Dance with Values

I'd decided a few weeks ago I was going to make this quilt.. I have been going full steam ahead since Friday and have all the blocks sewn!

I started off using the line Urban Cowgirl, then added in some bold colors a la me! Meaning, subtle colors are just not my cup of tea. Had ya' noticed? Examples:

So yeah, I like pink and dark pink, and turqoise, and bits of purple and lime green - none of which are in this quilt. But I really do need to break out of my color comfort zone. So I gave it a shot.

I took this photo yesterday to see how the values were looking. I decided more whites and more darks were needed and replaced and added to this layout last night. I could have played it really safe and done all white or cream for those places where light is called for (center of every other row) and (hour glass blocks) but I prefer more color. I read on another blog that sometimes when the eye has to work a little to see the values change, it can be more appealing. So, I'm going with that here. :-)

As usual, Duke was a big help.

Taking a picture is always a great help. I just noticed I have a green center block in this row where light centers should be. Gotta fix that! My blocks will be trimmed to 4 inches while Rachel's are trimmed to 5, because my Urban Cowboy charm squares were 5 inches. This was easy enough to adjust on the hour glass block but when I came to the square on point block the math did not tabulate in my brain (as usual) so I winged it! I went with 3 inch center squares and 3.25 inch corner squares ( which you cut in half ). My rule of thumb...when in doubt, guess!

Now to trim up those blocks and sew them all together!

Thank you for your kind words about Kyle both here and in private emails I received. My husband came up with a neat stencil to spray paint or carve into the grip tape on skateboards, for our locals to pay tribute. It's awesome. We live 7 doors down from our skate shop. It was raining when I told Jack about the stencil. He put his board in a big plastic bag and ran out the door to the shop to have his grip tape done.

I'm off to check out Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday. Hope to see you there!

Kris