On the happier side, I was able to find a legacy download link for the old Picasa plugin, and make it work with my new iPhoto. So we are back up and running! I may have to look into alternative photo storage options soon though, as I have used 50% of my free Picasa space and I certainly don't plan on paying. Any suggestions?
I spent a bit of time this morning setting up my sewing area. Here is where it is now:
I'll be honest, I miss my old desk. It had so many huge drawers and cool pull-outs. If only it wasn't so huge and heavy, I really wish it could have made the trip cross-country with me! I am getting lots of plastic drawers for this one, but they aren't as awesome as my old wooden drawers. Plus I discovered this morning that they are too short to accommodate my rolls of Heat N' Bond. Grr.
However, as you can see from this photo, the natural lighting in my new apartment is really wonderful. We have a corner spot so tons of huge windows and lots of light but almost no direct light - it's perfect! Here I have been reironing everything in my stash and sorting it out. That stack on the table isn't the full stash, some has already been transferred to drawers. Also this photo was taken with my boyfriend's fancy schmancy camera, which he has generously agreed to let me use for all future blogging needs. Now I just have to figure out how to use it!
In addition to getting my sewing area set up, I've still been devoting a significant amount of time to trying to figure out this new quilt. I decided last night that the square option just made more sense:
This version allows the vegetables to take center stage, and I can still have a fun design in the blocks between the veggies (the dark). Last night I was thinking that in-between design would be a log cabin.
In this version I shrunk the blocks down to 10" so I could have a fatter border, possibly with some fun bean applique on it (and a gnome! I really want to sneak in a gnome!)
With this tentative design in mind, it was time to figure out some color. For this I turned to the book in my stash that I use most often, "Color Play" by Joen Wolfrom. Seriously, I love this book. Most books I buy for a single project and don't look at ever again. This one I flip through pretty much before any project I make. She uses a lot of images which works for my visual mind, and I don't have to read any text at all to figure out what color combinations will work.
Now for this quilt, selecting colors has been very tough. One reason is that I have to work around a pre-defined palate of veggie colors, primarily green, orange, and red. Another reason is that this quilt is for my dad, so I need to try to tone down my usual tendency for really bright girly colors and think about what colors he would like, not what I would like.
Given that color palate, last night I went through all of my quilt show photos to find some that exhibited those colors. I was painfully reminded during the process of just how awful most of my quilt show photos are. To get the right colors you need to turn the flash off, but then they always come out blurry. And no, I have no clue who made any of these. Apologies.
This one I found especially striking. Of course, my photo sucks, but it uses reds, oranges, light greens, and some pinks, all standing out against that black background. This put the possibility of a black background in my head.
Here is another that makes use of yellow, orange, and green on black. It also throws in purple as an accent.
This was one of my favorites from PIQF. Of course my photo is awful. I have some close-ups below that show the colors better. This has rich purples, coral pinks, burnt oranges, and teal greens.
I think this next one does a great job with color. However, can I add magenta and purple to a quilt for a guy?
I pulled this one out thinking more about the purple/green/yellow connection, which I was seeing on many quilts.
Here's another, from Sisters, that pulls in purple with green and yellow.
And here is a photo of a veggie quilt! I had no idea I had this photo. I like the idea of making the background brown like soil, although her veggies don't pop out of the background as much as they could.
So from all of those photos, I thought of the idea of a bright quilt of red, orange, yellow, and bright/lime green, with a magenta or purple accent. Potentially with a black background. Then the question became: How should I shade those log cabin blocks? Most log cabins are half one shade, half another. Plus, my current quilt design just has a LOT of colors in it. How do I pick which log cabin is which color? Do I do a progression somehow? Here is where I was last night when I gave up:
(The circles are placeholders for veggie applique). You can see I didn't even finish coloring (also I was trying a few different coloring options and sort of threw my hands up). Sigh. I think the log cabin is limiting it. So either I do a different block (any suggestions?) or I am thinking of making my log cabin blocks 5" instead of 10" so I can fit a four pack in each square and do some pretty diamond shading.
Back to the drawing board!
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