Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons

Well, I have already hit the first bump in the road on Sedona Star.  In the ring around the centre star I planned to use a dark and light purple.  I ordered the fabrics, Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, from two different stores, which I now see was a mistake!  You can't compare values in photos from one online shop to the values in photos from another.  Here is what I ended up with:

When you see them in real life there is even less difference than in the photo.  Somehow the photo makes the one on the left seem lighter, which is probably what happened to the website's photo too.

Anyway, it won't do, so I am going to try again and add a couple more purples to my next order.  One way or another, I'm going to get enough contrast there to make the piecing worthwhile.  But it means that I can't start that band, or all the little appliqued circles, until next month.  Argh!  But months 3, 4 and 5 will be pretty fast, with just the paper pieced stars, so I am counting on catching up then!

But I can do the middle star and the log cabin points, which will be in these fabrics:

Apologies for the grainy photo, but the colours are reasonably true.  It has been very interesting to see the Kaffe Fassett shot cottons in person.  They are quite lightweight and a somewhat loose weave.  I was afraid they would ravel like mad in the wash, but they were pretty good.  They do come out of the dryer, though, looking like those broomstick skirts that used to be popular!

They call them "shot" cottons because the warp and weft threads are different colours on some of them.  The bottom fabric in the photo above looks like this up close:

The lengthwise warp threads here are lime green, and the crosswise weft threads are magenta.  If you are a painter you know that red and green mix together to make brown.  This fabric is called "ginger."

I like the way the weave gives some added dimension to the solid colours.  I am a little disappointed that the top two yellows and the rust don't have the same contrast between warp and weft.  I am concerned that the colours will be flat.  I am also concerned that the fabrics themselves won't be flat - they are awfully wrinkly.  Well, I will start with the log cabin points and see how it works out!

The black background fabric, by the way, is also part of the quilt.  Five yards of it!

Celtic Spring

Well, I'm feeling much better now!  I started a new project last night, which has proven to be the ideal thing, AND, my fabric finally arrived today!  Tomorrow I will wash it and take photos for you.  In the meantime, this is what I've been doing:

This is the project, Celtic Spring by Lavender & Lace:

And these are all the gorgeous threads:

This project has been just the ticket to get my energy flowing again!  It is a dream to stitch.  The fabric is 28 count Cashel linen in Willow Green stitched 2 over 2, and after the 18 count aida of my kittens and the 32 count linen of my Juin sampler, the stitches seem positively huge!  Both my other counted thread projects became quite heavy to stitch as the threads built up.  This one has hardly any resistance at all as you stitch through the fabric.

This is my first Lavender & Lace project.  I could see right away that it would be nice to stitch, because the colours flow so logically from one to the next.  There is no "confetti" that requires you to scatter the colours all over.  I can often memorize several rows at once, e.g. "four rows of four," or "three rows of five."  With the kittens piece I had to consult the chart with every row.  I have a feeling this new piece is going to go very quickly!  Yes, there will be three more seasons after this one...  You can see them here.

As a rule, purple is not my most favourite colour.  I never go into the fabric store and see a purple fabric that I "have to have."  But I really am loving the beautiful purples in this project.  When you see them in real life they are mouth watering!