Tuesday, January 3, 2017

OMG, Butterflies en Provence!

It's time for the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up this month. Last month I was on the lookout for some butterflies, and I captured this one "in the wild."


You can see by the lint that this fabric spent a long time in my scrap bin! This stack of triangles is for foundation piecing in Wild & Goosey. The scrap bin is now almost empty! But the stack of triangles keeps growing as I add the leftovers from other projects.

Also this week, Bonnie Hunter revealed the final layout for her 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence. You can see it here, for the next few weeks. I love it! I especially like the circular effect with the purple in the big blocks. And I have to say, I was genuinely mystified. I thought I knew where it was going, and I was wrong!

But anyway, let me remind you of my flamingo-inspired colourway:


Bonnie's quilt has sixteen of those circle blocks, so for my simplified version I thought nine would work well. I am using pink where Bonnie used yellow, and I noticed that her yellow fabrics are quite light. I have that light pink flamingo blender, and I thought that would be perfect!


Argh, no, it is horrible! The light aqua adds nothing, and there are just too many flamingos. Does it look better with the green squares added? It does not. So many pretty fabrics, so terrible all together. Right from the start I had a feeling that it would be risky to change the values in the quilt. But, I ignored the doubts and forged ahead! I should know by now to listen to those niggling doubts.

So now I have quite a few pink flamingos to add to the stack of triangles for Wild & Goosey! What a useful project.

Looking closely at Bonnie's finished quilt, some of her greens (where I used aqua) are almost black. And they are extremely scrappy with a wide range of values, which gives a lot of interest. I needed something very grounding too. I considered dark pinks or reds, but then I thought, why not black? I have some bold black prints in my stash that could give that same range of interest that Bonnie has:


And look, there's that same butterfly fabric again! I haven't cut them yet, but I'm keen to see how they will work.

I also like that the larger pieces in this project will show off some of my larger scale, modern fabrics. Here are pinks I settled on:


They looked good in the sunlight there, didn't they?

By Monday I hope to have at least a block or two to share, and by the last link up in February I am determined to have the flimsy done. So that is my One Monthly Goal for January as well -- En Provence flimsy by the end of the month. Only nine blocks! Plus, pieced sashing and pieced border...

Right now I am still catching up on the clues I skipped. Here are my green hsts from clue #5:


And today I was cutting these fabrics for more Tri-Recs units from clue #4:


After considerable thought, I've also decided to go back and piece some of the all-white four patch units from clue #1. Those are next!

16 comments:

  1. I thought I would just read along and see what happens. Yours will turn out great because you know how to do that.

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  2. like Chris I have not started this and not sure I will have a go but all downloaded so have it if and when I pluck up the courage. Suh a shame you do not like the fabric selected but best stop now and start with your new selection, best of luck

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  3. You are making some good changes since the values work better. I've never wanted to use someone else's color choices. You are so brave to move ahead with this. I'm looking forward to Wild and Goosey flamingos, too.
    Thanks for linking with Kaleidoscope of Butterflies.

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  4. That's one of the risks with Bonnie's mysteries if you go a different direction with the color palette. I went with blues and pinks, but decided to add in more neutral rather than the yellow. It looks like you've got a very good fix for your blocks. Good luck with your OMG for this month.

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  5. The toughest part of Bonnie's mystery is picking the fabric! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal.

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  6. I am not sure I can visualize your color scheme now with all the changes so I will be curious to see a finished block.

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  7. I am looking forward to seeing how these new fabric choices work out for you. I was really liking your flamingo fabrics, sometimes things just don't work out how we imagine.

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  8. Good luck reaching your goal can't wait to see how it finishes up!

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  9. That's what definitely makes a mystery a challenge. Good luck with your changes.

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  10. I just noticed you also have green flamingos! I'm sure you will figure out your color issues and it will all come together.

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  11. Looking forward to seeing how your changes will look, at the end of January.

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  12. Black would be a good grounding fabric! Those pink fabrics in the sunlight just shimmer! I know you will come up with a solution that is just right!

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    1. Thanks, Terry! I always remember a home decorating show I saw many years ago, where the designer said that every room needs a little bit of black. Hopefully it will work here too!

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  13. I like the black too. Like you, I would have tinkered around with the colours and I'm sure you'll make it work.

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  14. The black is on the money. I also love those warm pinks -such depth and richness. Promising!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jillian! They seem to be working out. :D

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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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