August 17, 2018

When A Quilt Isn't Working

Have you ever been working on a quilt and then really didn't like the process anymore? I've been finding that with my Scattered Stars EPP quilt for the past few months.
EPP stars | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
I enjoyed piecing the stars together, but I'm not at all enjoying joining them together. I set out to join them randomly using two different grey fabrics for the background diamonds. I likened it to doing improv piecing. I wouldn't join the stars in set rows, they'd just be scattered over the background, which is what inspired the name. This is where it stands right now.
EPP stars | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
The problem is, I don't ever want to work on it. While I do like how it looks, I don't enjoy piecing the randomness nearly as much as I thought I would and I don't like trying to maneuver the weirdly shaped growing sections. But I don't want to stitch the stars together in rows with background diamonds in between either.

While this one has been in time out, essentially, I've been happily working on my hexie rainbow quilt, so it's not like I don't have an EPP project to work on, but the stars have still been on my mind. At first, I tried to convince myself to keep working on it, but I always chose to pick up the hexies instead. That's a sure sign that I'm not enjoying a project, wouldn't you say?

I finally accepted that I'm never going to finish Scattered Stars as it is going right now. That means I have two options...abandon the stars altogether or remove the grey diamonds to free the stars I've already stitched in and use the stars for something else. With over 100 stars made, I'm not fond of the idea of abandoning them, but what else would I use them for?
EPP stars | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
Then, while scrolling IG in the airport on our way home last month, I saw this picture:
EPP quilt inspiration | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

It's exactly what I've been looking for! It calls to mind the Flowers for Eleni quilts and the more recent Kingfisher SAL, both of which I loved, but with stars rather than hexagon flowers 😊

I love the addition of the curved sections in the corners, too, but I'm not sure if/how I'll be incorporating those. Maybe applique bias tape? Embroidery? Or maybe they'd make the quilt look too busy. I think I'll have to have a few stars stitched onto backgrounds before I can decide.
EPP stars | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com
What colour(s) will I use for the background? There's a riot of colour in the stars, but I purposely made them with all prints and no solids. So I think I may continue the riot of colour in the background, but use all solids. That way I could pair each star with a contrasting background, but (hopefully!) keep the whole quilt from being too busy.

And lastly, I don't know if I'll stagger the columns of stars as they are in the picture, or if I'll make them line up neatly. Again, I'll be better able to judge that when I have a few stitched up.

Still lots of decisions to be made, but at least now I feel like I have enthusiasm for the project again, which is a big improvement! I want to get a few backgrounds cut so I can start working on stitching the stars while we're on the road, alternating with my hexies 😊 I'll definitely share my progress as I'm going.

So how about you? Have you ever completely changed a quilt partway through construction?

8 comments:

  1. I have definitely lost enthusiasm for projects before. What a great new source of inspiration, and I hope that the change is the creative spark you need to find new zest for the stars!

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  2. I like the cubes that form in the original quilt, but I would find the unwieldyness hard. But I really think the second quilt will be very nice. Glad you found a pattern to use all those stars because they are too beautiful to be set aside.

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  3. Love the idea of the change and I am thinking that you can grout with black or white or yellow or red or well a single color and that will pop it with your varied background colors. Look forward to seeing it.

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  4. Looks like your revised idea will go together quicker and then you can call her done. Sometimes you just get to a point where you grit your teeth and get it over the line but the enjoyment comes back only when its finished!

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  5. Just love where inspiration can come from and how it can reenergize our projects! Love all those bright colours, and with the curves? Pretty cool. :-)

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  6. I have definitely abandoned a quilt mid-way through the progress if it doesn't want to do what I want it to do... Re-made one? I don't think I've done that.
    I love your inspiration picture - didn't notice the half-circles until you mentioned them! I like the idea of staggering the stars, but you could probably re-use some of your original B/G pieces if you made it into orderly rows.

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  7. What a lovely tender mercy that the photo popped up just when you needed inspiration. That is a great idea!

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  8. I like your idea of changing it up to keep it fun. Quilting should be fun.

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