Slicing and Dicing: Now Where Was I?

After starting a new quilt at a retreat, it was time to continue at home. Now, where was I? Something like this.

I studied the arrangement and knew I wanted to change a few things. (Remember the abundance of that favorite fabric bottom left?) While that was percolating in my brain, I looked for areas that needed a little more energy. I altered a few with skinny lines.

Notice the black “horizontal” line on the left of this unit. Can you see it’s been altered to be jagged? All I did was add 2 tucks in the back. That added some character, but also made the unit 1″ skinnier.

What should go where? There never seems to be a RIGHT answer. Just interesting ones. Like this top right corner. If I were to use this piece, which way should it go?

or

Sometimes there’s a structural reason to do things, for instance if too many seams are coming together in one spot. But, generally, I go with whatever fits best or appeals to me most at the moment. I do study things a lot as I go! (See what I did with this piece in the last photo, top right corner.)

Remember how, at the retreat, I gathered all the brightest fabrics near the center? I liked that, but realized I’d never really considered any other alternatives. Before I got too far along I decided to audition the pieces with blue in the center.

Interesting. But not better. I stuck with what I had.

I continued altering, adding, slicing when needed, and getting things to fit. Here it is nearly complete, with four big units ready to be sewn together. I was quite happy with it.

Quilting soon!

BTW (by the way,) I generally think about names as I’m working on a piece. This one reminds me of light through spring leaves. Hmm, Canopy? Spring? Dappled Light? Your thoughts?

Ellen Lindner