Monday, March 09, 2015

Oak Leaf Progress

Oak Leaf BlocksI felt like I needed a few more scrappy oak leaf blocks for my quilt, but ... it wasn't immediately obvious in what colors I should make them. The first 14 blocks were made in the designated colors of last year's rainbow scraps challenge (with two extra blocks made during the month of black/brown/neutral) which provided me with a pretty good distribution around the color wheel.

I decided I could add a red-violet block, but any other color choice would likely overlap with the colors in an existing block.

Two new pale low volume Oak Leaf BlocksAs I looked through the existing blocks, I thought about how adding the dark, neutral black and brown leaf blocks at the end of last year had made the colors in the other blocks pop which lead me to think about adding some pale, low-volume Oak Leaf blocks to the pile.

I made these two, then auditioned them with on the design wall with the rest.

Oak Leaf Blocks
The exercise reminded me of my personal scrap quilt mantra: Light, Bright, Dull, Dark.  I realized that I hadn't been thinking of this as a scrap quilt, but, of course, it certainly is (and the leaf blocks have literally been constructed from scraps ... doh!)

When I feel stuck when asking "what color," the answer is often found by considering characteristics other than hue and thinking about a balance of "light, bright, dull, dark."

I thought the two low volume oak leaf blocks worked with the rest, so I kept going and made one more in pale blues.  I also made that red-violet block that seemed to be missing ... then I spent a lot of time arranging, re-arranging, taking photos, converting them to black and white, and re-arranging them again.

Below is the final arrangement of the 16 blocks on my design wall. I am joining the list for Design Wall Monday on Patchwork Times.

Final arrangement of Oak Leaf Blocks

16 comments:

Needled Mom said...

The new blocks look awesome. Your mantra really works in this quilt. I can't wait to see this one finished.

Sewing Up A Storm said...

Beautiful, the balance is perfect. I never heard that before: light, brightm, dull, dark........I will have to remember that.

Julierose said...

Oh I like your additions. I may steal your mantra--this is a lovely piece. It will make you smile I am sure...hugs, Julierose

Anonymous said...

Your arrangement looks great! I love these blocks and they are on my wish list. =) Looks like another beautiful finish is coming up!

Terri said...

Fun to see how other quilters arrive at their designs. Love your leaves.
Hugs

Mystic Quilter said...

Oh Yes! Your extra blocks look great with all your brighter leaves - lovely!

maryl said...

Your leaves are gorgeous...I'll be interested to see the final set. Will you let the leaf points meet? Or add a little sashing between?

sophie said...

It's almost impossible to answer a question from a "no reply blogger" (unless you happen to know them and their email address), but to answer Maryl's question, the setting will be VERY plain (yes, with sashing between the blocks), to let the leaves shine ... or, at least, that's my intention.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

I am glad you wrote about your though process. I like what it created.

Quiltdivajulie said...

MARVELOUS - and thanks for sharing your process!!

Bridget said...

That's an effective final arrangement and I love your dicho.

ES said...

Interesting thought process !

Linda in Calif. said...

Well, - now that's a lot of food for thought. Very interesting. I've heard the light, bright, dull, dark before - probably from you. But now I see it in action and it totally works! I always love all your quilts. (I'm so jealous!) You've really done an outstanding job on this one.

Julie Kaye from KS said...

Great pattern. Your colors are terrific.

Nann said...

Light/bright/dull/dark....I think I intuited that. Thanks for putting it into words. Now that you've made all the leaves I look forward to seeing how you will set them.

Kate North said...

These are looking great! I keep thinking I should do some, but...

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