Friday, February 01, 2008

Turquoise?

I've now gotten 75 string diamond blocks done out of the 200 I need. that's enough for 3 arms of my lone star, not that I've started sewing them together yet. I've been thinking of turquoise as the background, but I might need to go with orange or yellow to keep it from being too dark. Or maybe I just need to put more yellows and orange into the blocks. Decisions, decisions.

The more blocks I get done, the more I love this project. Which is a good thing I suspect. Which is not to say I wouldn't have a whole lot of fun with these blocks doing some other project. I think I'll have to make extra blocks just for that.

I wish I had more of this particular turquoise fabric - it's by Bali Fabrications, which doesn't appear to be making fabric anymore. sob. They were my absolute favorite. Gorgeous intense hand-dyed fabrics that were soft and easy to hand quilt through (as compared to a certain other batik company that starts with the letter H).

My order of fabric arrived from eQuilter yesterday - wooohoo! So incredibly dangerous, but I didn't do toooo much damage. Got some lighter-toned fabrics which I'm already throwing into this quilt. And believe it or not, I bought two brown fabrics. Brown. They were by Bali Fabrications so I figured had to get them while I could. They are most definitely NOT going into this quilt.

I have a list of links and books and movies for you, but once again I am going to blow that off to go sew instead. I leave you with this picture of Pokey, who most definitely is not supposed to be sleeping on top of my craft drawers and especially not on the unfinished Humility Quilt top. And yes, my place always looks this messy.

It is horribly gray and gloomy and raining here. One forecast said snow tonight - eeeeek. I'm trying to avoid going out in it, but I'm running out of food. Good thing the Italian take away two doors down is open. I hope. Penne Risi et Bisi is calling my name.

30 comments:

Unknown said...

This is just SO sensational. I think the turquoise is an inspired choice. This was a great jumble of happy color to wake up to this morning.

Brenda said...

Hi Tonya: I really, really love the turquoise. It calms and brightens it all at the same time, but then again, I'm for anything in the greens and green-blue range. as for weather, we're just out of the deep freeze (-40 and worse) today in Winnipeg, but there's lots more winter to come here, so I'm envious of your more moderate weather. But the cold gives me lots of time to quilt!

Hedgehog said...

Just love your stringly diamonds!!

Joyce said...

The turquoise looks great but then I'm sure many different colors would work well.

Clare said...

The turquoise does look good. I agree with Joyce - any bright colour would do.

Brendas' comment made me laugh. It's foul here today. At least we're not in the UK! I could do with a huge plate of penne risi et bisi too.

Sandy's Quilter's Block said...

WOW, I love the turquoise fabric! Too bad you don't have more but is there enough to do the background?
Love, love, love how this is turning out. Know what you mean about the weather and not wanting to go out foraging for food! I am mother hubbard today.

Gypsy Quilter said...

Really love the turquoise! I bet if you put a bit of that fabric throughout the diamonds and a bit less navy/black, it would work very well. What do you think?

Anonymous said...

The turquoise is perfect! It really offsets the oranges and yellows. The whites are just enough to add a spark and break up the saturation. Forget about the gloomy outdoors!

Tracey in CT said...

The turquoise is a really good choice for the background. It will really make the star stand out.

Anonymous said...

Do a new search on www.quiltshops.com and ask it for bali fabrications. Hit "Thumbnails" and you get about 8 pages of hits. Big Horn Quilts in Wyoming has a turquoise that might be the one that you have. I LOVE IT on your quilt! Go for it!

Susan said...

I love it with the turquoise - it has a calming effect on the scrappiness. I think the orange would jazz it up, but maybe too much? I went to quiltshops.com and put in Bali Fabrications. I found that Bighorn Quilts and Backdoor Quilt Shoppe had tons of them, as well as a few shops that had some of them. Might try the Tonga batiks, too. Is the one you have an 1895 series batik? I know Dakota Cabin Quilts had ordered the entire line, but I don't know what they still have.

http://www.backdoorquiltshoppe.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?product=batiks_main&productid=Fab006358&pid=1#Fab006358

http://www.bighornquilts.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?keywords=bali%20fabrications

I don't know if those links will show up, they are so long.

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh tonya that is so wonderful! I love the torquoise background.

Magpie Sue said...

I agree, that turquoise adds just the right zing.

I have promised a very structured baby quilt for my DD's friend. Sure wish I could do something more like this!

Holly said...

I LOVE the turquoise. I love the quilt. Beautiful. Stay warm and dry!
~Holly ~~ who has tried commenting for several days and blogger finally let through :)

Unknown said...

The turquoise is fantastic! And your kitty is so cute!

laura west kong said...

That lone star is going to be THE BEST!!! I always love to see the bits and pieces of black and white prints mixed in with bright colors. The turquoise looks wonderful, but orange or yellow would be great too!

Lily Mulholland said...

Happy New Year to you Tonya :)

WOw! This is going to be eye-popping that's for sure. What about teal? Got any of that?

Unknown said...

I can understand why you love that turquoise so much - this will be awesome when it's done - sounds like you've found something good and colourful to chase those wintry grey days away

sewprimitive karen said...

Darling Pokey. There are still scads of Bali Fabrications showing up on quiltshops.com, esp. at Bighorn and Backdoor. Oh do I love that Celery Batik. Snow in Paris and take out Italian food, it sounds like the most heavenly dream.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

As I said on my own blog recently, you can't have too much turquoise. I bought 5 yards, I think. I'm using it in my "Fourth Day" star quilt.

quiltmom anna said...

HI Tonya,
The turquoise is gorgeous and will be wonderful to highlight the star. One problem I encountered when making a lone star is losing the points if the background color is too close to the fabric in the points. As long as you have your string diamonds with turquoise in the middle you shouldn't encounter that problem.
It is going to be a real beauty- I love the rich colors that you have chosen.

We hope the cold weather lightens up soon. I live in western Canada where it has been -30 Celcius with wind chills up to -50. It makes you want to hibernate like a bear.
We really don't get many days like this but a week of it seems like forever when it occurs.
Bring on the warmer weather wherever you live in the Northern Hemisphere:)
Regards from a Western Canadian Quilter,
Anna

Carol E. said...

I love your bright colored-scraps in this, and the turquoise is super duper!! Gorgeous.

Lea said...

Wow! Turquoise background is brilliant! Gosh, I adore your color sense.

Fabric Fanatic said...

I do love the turquoise, but I also thought that coral might be a good one too.

Kaffe Fasset has a wonderful shot cotton in both turquoise and coral...lol.

Decisions, decisions!

YankeeQuilter said...

Love the turquoise...hope Bighorn has some left! The Kaffe Fasset shot cotton is not quite as intense as the one you have and is a bit flimsey for that heavy of a quilt (I tried using something like it on a star quilt and by the time it came to quilt it had these very strange shapes in the corners...)

Purple Pam said...

Tonya - The turquoise is wonderful. The whole thing is wonderful. I love the brightness of the colors. Do you want some of my orange/purple psycho fabric? I would love to see it in your star.

Christine said...

Love all your latest pictures of Pokey. She is so sweet. What's Habibi been up to? You are very busy with your quilts. I am doing housework today. YUCK!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Turquoise is AWESOME behind that lone star... absolutely FABULOUS! I'm sure you can find more searching the web. Happy hunting!

atet said...

I really like the turquoise, though you may need to lighten it up. What if the background was more than one color? It might be interesting to see what happens. Hope you got your Italian food!

julieQ said...

Very pretty in your colors! Love your strings...