The Next Blocks for the Roseville Quilt

It's a marvelous thing when you finish another block

of the Roseville Album Quilt.

But then the next thing is
to get out the fabrics again

and begin designing another block.

That's what I did today.

Six hours later I had the next two blocks planned and 

pinned in place.

Three blocks completed.
Here are the two blocks I worked on.

Choosing the right fabrics can be a very challenging task.

Where do you even begin?

I start by laying out my palette of fabrics, 

looking at the previous blocks,

and deciding on some of the bigger pieces of the new block first.

 I decided the flower container needed to be blue

The blocks I had done previously had blue as the flower container.

The blue would be balanced in the lower middle position.

Then I began laying out fabric choices for some of the other

major shapes.

 

By cutting out the applique pieces, it gives you a better

realistic view of what the block will look like.

It puts the color more in perspective with it's

relationship with the other fabrics.

These blocks have so many leaves it can be a daunting challenge

to pick out the fabrics.

So just make a big pile and start auditioning.

Depending on design preferences, a person can

 make the leaf layout very random or more symmetrically placed.

I tend to like a bit of both.

So in order to start, I laid out some of the leaves the same

on either side of the midpoint.

Then I filled in randomly.

Then I noticed I needed to change some of value of the leaves.

I had a lot of "mediums".

Don't worry if you remove pieces and replace them.

Better.

I'll let it rest for a couple of days and look at it again.

I changed the circles at the bottom.  It's better, but not quite right.
They might be too strong for the rest of the the container.
I'll think about that.

Then as long as I had the mess out, I found it easier to 

plan a second block.

You've already got your mind thinking in a certain direction,

and it helps in keeping a sampler style quilt balanced and cohesive.

This block is a very busy block with a trillion pieces.

I may be exaggerating a little bit but look close at the pattern.

Those stalks have lots of little pieces attached. And look at the
real shape of those stalks with all those wiggle lines.

Again I started with the largest pieces.  I had decided that the corner
blocks would have pink flower containers to balance the blue ones.

Then I had to decide on all the flowers and buds.

It looks overwhelming because the seam allowances
make the pieces look out of proportion.

Here's the block as it stands now.

Here are how the 5 blocks work together.

I'll start appliqueing the new blocks and see if
I need to change anything along the way.

Until Next Time-