Monday 1 December 2014

Things I've learned # 4

This one might seem obvious, but I figure it's worth stating anyway: if you do something once, do it again, then do it again.  

So, if you use a colour, or fabric, once, repeat it. And by extension, if you combine two colours the more times you repeat the combination, the better it will work.  

An example:  when I started Two Hungry Birds I wasn't sure about this brown striped fabric.  I thought it might be too strong a contrast, might jar.


But I decided to stick with it but made sure that I kept looking at how often it was occurring as the quilt grew. I think if you kept the level of repetition right then it acquires a kind of internal logic (if that makes sense), so that almost anything works if you do it just often enough and no more.



When I was making this quilt I had no red at all in my initial fabric pull.


The child for whom it was made requested the red birds in no uncertain terms, so I included it, and then added in the other fabrics with red.  Use it once, use it again.  

I tend to follow the same rule when I'm piecing.  So, if I slice a strip up and add a little bit of something else, then I'll keep on doing it.  If I add a star, I'll probably add another one somewhere along the line.  Annie's quilt is a good example of this.  The first time I put a little slice of red or orange into the vertical turquoise strips it was just a pragmatic way to join two bits and make them long enough, but I went on doing it the whole way through the quilt.


The same thing applies with the stars, the little log cabin blocks, the blunt nosed triangles.


Like I said, do it once, do it again.

I'm linking up with Anything Goes Monday at Stitch by Stitch and Lets Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

14 comments:

Ann said...

Great post, Kaja. Your quilts are always interesting and I enjoy reading your thought process.

janice pd said...

Love your quilts. I adore that bird fabric and I rarely buy fabric. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Sue Daurio said...

What a great post. Beautiful quilts, thanks for sharing the brilliance behind them.

audrey said...

So true about the repeats. It really makes sense when you think about it! Love the second quilt especially. I can't even imagine it without the red.:)

Nilya said...

I love your tops because they are different and not so symetric.... this is something really hard for me to do ;-)

Lorna McMahon said...

I really enjoyed reading this post, Kaja. Seeing some of your past works and hearing about the processes you went through is interesting to me. I guess the repeating of your process throughout the work helps the quilt to become balanced. Each of them are beautiful. I love your unique style!

Jayne said...

Gorgeous quilt! Love the design and reading about your process!

andrea @ tideline quilts said...

All of the quilts are lovely - but the one at the bottom of your post has me drooling! I just love the Robin's Egg blue with the hits of red here and there....and the design concept is awesome! Love, Love, Love IT!

Renee said...

What fun quilts! They are so cheerful and visually active (but not jarring or unpleasant). Your methods make for some lovely and unique quilts!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Lovely quilts, so different and each has lots to look at! I think you are right about repeating those little processes, it really ensures there is balance across the quilt! Linda

Rachel said...

You would never be able to tell that red was a latecomer! Looks good!

JanineMarie said...

I really like how you support what you say with such beautiful examples.

CapitolaQuilter said...

Fun quilts. I love the playful layouts. Sometimes I find fabrics that I can't live without live on my stash shelf because I can't figure what to do.

Lara B. said...

Oh! My! This is awesome Kaja! Wow do I love those quilts! This is very helpful advice and you showed us just what you meant.