I have so very much to learn!!! Starting with the ability to be less impulsive in my quilting process. I tend to get an idea in my head and not think it through enough before diving in to my fabric, rotary cutter in hand.
For this quilt, I fear that simply will not work. I have created more work for myself, since, I think ripping seams out and reworking these strips to be as close as possible in the center, is the only way to remedy this design. I think it would also make the circle…. more uuuhhh, circular! What was I thinking?
I love this design and while I did make a very informal sketch prior to beginning, I didn’t exactly think about the construction of the quilt very much. I have never worked with triangles before, so this is really new ground for me.
I get that I needed to make the angles sharper and the space in the center as close together as possible, and you can see I started doing that on the outer ones.
Maybe I should have added white to the top of each section and sewn together long triangular strips. I instead used long rectangles and cut the angles before sewing them to the white in between pieces. Ugh!! My circle is only halfway done and my idea was to do two halves of the circle, sew in a small half circle center and then sew the two halves together Not sure if any of this is making any sense.
I love the way it could look. For any of you “superquilters” out there, who have any idea what I’m talking about, do you think there is a way to fix it or am I going to have to abandon my original idea and opt for an appliqued circle in the center? Definitely NOT my first choice of options since I was envisioning a totally pieced look.
I shall be taking my very humbled self “back to the drawing board” to see if I can make some sense of this over the weekend!!! I think I’ll try a smaller version first as a mock-up, probably what I should have done in the first place. Hoping to have a successful update next week.
Have a great weekend!!
~~~karen
Well Karen ~ I find this quilt and its’ design to be quite perfect. I am amazed at the amount of math that is involved in creating a quilted masterpiece! The angles, measuring, length, symmetry, or not, are amazingly depicted in the finished product. I love how creative you are and the vision for creating what your mind sees. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out BUT I wouldn’t take any of it out ~ I love what you’ve got going.
Have a wonderful weekend. I can’t believe how busy you are!!
i know the feeling i just put some squares back and remade some more because the first i made was not the same size as my other ones but i am just starting and don’t know enough to help you
I love it – but it’s interesting what you say… sometimes I have no idea what is going to happen until I do it and then see it! I don’t know what they says about my spacial reasoning skills…..
i LOVE this one, Karen!
Can you assemble it in two sections and then sew those two pieces together on the diagonal? Kind of like FITF’s block here:http://www.filminthefridge.com/2010/07/28/a-quick-tutorial-the-starburst-block/
Then maybe you could square it up later and get the off-center look of the “burst.” Hope that made sense
Hi karen,
I believe that if you keep on going you are going to need a center piece to cover off those ends, but why not go with it? I have done some interesting things like this and don’t stop, who gives a hoot if you didn’t figure all the math out before hand. Some of my best work is done like this, no pattern, just go for it!
Many super quilters may not have any better idea than what you started with. I find the quilt police of perfection are just another reworked version of someone’s other pattern. Your is original and I’d love for you to follow my blog. I’m just rounding up 11 artist to make one centennial quilt for 2013. Many new innovative ideas will come from this collaboration.
http://www.goodearthquilting.blogspot.com
Karen, I love the vision you have for the quilt. I imagine that you’re really frustrated as sometimes making our visions into a reality isn’t that easy. I can see what you were thinking about the semi-circle. I think you can still join the two halves, but the shape probably won’t be circular. I say go for it! You never know, it might come out differently than you imagined, but you may like it!
i was going to pin the starburst block tutorial, too. but, you’d have a central line with many starts instead of one pinpointed center. good luck!
IN hindsight I think you could have started with your half circle on your design wall with your pieced colored pieces coming out and then built the white in between each of the color sections to achieve your designs. I think this one is fabulous – just not exactly where your drawing wanted you to go. Your improvisational feel is always specatular so just you could just continue to build this one until it feels finished. Just my thoughts – good luck with it. Missed you at Modern last week……
Thanks Irelle, I know now that there were likely LOTS of better ways I could have gone about the construction of this quilt. I wish I had consulted with you first-HA!! I have been busy re-working it and am now at the last piece and stuck on how to finish. I’m super close and I can almost say I successfully problem solved this one!!!