Star Light and fabric choice

This is Star Light, the next quilt I made after the Alphabet Sampler. Don't have a picture of it finished, cuz that would be too organized. In this quilt I practised making small letters (as in non-capitals, not tiny) and used a different style of M and W - they look like knocked over capital E's and don't have angles. I don't like the effect nearly as well as when there are angles, but this method is easier.

Now I throw this quilt in here to illustrate a point about choosing fabric. The letters are scrappy, the background consistent. Consistent, but busy. It makes it hard to read the letters. It's not a disaster in this quilt, because the saying is well known, and there is an icy, starry quality to the whole thing: it shimmers and blinks. But is that an effect you want in your project?

So unless you are being deliberately obscure, choose letter/number fabric(s) that contrast well with the background.

Okay my next recommendation is that you use just one fairly solid looking fabric for either the characters OR for the background. If all the fabric is different you end up with something that looks like a ransom note. This isn’t as much of a problem in a sampler as it is when you have words strung together. You'll get to see my ransom notey looking quilt in October (gotta keep ya coming back for something).