the blue blog archives: thank you sir, may I have another?

My January block of the month is finished! And just in time too. This weekend I go in to get the next one. I can't wait!

I think it ended up being so pretty. Picturing your final result is so different when working with fabrics than with yarns. I really never would have picked out these fabrics (remember, this is a block of the month kit and the store has picked out the fabrics already), but now that I see them all pieced together, I find them so beautiful. I always think that I want bold, modern prints all the time, but I forget that each fabric will be used in small pieces, surrounded by all the other fabrics in the piece. Fabrics really do take on a different look when they're mixed together in a block or an entire quilt. It's not like a sweater that's just one yarn in one color(way), where you gotta love that yarn in that color 'cause that's all there is! I don't quite yet understand how different fabrics and colors work together, but I sure am enjoying watching it.

posted by alison at 9:25 am | in it's the bom!

Comments

Absolutely beautiful! You're as masterful a quilter as you are a knitter. Looking forward to seeing the next bloc!

Posted by: Cynthia at February 8, 2008 9:33 AM

Well done! Mixing fabrics really is a tough skill and the ladies at the Button Box are wonderful for help. I'm still sticking with the Westminster Fibers lot. The new Philip Jacobs stuff is calling me. When are you going to the BBox?? I could meet you over there.

Posted by: Carol at February 8, 2008 9:37 AM

so pretty, well done:)

Posted by: ambermoggie at February 8, 2008 10:22 AM

It came out perfect! It's looks great, I can't wait to see February's.

Posted by: Johanna at February 8, 2008 11:51 AM

Beautiful! I love the blue and green in the center, and the contrast with the cream and solid blacks. Really lovely. One of the things I love about quilting is how different fabrics can look depending on the quilt block - that light blue in the center almost reads as a solid, but if it was a larger piece? It would be so different! It's always such a fun experiment.

Posted by: jessie at February 8, 2008 11:52 AM

It looks great - I'm curious what the next block will be like.

Sometimes you can't predict the end results in knitting either - a garnment might be shaped differently from what you expected, striped yarn might pool and when knitting with two different yarns held together you can never be sure what you'll get. But it's still different from fabric, where every pattern works differently.

Posted by: Kristin at February 8, 2008 12:50 PM

Ooooh, Kristin, pooling - you know me, I can't stand pooling!

Posted by: ALISON at February 8, 2008 12:58 PM

Hmmm. It would seem like this would be one area where technology might be able to really help a lot. Since fit and drape aren't an issue for quilts like they are for garment, you're really just talking about the combination of fabric and shape, right?

It would seem like a reasonably not-terrible job to write software which would let you upload photos of fabrics and fill in a particular quilt pattern's blocks with them. Or maybe that's just my software developer side showing :)

Posted by: Emma B at February 8, 2008 3:31 PM

Emma, I'm pretty sure that's what Electric Quilt software does. I'm still a beginner, so I don't know for sure, but I think that it's exactly what you're talking about.

Posted by: ALISON at February 8, 2008 5:02 PM

That's one of the things I like about reading Alterknits. It's knitting, but a lot of the patterns combine completely different yarns, sometimes at different gauges, to make interesting tops. I don't think a lot of them are for me, but they all help remind me that I don't have to stick to knitting within the lines.

Posted by: Seanna Lea at February 8, 2008 5:02 PM

That is really beautiful. I keep thinking I should sew more (some), and then I pick up my needles and cast on another sweater. (The other day, I nearly bought a quilt kit, until I realized how much yarn I could buy instead.)

Posted by: Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) at February 8, 2008 7:47 PM

I LOVE to do BOM's because it is always a surprise!
Great job:) I did a whole podcast on all of the BOM's I have going on:)

Posted by: Allison at February 9, 2008 1:31 PM