My first "one block wonder", not sure I'm thrilled with it (WIP)
 

I'm working on my first "stack & whack" style, or "one block wonder". It's destined to be a Christmas gift for my sister.

I thought I'd be clever and avoid repeat problems by using a gorgeous panel as my fabric, but now that I'm looking at it up on the design wall I'm not positive that was a great idea.

Here's the panel I used: http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail....9-59b368f1a78c

And here's my first go at it on the design wall. I already see a few pieces I need to move around, I'm not done fiddling yet. But this is the general idea of where I'm going with it:
http://images46.fotki.com/v295/photo...block_1-vi.jpg

I'm thinking black borders, but it ended up smaller than I'd anticipated so maybe a triple border consisting of 2 strips of black with a coordinating blue (maybe with a subtle Asian print?) sandwiched in between along the sides? (My sister LOVES black so that part is easy.) I don't know...am I being too picky or is there something missing here?

Some of the individual kaliedoscopes are REALLY cool though. I was really excited as I was assembling the hexagons but the overall quilt is (so far) not thrilling me as much as some of the individual blocks did. :(

It is hard to use a panel, and hard to use anything with straight lines, in a OBW. However, I do think you're on the right track with yours, and it will come out just fine. I would probably move the blues with black in them to the bottom, and then decide whether to move the golds with black to the bottom. I think it might look like the "weight" of the quilt is sinking down, which could be very effective. Half the fun of a OBW is playing with the design! Be sure to post again when it's finished.

Thanks Dunster, I think I'll try that. I was kind of thinking of a "surf to sand" sort of look but there are a ton of possibilities. I think maybe I need to stop looking at it for the night and come back and see what I think tomorrow. After a fiddle a little more, of course. LOL

I did save an extra panel that I'm going to center in black (and maybe blue, if I use that on the front) for the backing. If nothing else, THAT side should look good! I am REALLY fond of this panel, I might have to order another to make a wall hanging for myself, I like it so much.

try turning the quilt up side down---black blocks then would be at the bottom mostly

I'm actually thinking I'll adjust it so it's more of a square shape rather than being quite so rectangular. It's intended as a throw, so I'd kind of like it to be omni-directional, where there really is no up or down to it. (Except for the panel on the back, that will obviously have an up & down orientation...but I'm also thinking of setting the back panel on point, just to confuse matters further, LOL)

Just making it square will change things. Hmmmmmmmm....

I think Dunster has the right of it. What if you were to use one of the coordinating prints in your borders?

The 1st thing My mind said was Starry Night don't know why but just the way you have them on your wall!

I think this looks very nice!!

it's beautiful!

*nod* I think that's my plan at this point, for the borders at least. The LQS I just discovered has a pretty big selection of Asian prints and I THINK they had some in this same line....gosh, guess I'll have to go back and buy more fabric! THE HORROR! ;)