••• For a week now I have been working on my next project. It still doesn't have a name yet, but I'm working on that too. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that my black & white stash wasn't as big as I thought. A number of you sent me some of yours to help me out. I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your generosity. They have made a wonderful addition to this piece.

After hours upon hours of making and trimming HST's, I finally have something to show. Here is the first completed section. I need your honest opinion, because I am seriously considering changing one of the fabrics. I'm not saying which one isn't working for me because I'm hoping you'll tell me I'm off my rocker and to leave it alone.

You're off your rocker...leave it alone!!! Seriously!!!!!

••• I knew you would be here, especially at this hour. But...now that I am looking at this photo I see another one that should go. The two of them are drawing my eye and they aren't suppose to.

Yup...here I am...got home from work just before midnite...and getting my daily fix! LOL

So, are all the blocks going to be the same? I can't imagine that once you have the whole thing put together that one or 2 little triangles are really going to be jumping out & screaming "Look at me!!!" Maybe you should wait till you've made some other blocks & look at them together to decide if they're still a distraction??
And I'm with you on squaring up all those hst's...drives me nuts! Which is another reason I'd think long & hard before taking it apart & changing fabrics. But, maybe that's just me.

well, my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but is there a piece in there that isn't a true white? When I was making my b/w quilt I ended up with a couple like that, and to tell the truth I was sorry I didn't take them out. It didn't seem to be noticable at the time, but I can spot them a mile away now it is on my bed.

I LOVE it! It is so graphic.

••• No, that's not it. I'm only using true whites except for the batiks that are a little muddy.

Angela, that part wouldn't bother me as I have made double of almost all the HST's because I am trying to keep each section scrappy.

I'm having a problem with the value of the two, and of course they are in two different sections. I was really pleased with how well most of the points came out on the first try so it won't be too much more work. I'm pretty sure they are going to be replaced, but not right now. It's late, and I am tired. Tomorrow I need to bind the challenge quilt and then I'll get back to this one.

If it's for you, change it. It will drive you crazy everytime you look at it.

If it's for someone else, I say leave it. If we don't see the problem, they probably won't either.

I think it looks great.

Well I don't see it.
I need a clue now?????

I love that pink. I am making a quilt right now that is all hot pinks for a new mom and she will love it.

J
I see two that don't go for my eyes they look way out of place to me, But you are the maker so it's all up to you.
I can't wait to see it all together, I am working on getting lots of b/w to make me a quilt for just me. Don't have a patteren in mind as of yet.
Have a good day.
Chris

I don't want anyone to get mad at me but when I looked at it the red/w white swirls drew me right to it.It's not so bad and I would probably leave it.
Becky

I agree with Becky about the red with white swirls being the eye-catcher for me, but I wouldn't touch it. I think in the scheme of the whole quilt it will likely fall right into place and not stand out.

Lisa

Wow! This is going to be beautiful.
There are 2 fabrics that looks fine as they are but could give you fits depending on how they are cut.
On the top pink/red triangle, to the right, that small polka dot looks like it goes from small black dots to large black dots. If that is suppose to read a more "light", that may give you a problem unless it is fussy cut.
Then in the bottom pink/red triangle, just to the left of that, again, depending on where it is cut it may read more as "dark" instead of light??????

It is looking very good! Could it be you are unhappy with the lower left quadrant? Somehow, there is a secondary triangular pattern that appears in the other 3 corners more strongly than there. Looking closely, all the long sides of the triangles that touch the red are light except one in that corner has too much black. The one that inserts next to that piece is questionable--it reads half light and half dark (might be a little happier if it were a bit darker because it is a key piece! The two white with thick black lines are bold...they could look better if the ones surrounding them were a bit more clearly light or dark. Did you know Fabric Fusion is going out of business? They had some black and whites left Wednesday when I went (but are now 50% off so not sure how much is left now)! Fabric Fusion is in Mequon, you might want to call them if your stash is slim (if you are unfamilar with that store which will be closed in a week or so--they specialize in "art" type fabrics). Patchedworks usually has a good selection, but they are **$! It looks like you have a lot already, but if you feel the need to get more you might want to call and see what Fabric Fusion has left cause it is a great price!

••• This is what I wanted to hear/read, You picking it apart. First off, the reds don't bother me at all as long as they read red. In the end there will not be enough red in the piece to distract, only highlight.

I think Indycat hit it on the head, but those two are not the ones I'm having problems with, because they still read light to me. At first glance I was having problems with the stripe in the bottom left corner, but now that I look again, it is actually the other half of that HST is not dark enough. The other one is straight up on the top of the red swirl. That bullseye is popping way too much.

I'm wondering if I am just making the units too small? Maybe if they were bigger you could see more of the design and then I wouldn't be having this problem.

Oh, ImaQuilter found it before I could even post this. She is absolutely right. And now she has me going shopping to boot. Thanks, I'll give them a call.

Carol, thank you for your vote of confidence, I'm really hoping so because I have an ulterior motive with this one.

I really appreciate all your input. I'll post the new photo when I get it fixed.

Ohhhh, that I should try to critique something that you are putting together. Here is what I saw and actually in the order I'm gonna say.

1 - I don't know if it is the placement but the triangle got blurred by it's upper right neighbor.

2 - Pulls the eye in an outward direction as opposed to looking at the piece as a whole. I know this is impossible to control unless you want to do a lot of fussy cutting

3 - I originally thought the problem was the piece on the opposite side of the square but when I look at it, all the other three pieces say red and this one sez white to me.

That just shows to go ya, you asked for one, I saw five. lolllll

And as many people look at this block, that's how many guesses you'll have. We all see differently.

It's a beautiful block, jayardi. Very striking!!!! The quilt will undoubtedly be spectacular.

I agree with Ima and Carol, but I had to study the block hard to see it. I'm not sure how large this block is, or how many blocks will be in the finished quilt. With many blocks, this may be just fine as long as it's not in the center of the finished quilt. Just be aware of these couple of fabrics and their propensity to "read" darker or lighter, depending on how you cut them. As the others have said, if this is for you and it will bother you, change it. If it is a gift, there's a good chance no one else will notice. Remember, you asked us to look for a problem. Now if this is a challange quilt, or one you are having judged, I would change it. All that being said, I love the premise. This will be a striking quilt.

••• Don't worry Nancy, I did ask and you are helping me more this way than if I had just shown the photo. On the whole you are correct and I have tossed some aside because they didn't read right. Will be on the lookout a whole lot closer so I won't have to do any more ripping in the future.

Now, for you Paus, when I read your response (in e-mail) I hadn't realized you attached a photo. Certainly makes it easier to understand what you are talking about. For the most part I do disagree with you but you did point out another factor I hadn't noticed. Those three corners all have stripes, which means I really should change the fourth or make sure when I change the bottom left it definitely needs to be a non-stripe.

This is my version of the corn 'n beans block. I have always wanted to try this block because of the optical illusion it gives. I've changed some of the color placements to give it more oomph!

Gotta go, breakfast is ready.

well I'm no expert but the left hand side does seem a little different looking then the middle and right hand side to me.The pattern just doesn't show the same on that side to me.I have a quilt right now that one particular block is a stand out and it's the one quilt I haven't quilted, I'm not happy with that block, so to change or not to change? It is one of my prettiest quilts but that one block really bothers me. So if what ever is bothering you it will be easier to fix now then when set into the quilt.I still haven't decided if I'm gonna undo my quilt to remove that one block or not.ayour block is very pretty though, and may not make a big difference when put with other blocks, you may want to wait til you have a few more made before deciding.

jayardi on first glance I thought the block was beautiful. I still think it is beautiful. However, if we glance or look at something long enough we could all make ourselves 'nutsy poo' I think the key here should be 'scrappy' as you say.

For me personally on something like this when things just do not seem to be right is when there is any fabric that has direction like straight or curving lines. If they do not line up properly or meet another design square-on/right-on then to me it throws things off because all around is free form. Squiggles, floating squares and circles do not distract me. But anything that indicates direction to me can throw something off if I look at it long enough.

Again, I think the block is beautiful. It is meant to be 'scrappy' as you say. I like it the way it is. Once you have all of your corn and beans together, you most likely will not even notice the value difference in one particular block. You really should not because again the keyword to me is "scrappy."

I think you should make another block and then another and you will see that it really is not necessary to overly concern yourself with some minor value issues that are really not noticed on first glance.

I think you should just have fun and share the rest of your blocks with us.....lol...

JMHO,

Susan

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