Thursday 7 July 2016

Cape Campbell

No. 9 done, so no more lighthouses for now; I need to concentrate on joining this lot together.

This is Cape Campbell, in New Zealand.  I thought I needed one more black/white one in the mix and this fitted the bill nicely. The little dome on the top gets a bit lost in the dark blue that surrounds it, but I am thinking that I will add light beams when I do the quilting and hopefully that will change the balance a bit.



I have played around with the placing of the individual lighthouses quite a bit.  I like the variation that the black and white ones provide, but it does make things slightly more complicated than if I just had 9 of the red and white.  My first attempt had Orkney (black and white vertical stripes) in the top right hand corner but that just didn't work for me - my eye just kept being pulled up there, no matter where I was trying to look.  I think putting it next to Dungeness has worked better and adding the third black and white one also seems to have helped.

Here is what I think will be my top row: two new, one old block.


My attempts to find somewhere to lay the whole thing out without capturing real life (ie horrible mess) around the edges led me to the garden.  This was a mixed success - lots of space, but it was a bit windy!  At least none of my pieces went blowing off down the river.


 This was the best shot I could get of all 9 together.  

No sewing for a couple of days now, but lots of live music instead, which can only be a good thing.  Next week I'm planning to join the 3 sets into horizontal strips and then think about what happens between them.  



18 comments:

Julierose said...

Love your set for these. My husband, Thom, loves lighthouses..he thinks this is fantastic...hugs, Julierose

Sue said...

Color balance is good. I agree about Orkney at the bottom...in spite of the vertical stripes, it feels heavier than the others. I also like the variation in the skies...bright days, darker days, foggy days, night skies, and of course the lights are important in all conditions. Interested to see it come together.

Janie said...

Great contrast, makes it pleasing to look at.

Doris Perlhuhn said...

Simply love it, Kaja!

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

Your lighthouses are inspired. Love your colour balance and your background fabrics are wonderful. I'm well impressed.
Smiles
Kate

Mystic Quilter said...

Good idea to quilt beams from the Cape Campbell lighthouse, they look just wonderful all laid out together.

apiecefullife said...

I still love it. What are you going to do with it when finished? I like the idea or them all being side by side (like a frieze) but not necessarily even height or spacing. Or 3 quilts them you can change how they hang, a triptych.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Brilliant idea to take them outside on the grass where there are fewer distractions (despite the windy-ness). These are simply FANTASTIC -- so excited for you and this project!!!

Libby in TN said...

I think you've reached a nice balance. And I love your idea of adding light beams to show off the dome on Cape Campbell.

Mary Marcotte said...

I'm hoping that you use your beautiful hand stitches to draw in the light beams. Oh, you can use different shades of yellow/white depending on the sky background. I am loving this quilt more and more with each addition, Kaja. It's coming together beautifully.

Kathleen said...

It gets better and better! You deserve a live music break :)

Kat Scott said...

These are so great! Now to "get it all together"... I would be tempted to put the Orkney lighthouse in the center of the bottom row - then move the mostly black one up to the right side of the center. Knowing that the connecting pieces and quilting bits you add will have a major impact... it will be stunning however you "get it together"!

JanineMarie said...

Living in Michigan, where there's lots of coastline, I'm a real lighthouse fanatic, so this project fascinates me. I thought that Orkney was my favorite because of its moodiness and the contrast between the vertical stripes and the horizontal ones in the sky, but really I like each block in its own way. I just had an opportunity to read to read Julie Sefton's Build-a-Barn book and was so impressed with how she transformed a ho-hum layout into a spectacular quilt. I think you've captured the spirit of her design work wonderfully--in your own way of course!

LA Paylor said...

so cool
look at you, combining pictorial with improv! LeeAnna

Nancy said...

I've been following your progress on feedly but saw your link at one of the link-up parties. Your lighthouses are so fascinating to me. I love watching and reading about how you think and the decisions you make as your go along. I'm looking forward to your final arrangement of the blocks.
--Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)

Pam said...

Your layout is very nice-the only improvement I can think of is to not have the 2 black lighthouses on the same row. Maybe put the stripy one in the middle row. The black is prominent in the quilt and 2 blacks together really draw the eye.
I love your blocks so much and even more so when I see them all together. I love the fish fabric and the cloud and bird fabrics and how you intermingled all the blues.

Pam said...

I like where you put the mostly black lighthouse.

Cathy said...

I have the same layout problems with anything big around here.

I like the light blue/dark blue mix throughout for a nice sparkling sea/sky effect in the background.

And I was wondering if there were going to be light beams! Guess you answered that!