Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Tinkering with Riviera Star

One of the problems with the Judy Niemeyer newsprint foundations is that there are really no "do-overs." Once they're sewn, there's no going back. That is doubly the case for me, because the limited-edition fabric I'm using sold out months ago, so I have to use what I've got.

Looking back at the Compass Star that will be in the centre of Riviera Star, you can see that the fabric around the edge has a greenish undertone:


The green tablecloth underneath makes it look better than it is. It was not the best choice to go with those yellow fabrics. Here was my original colourway:


There would have been more yellow beside that greenish fabric, and it would have been bad. Plus, Sue Garman posted a photo of another Prairie Star variation this month, which got me thinking again. Out came the coloured pencils:


Using a red fabric next to the greenish fabric will make it work again, and of these three variations, I think I'll go with the one on the left. I don't think I have enough red fabric to make the one on the right. The middle one is striking, and closest to my original plan, but now I worry that it will be a little boring close up and on the bed. The left one will have a bigger variety of fabrics, so there will be more to look at.

The final decision may be affected by how much fabric is left after I piece all the outer edges. But right now that's the direction I'm going. Lots to do!

12 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a lot of piecing that's going to be happening in that quilt, and your points look perfect. Bravo to you! I like the colourway on the left as well. I think that the combination of red to yellow brings out a comfortable balance and contrast to the block. BTW, glad to see you blogging. I hope that you are feeling better.

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    1. Thank you, I am glad you like the one on the left too. I think it will be the most interesting one. It WILL be a lot of piecing, but at least the Niemeyer technique is pretty foolproof as far as the points are concerned.

      I'm taking it day by day, thanks. I hope to get a couple more posts up this week!

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  2. How did you get or make the line drawing for coloring?

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    1. Hi Mary Ellen. It comes with the pattern! I love it when designers do that. :)

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  3. what amazing points, I can see the foundation piecing is so much more accurate than the traditional way

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  4. Our guild used a Judy Niemeyer pattern to make our 2015 raffle quilt. The person who organized our sew-in day to make the arcs (it's a double wedding ring quilt), photocopied one of each of the arc foundation patterns in the event someone messed up their unit. This happened, of course, so she was able to print out more foundations and fix the mistakes. If and when I ever get around to making a Niemeyer pattern, this will be my approach as well.

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    1. Hi Mary Ellen. That is a good idea if the pieces are smaller. I started out that way too, but for Prairie Star most of the pieces are much larger than 8.5" x 11", so I gave up on photocopies early on. I know from messing around with Sedona Star that once you have to start tiling together the sheets, accuracy is very hard to maintain!

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  5. This is such an amazing quilt and you're off to a great start. I like the left hand choice of colours, the red tips on the star are wonderful and the yellow makes it glow.

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    1. Thanks, Rachael! I think "glow" is a very good word for the look I am after. Fingers crossed!

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  6. "Glow" really is good. I love following your thought processes.

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    1. The fun thing is that no matter how much I plan, the end result still surprises me! It's impossible to completely anticipate what the fabric will do. I need to get cracking on this again...

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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