Queen Palm: Foreground Twigs and Favorite Things
After completing the background, and auditioning fabrics for the foreground, I set to work on the Queen palm twigs. I was loving the “measles” fabric.
Click any image for a larger view
But, was it taking over? Hmm. Have you ever heard the artistic advice: If it’s not working, try removing your favorite thing? Darn. I was pretty sure that’s what it needed.
Yeah, that was better. Not as colorful, certainly. But, I knew I’d be adding colorful dates, so I was happy with these twigs.
(Remember, I work in a collage fashion. So, I can always move things around and make adjustments late in the process. This makes it easier to experiment and move forward, even when I’m uncertain.) Time to audition date fabrics.
Yes. That’s working.
What about you? Have your quilts ever benefitted from having your favorite thing omitted?
Ellen Lindner
Yes, I was going to add a very colourful strip of fabric into a border but after leaving it for several days, I am now just going to use it as binding. Even a strip would have taken away from the very colourful quilt itself.
I had to backtrack to look at your background fabric. It is now very different from the beginning and just sits there in the background letting the design take shape. At first, to me, it did seem to be a strange choice but now I see that it works perfectly.
That is great advice…..and I’ll try it next time I am stuck on a project. Thanks!
An interesting thought of removing your favorite thing, but I see it worked. Will try to remember that (and hope I have the “guts” to do it. Thanks for the thought and I love how the piece is coming along. Anxious to see the next step.
Hi Dolores, I think you were very smart to decrease your usage of that very bright fabric in your quilt. It’s SO easy to be “seduced” by these lovely fabrics and allow them to take over a little.
I appreciate your comments on the background. Again, it’s easy to want to create a showy background. But, I have to remind myself that everything has to work TOGETHER. Generally, the purpose of the background is to show off the foreground, so I have to keep that in mind.
Hey Sally and Patty,
Thanks for your comments. I don’t remember where I heard the “remove your favorite thing” advice, but it’s come to my aid several times. At first, it’s a little sad to remove something that’s so wonderful. But then, I see the improvement it makes in my piece and I find that I can live with it, after all. A good lesson, I think.