This was from the Spectrum Charm Swap, a 5 yard swap. I signed up twice. Anyway, isn't this fabric yummy?!
I put it together with all my other charms from charm swaps (the 4x5 Charm Swap, a 5 yard swap that Katie put together and I think one more swap).
Well, this is a LOT of fabric. Should I be embarrassed? lol. Hopefully this isn't incentive for someone to come and rob me. lol.
Anyway, I went through and pulled about 180 of the best and brightest, or at least the ones that really stuck out to me and this is what I came up with.
I found out on Sunday that a boy in my old neighborhood is sick. A couple people told me about it on facebook and really I have no idea what to say. I haven't even responded to them. Just thinking about it hurts my heart and makes me want to cry for him and his family. Now that we are so far away, and really I don't know what I could do if I were there either, I feel even more at a loss of what to do. I keep thinking that I should make him a quilt! :) But then I look at my house and think that I should probably finish moving in and getting our lives in order. But after sorting the above pile of charms I couldn't stop myself for picking some out for him.
Now I am a total loss for the layout. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
I pulled 180 charms and decided to just go big. Originally I was going to do something for him, but I think the bigger the better. That way the whole family can cuddle with him under it. (Ok, I'm not making it that big, but he's only 2, so really I'm sure anything will work. And I know people love odd sized quilts. lol.)
Layout #1:
I must be OCD when it comes to patterns. I like random when other people do them, but I can't. I think even if everyone voted for this one I couldn't make it. lol. ;)
I must be OCD when it comes to patterns. I like random when other people do them, but I can't. I think even if everyone voted for this one I couldn't make it. lol. ;)
Layout #2:
I decided to try some zigzags.? Yeah, not so much. I ran out of the right colors and started to really dislike it. It's not so hot in the picture either. I think if I had just the right colors and values it would be cool, but not with this.
I decided to try some zigzags.? Yeah, not so much. I ran out of the right colors and started to really dislike it. It's not so hot in the picture either. I think if I had just the right colors and values it would be cool, but not with this.
Layout #3:
Then I took them all down, sorted by color and placed them back up.
It's a little mixed, but still has some order. I think I like this one, but I still don't love it.
Perhaps I should scratch this idea and do something totally different. Maybe add some sashing between it all and turn the squares on the diagonal. I don't know. What else can you do with charms? I have enough of them you'd think I'd know. lol. ;)
So here's to you Ty. Hopefully I can get this done sooner rather than later!
p.s. If you read our Iowa stories from yesterday, I have to tell you! Neil went down in the basement and tried to unplug the old telephone. He can't!! It's so old that it won't come off the wall and he couldn't even unplug the cord from the receiver! lol. Is that creepy or what?! He said when he picked it up it was just static. It did ring once while he was home but he didn't want to answer it. He told me, "what if someone is there and says, 'I want to kill you...'". Thanks babe! You totally freaked me out now!!! lol. But after he checked it out he would love to answer it. He's pretty certain it's just the internet setting it off. I sure hope that's all it is! ;) Stay tuned for more stories! :) (oh, and we did finally talk to the landlord yesterday and batman should be coming back to take care of the bats soon. Yay!
Wow! That is an intense stack of charms. You have many more great projects to come with all of those. You definitely have more than me. Can't wait to see what you create! Good luck with the phone!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I dont know what to say either. Just hope that that beautiful quilt is gonna bring comfort to the people who need it. My favourite version is number 3.
ReplyDeleteI hope I will finally recieve my charms from the 5-yard swap (yep, I'm the last one) to make something pretty like that.
I like the 3rd layout the best, but I have a think for rainbow.
ReplyDeleteI hope the little boy gets better soon. It's awful when little ones get sick.
Your stories about the phone have been cracking me up. You look too young for this reference, but I think it would be great if when you picked up the phone, it was that time/temperature announcement that we used to call back in the 70s/80s when I was little. You'd be getting your own little personal update. (Can you imagine doing that now? Calling a number to find out the time and temperature?)
ReplyDeleteI like #3 a lot - it's really perfect all through the top 2/3. I hope you don't mind me sharing my opinion but it feels like somewhere in the blue/indigo area it loses something. Not enough purple, maybe? But it's really close! Have fun with it!
Elizabeth
lwghosts at yahoo dot com
What a great stack of charms! Wish mine was looking like that, but I'm missing a few shades!
ReplyDeleteI like the 3rd quilt, but you seem to have a lot of blue in there..maybe some more of the red orange and yellow would round it down a bit =D
I have a huge stack of rainbow charms, too, and found a pattern for a "coin" quilt that involves making strips of charms-cut-in-half (finished size being 4.5x2, I think??). I couldn't figure out how to link the pattern on my iPads but it was on connecting threads.com. It was easy to modify to whatever size you want. I plan on doing a few that have one strip in each rainbow color (or at least red, orange, yellow, green, ble, and purple...poor indigo, being left out!). I like the pattern because it's a decent way to do order but also disorder, at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI like the 3rd layout best,,,and you couldn't pay me to answer that phone! (I live in a 130+ year old home that's been in my husband's family since a year after it was built. I've had those kinds of things happen,,,more than once.)
ReplyDeleteThat's an incredible stack, Diane! I'd love to join one of these rainbow swaps, but I have to go smaller. I don't know if I could make enough excuses to my husband to justify five yards! :)
ReplyDeleteHm, it seems everyone likes #3 but I think my favorite is #1. I know you mentioned sashing but maybe adding some neutral solid squares into the mix? I've done that with a few quilts lately to balance out the prints.
ReplyDeleteI really like number 3 - it seems to be the most pulled together. Now your basement phone really creeps me out. We had about a year when the spare TV would switch on by itself at any time of the day or night. The only thing that stopped it was turning off the power at the wall. Our ghosty friend finally got bored of the game and moved on, or it was my father-in-law making his presence known!
ReplyDeleteLove your large charm stash and so sorry to hear about the poor sick child. I like layout 3 the best, I think it looks "happy".
ReplyDeleteWhat about adding some white to the mix but keeping to the rainbow colours similar to this one perhaps: http://quietplay.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/wip-random-rainbows.html
ReplyDeleteor perhaps this one: http://blueelephantstitches.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/granny-square-quilt-block-tutorial.html
I really like the rainbow layout. There's a cross layout that would look wonderful in these charms. Here's a link to an example:
ReplyDeletehttp://sewkatiedid.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/cross-quilt-done/
How about keeping with the rainbow theme but starting with the reds in the center and build the rainbow out from there? In my mind you'd end up with a kind of rainbow swirl effect.
ReplyDeleteI really love nr 3 just the way it is!!! Looks wonderful!!! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDelete