Monday, July 09, 2007

Parts Is Parts



I have been intrigued by the wonderful quilts made from orphan blocks being shown over at Finn's Riding the Orphan Train site. I decided to lay some of mine out on the floor just to see if anything would come of it. Well, as you can see, it's pretty much a hodge-podge!!! Not much of a color scheme happening. I would have a lot more orphans except that the last few years our Guild's boutique has sold them and I've donated quite a few to the cause!!! I thought by laying them out I could maybe see if there were enough if any one color family to do anything with, but--alas--I'm not seeing it!!! Finn, HELP! I know they don't need to be matchy-matchy but at the very least they should probably play nice together. Oh, well, I'll keep collecting LOL!






In the "I Thought I Had More Time Department" is this little baseball quilt for a new baby boy coming in October. I had the fabric bought and pre-washed and ironed, but no pattern, no plan, no idea!!! Then I learned that the baby shower is THIS SUNDAY for Pete's sake! So marathon sewing took place this weekend. Granny to be had suggested "think baseball" when it was determined the baby was a boy so at least I had the goods!!! I am almost finished with the quilting--need an idea for the inner and outer borders. One nice thing about baby quilts--it doesn't take much time to handstitch the binding. So I am hoping to have it done done, along with a sock beagle, some bibs and various and sundry other baby loot. The shower is two hours away from here so there may even be last-minute handwork in the car!!!
And what would a quilt blog be without the occasional quilt cat photo??? Here are Rocky and Natasha carefully guarding the Libertyville quilt for me. Isn't that special???




16 comments:

Little Penpen said...

... and I would be saying "Get that cat off my quilt!" ha ha Your quilts are beautiful. The little baseball quilt is precious. I am going to check out that orphan block site, as I have quite a few orphans that I traded and collected by mail, WAY back in the day! I've never done anything with them and it's time to get busy.

Knot Garden said...

I think the orphan blocks look lovely all together, and the Libertyville quilt is beautiful.

Gail said...

Cute baseball quilt. Love the quilt guards-or perhaps they are the real quilt police!

Libby said...

You have such a nice selection of orphans. Maybe if you just spread them all out - like 52 pick up - something will come to you. Darling baby quilt. How is it that babies keep getting here more quickly than our quilts *s*

sewprimitive karen said...

Just look at that paw streeetched over the flower, so cute. Well, your orphan blocks are each playing nicely in their own play group at least. As you say, looks like there are several nice collections started.

Joyce said...

I agree with Freddy Moran. 10 colors can look wrong but 100 colors always look right. I'd say go for it and add more colors if you need to. Then use black and white sashing or borders to give the eyes a rest (again a la Freddy).

Mama Spark said...

For a minute I had to look again and make sure you weren't at my house! My cats do the same thing!! The baseball quilt is darling! I'm finishing up 2 baby quilts myself, but for girls. I posted one of the tops, unquilted on my blog. It is the first time I have tried 3D work.

Elaine Adair said...

mmmm - I see a lot of greens and pinks that would be lovely together.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Love the little quilt for the baby (what is a sock beagle?). Your Libertyville quilt is worth guarding... it's incredible.

Betty said...

Vera what a cute baby quilt!
I see those orphan blocks would make a great quilt, I would separate out the teal ones and use the pink and brown.
LOL I have 2 cats and my orange looks just as lazy as yours

Shelina said...

Your orphans look like they match to me - I'm thinking a woodsy theme.
The baseball quilt is great. Nice quick thinking!

Susan said...

They look okay together to me. I agree, there isn't one color that stands out, but that's a good thing, too. If you want more definition, what if you divided them into cool colors and warm colors?

Or what if you did a Twist'n Turn setting ( or some other borders) that used a multi-color print that would pull them together?

Or what if you did a random set with similar pinwheels or HSTs, or flying geese between sections?

Helen in the UK said...

The orphan blocks are lovely. The ones from centre front to the left seems to blend nicely - all pinks/creams/browns. Also the trees and the green pinwheels would go. If they were mine, I'd be stitching preemie quilts :)

Jeanne said...

Drawn to the best quilts just like magnets. Very cute cats and a beautiful quilt for them to guard.
I think the blocks look pretty good together in that pile. Maybe by adding some pieced sashings you could see a plan?

Deb Hardman said...

My your kitties look well fed!

Patti said...

Hey Vera - nothing says your orphans should go together. Mine certainly didn't - there's a bit of everything there - and I think they turned out OK. Or even better than OK. Just at some simple 4-patches or 9-patches, strips, squares, etc. to tie things together. Make sure every bright or stand out color occurs at least 3 different places in the quilt - that's all it takes to make it look balanced. I'm betting you can come up with something marvelous.