Thursday, December 16, 2021

Orphan Quilt day 2


 I thought this would be a breeze.  After all, the blocks are already made, right?

I spent most of the day yesterday just eliminating the blocks that definitely didn't go with the others.

Like I took out the blocks that had antique gold in them.  And the ones that were brown.  They didn't seem to go with the pinks, yellows, and purples.

I used two applique blocks that I made in 2004 or something.  I bought all the patterns from a cute little shop in Fallbrook CA.  But, after making two, I lost interest and then years later I put the fabrics back in the stash and gave all 12 patterns away.  The big stars are from a Jan Patek quilt (Country Paths I think).  The colors weren't right for the rest of the quilt.  The tree and house are from Sleigh Bells by Jan Patek.  The little girls are from a CW (Barbara Brackman) quilt I made that needs another border.  And the flying geese are just a nice leftover.

I lucked out by having the sprig print from the tree and the green homespun from the house still in my stash so I could repeat them in a strip under the flying geese.

The thing of it is. . . it feels like it shouldn't have taken me so long to figure this out.  But, again, it's not what looks good together.  It's what doesn't look good together so there's a lot of auditioning.

It measures 36 1/2 square so things are divisible by 2 or 4 or 6 or 9 or 12.  This is the perfect size as I work on the next border.

The thing about Orphan Quilts is, that they are very busy.  There is no way to get around that.

Robin

7 comments:

Julierose said...

Busy= a lot to look at!! A very different vibe type quilt for sure...
but a lot of fun...hugs, Julierose

Nancy said...

Remembering all the blocks you showed us yesterday I can imagined it could take a very long time to decide which and how to put them together in a quilt. To do it in a day is amazing! I think it looks great so far. Looking forward to the borders and/or whatever you do next. I love the upper left wreath block, and the little girls.

Rebecca in AK said...

I think you have made a great start on your orphan quilt. Quite a puzzle fitting all the different sizes together. I have a lot of “extra” blocks around here I would like to try that with.

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

I think you've done a great job arranging these random pretty blocks! I have never done an "orphan" quilt. It will be fun to see your next step with this (border).

Cathy said...

I like busy! I like orphan block quilts! I love your orphan block top!

Michele McLaughlin said...

Robin, this looks GRAND!!! What a great way to use up orphan blocks! Your post really inspired me to relook at my orphan blocks! Thank you!

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Oh, I love it! And, yes we do spend too much time contemplating something that would look fine either way. This is gorgeous. Glad you had a good snow/sew day!

Mailing cookies, sled from the 70's, Memory tree, and a belt.

I was trying to find a recipe for gingerbread boys in my grandmother's old Betty Crocker cook book from the late 40's early 50's...