
I would really appreciate some feedback on my latest quilt design. I call it "Geese Flying Around the Cabins." First, some background.
Blue is my favorite color. I love Edyta Sitar's fabrics and my fabric choices here are from her Blue Skies, Baker's Dozen and Bed of Roses collections. Of course, Blue Skies and Baker's Dozen apparently won't be available until October 2020, at least according to the FatQuarterShop.com. The Log Cabin block is special to me given that one of my main areas of interest is in the study of Abraham Lincoln. Cheryl made me a quilt a few years ago based off a quilt kit that featured a die cut of Lincoln. She changed some things about it (and she found that having me for a customer wasn't that much of a joy. She ripped out more than a few seams. Since then, she has declared she's never quilting for me again
) The quilt hangs over my desk.
I ran this by the boss, and she likes it, so I think if we can get the fabric at some point it will go in the queue. I think given that it's pretty much all squares (except the Flying Geese, which Cheryl has made before) it should be fairly simple to make. The Log Cabin blocks are 20x20 and the High Flying Squares are 4 3/4.The Flying Geese strips are 20x5. The Single Irish Chain blocks are the only thing that have nothing to do with flying or cabins, but I just like the looks of them.
Would appreciate any and all comments.
Blue is my favorite color. I love Edyta Sitar's fabrics and my fabric choices here are from her Blue Skies, Baker's Dozen and Bed of Roses collections. Of course, Blue Skies and Baker's Dozen apparently won't be available until October 2020, at least according to the FatQuarterShop.com. The Log Cabin block is special to me given that one of my main areas of interest is in the study of Abraham Lincoln. Cheryl made me a quilt a few years ago based off a quilt kit that featured a die cut of Lincoln. She changed some things about it (and she found that having me for a customer wasn't that much of a joy. She ripped out more than a few seams. Since then, she has declared she's never quilting for me again
) The quilt hangs over my desk.I ran this by the boss, and she likes it, so I think if we can get the fabric at some point it will go in the queue. I think given that it's pretty much all squares (except the Flying Geese, which Cheryl has made before) it should be fairly simple to make. The Log Cabin blocks are 20x20 and the High Flying Squares are 4 3/4.The Flying Geese strips are 20x5. The Single Irish Chain blocks are the only thing that have nothing to do with flying or cabins, but I just like the looks of them.
Would appreciate any and all comments.
06-13-2020, 09:06 AM
#2
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 24,422
How about you get your own machine and tools and do your own thing?
It seems like you have the interest - and probably the assets to get the stuff.
The only down side - your wife may think you are being competitive - or intrusive?
It seems like you have the interest - and probably the assets to get the stuff.
The only down side - your wife may think you are being competitive - or intrusive?
06-13-2020, 09:37 AM
#4
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA
Posts: 15,145
I think you need to work on the measurements some more. If the flying geese strip is 20" long, with 7 geese, each "goose" is 20/7" tall, and that's a difficult measurement to quilt with. You would probably want to paper piece it. 20/7 is just under 3" (2.85...) so the width of that "goose" would be 2*2.85= approximately 5.714". That probably affects all your other measurements. Your wife would have a heck of a time putting those blocks together. That's the problem with dealing with EQ8 in the custom set arrangement, which I assume is what you're using. And I second bear's suggestion. You'll find it much more satisfying (and conducive to a peaceful marriage) if you learn to sew the quilts from your own designs. Trust me, your wife will thank bear and me for this suggestion. 
06-13-2020, 10:41 AM
#6
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Sunny Florida
Posts: 4,422
I like the cabins and the geese.
A little tweak to the sizes as mentioned to use standard FG rulers for trimming. The borders are busy and I would consider a different direction for them. Borders should help the quilt design to "rest" and allow a pause. They look like they are different sizes and going in different directions in the layout. Perhaps a full row of FG matching the same direction as the FG strips.
Good luck!
A little tweak to the sizes as mentioned to use standard FG rulers for trimming. The borders are busy and I would consider a different direction for them. Borders should help the quilt design to "rest" and allow a pause. They look like they are different sizes and going in different directions in the layout. Perhaps a full row of FG matching the same direction as the FG strips.
Good luck!
06-13-2020, 11:11 AM
#7
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Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: On the sunny side of the street
Posts: 45
Thanks everyone. This is exactly the feedback I was hoping for.
As for me doing the quilting myself, I don't think so. First, I would have no idea how to even begin to sew. My mother taught my sisters how to sew, even though they seemed to have forgotten all she taught them, and it was something I never seemed interested in. Second, I have enough other hobbies that I never seem to get done without taking on another. I've told Cheryl many times that if she doesn't want to make anything I've designed, it won't offend me at all. This quilt wouldn't be for me, per se, but rather would be for her to experiment with.
As for the inner border, do you think I would be better off just forgetting about the patterned block and putting a contrasting color next to the darker blue, or just a less busy design?
Again, rhanks for the valuable feedback.
As for me doing the quilting myself, I don't think so. First, I would have no idea how to even begin to sew. My mother taught my sisters how to sew, even though they seemed to have forgotten all she taught them, and it was something I never seemed interested in. Second, I have enough other hobbies that I never seem to get done without taking on another. I've told Cheryl many times that if she doesn't want to make anything I've designed, it won't offend me at all. This quilt wouldn't be for me, per se, but rather would be for her to experiment with.
As for the inner border, do you think I would be better off just forgetting about the patterned block and putting a contrasting color next to the darker blue, or just a less busy design?
Again, rhanks for the valuable feedback.
06-13-2020, 11:44 AM
#8
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Pacific NW
Posts: 9,413
Ok honest opinions here because you asked for them. First, I also think the blue one, while pretty, is quite busy.
Second and more importantly, I think it would help your wife assemble the quilts you've designed if you actually understood the basics of quilt construction. This is (partially) why people are suggesting you sew the quilts, and not your wife. For instance, borrowing from Dunster's post, go look at all of the quilt rulers your wife uses and find 2.8" or 5.71" on them. It kind of sounds like your wife might be a beginning quilter herself, so she doesn't know enough to take a look at your designs and tell you to change it so it's actually doable? Maybe that's why she spent so much time ripping out seams on the Lincoln quilt. It sounds like she wants to please you so she will make the quilts you are designing, but it would help if you'd design them so they're easy to make.
Second and more importantly, I think it would help your wife assemble the quilts you've designed if you actually understood the basics of quilt construction. This is (partially) why people are suggesting you sew the quilts, and not your wife. For instance, borrowing from Dunster's post, go look at all of the quilt rulers your wife uses and find 2.8" or 5.71" on them. It kind of sounds like your wife might be a beginning quilter herself, so she doesn't know enough to take a look at your designs and tell you to change it so it's actually doable? Maybe that's why she spent so much time ripping out seams on the Lincoln quilt. It sounds like she wants to please you so she will make the quilts you are designing, but it would help if you'd design them so they're easy to make.
Last edited by Peckish; 06-13-2020 at 11:46 AM.
