No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee 2 – Round Two

Y’all know I don’t usually apologise on my blog. In fact it is my number three tip on my list of Sparkling Advice for New Bloggers! However, I’m having a moment of weakness, and I feel I need to break it down for you. Lately, I’ve been feeling both overwhelmed, and underachieving in my blog-space. This seems contradictory, but it is sort of like drinking champagne by yourself. It’s good that your glass is full, but also a bit uninspiring because you’re not sharing it with anyone. So let me just get it off my chest and say “I’m sorry” for not coming to the party more. I’m sure this is a phase, and hopefully, now that I’ve said it, I can move past it!

So now that it is out of the way, let me show you what’s been on my design wall for the past few weeks. This is the creation of Chris (The Tattooed Quilter) Thompson, and John (QuiltDad) Adams. As part of the rules of our No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee 2, we’ve agreed that we can pretty much do whatever we damn well please! So when I received this off-centred creation, I knew I wanted to keep playing with that aesthetic. I always knew I was never going to just swallow this block with other smaller, surrounding pieces.

The first thing I did was do a fabric pull in this ridiculously weird colour scheme. It already felt pretty busy in terms of texture, colour and movement though. What could I do that would add interest, while letting the current piece still breathe and keep that echo-ing sentiment? I kept tilting my head to look at it, and realised it needed to go on point! This changed the balance while also drawing the viewer into the centre. 

As soon as I did this all I could see was vertical stripes. Seriously, I tried to see past them, but it is exactly what this piece wanted. It felt like it was screaming at me; adding pieced interest in a strong graphic way. That pretty much describes The Tattooed Quilter to a T-T-Q! So I threw my fabric pull away, and started creating stripes with some Moda Bella Solids, and a low volume fabric from Art Gallery’s The Littlest range. However, sewing them on the bias, and matching the opposing stripes almost sent me to my own cell block D.

I managed to get it stretched into place, ever so barely, with just the pointiest of points being on the chopping block. This is now off to Nicholas (Quilts From the Attic) Ball who is going to have an improvisational field-day with this one. While this stripy addition was much simpler than my round one version, it feels good to stretch my wings in a different direction. That’s the best thing about this bee, every piece feels like a creative juggernaut!