Sunday, January 31, 2021

On the Banks of Grassy Creek

It's no secret that I love Bonnie Hunter's quilts.  I've made several quilts from her books - and in the case of Sand Castles I'm almost done with my second one - and have participated in her mystery quilts for the last several years.  She's inspired me to work with color combinations I never would have tried on my own.

But when she first announced her mystery quilt last fall, I looked at the fabric requirements and thought "wow, that's a lot of gray."

And as we stitched various components each week, I again thought "wow, that's a lot of gray."

And when she did the big reveal earlier this month my first thought was "wow, that's a lot of gray."

Now I had my doubts going in.  Gray isn't a color I like to work with, even though people assure me that it makes colors pop.  I'll admit that dark charcoal grays function that way, but they're essentially black which really does bring out the color.  Maybe it's just the way my eyes/brain perceive color, but for me gray just leaches all the life out of any color near it.

I assembled the first block to see how it would look.  I really love this block.


Still quaking at the gray, I decided to take some of my spare bits and make up one substituting blue for the gray.

And again, I really really love this block.  As a matter of fact, I can foresee making a happy scrappy version of these blocks for a whole quilt.  (But not today.  Too much to do today already.)

Side by side.

Given the fact that I didn't dislike the gray, and I already had enough components ready to make 12 blocks, I went ahead and started assembling.

I had only made four of the sashing strips that Bonnie had set us onto, because I'd had a bad feeling about them.


And when I laid the first four blocks out with them on the design wall, I was glad I hadn't made all 99 gabillion of them that I was supposed to.


So much gray...  And so many strings.  While I love the look of string sashing, I've been sewing string borders for two Sand Castle quilts and I'd frankly like a break.

I decided that I needed to go in a whole different direction.  I'm making this quilt to please myself, after all.  After a quick toss through the oranges I found a big enough piece of something that would work for the sashing.


It's not perfect - I wish it was a shade or two darker - but like I said, I'm pleasing myself, and the lighter softer look pleases me a lot.  (And of course I always think that more orange is always the best answer.)


I've got columns put together and borders started.   Just trudging along on the banks of Grassy Creek.

It's still a good ways from being done, but I'm happy with the direction it's going.  It's going to end up as a nice smiley throw.


Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the scrappy goodness!





19 comments:

Libby in TN said...

I saw someone do the sashing with just a solid piece of light grey and I thought it was so much more pleasing than the strings ... just my take 'cause I'm not a string lover. Your solution works, too!

Vireya said...

I had similar thoughts about the grey, but I have seen some lovely finished tops. However, I think your orange looks great!

cityquilter grace said...

have to say the change makes it much more appealing to me anyway...

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

I love what you have done with these blocks! Making it uniquely yours with the orange!

karenbbsnow said...

Looking good. That's the fun of quilting, we can make it however we choose.

julieQ said...

I had similar feelings about the gray, and I did not have much of that color anyway...so I made black string blocks. Awful! Then I made yellow ones...yuck! So I chose a pale color...bingo! It really makes my blocks stand out and look pretty. It is lots of fun to play with color!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Wow! Look at you go, Gayle!! For the record, I really like the change(s) you made.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I like the look of your Grassy Creek, Gayle, and there's still plenty of gray in it! I completely agree with you that you should make this quilt to please yourself!

Quiltdivajulie said...

I love that block with the blue - wow! And kudos to you for honoring yourself and changing out the sashing fabrics. Gray is a hit or miss color for me. In some cases it works but only (for me) as a supporting player, not as a focal color. I think of it in terms of a colorful quilt photographed on rocks or aged concrete.

Gretchen Weaver said...

The blue really brought your block to life! I didn't participate in the mystery but did save the weekly clues. Have a great week and happy stitching!

MissPat said...

I am not a fan of gray (I do love orange, however). I wasn't even tempted by Grassy Creek, partly because Frolic is still moldering somewhere around here. And I'm amazed by how much modern quilters use gray in baby quilts. I really like the blue alternative Grassy Creek block you did. Hope you don't gt buried by too much snow.
Pat

Chantal said...

Whoah! I'm in love with that blue block! I don't mind gray but it is like cheesecake; if you have too much you get sick! I don't like the gray sashing in Bonnie's quilt. I like the block but the sashing turned me off doing the quilt. I love what you picked for the sashing. Now, that's a sashing worth mentioning. Great call on the fabric pull. Oh, I hope you do another Grassy Creek with the blue bits. That will be a no-muddy-water-in-your-creek kind of quilt. Enjoy! ;^)

Cathy said...

Good for you for making it YOURS!
And I guess I'm in the minority because I prefer the gray background to the blue background when I see the two blocks side by side.

Ann said...

I'm not a fan of grey either but see how it stretches the block borders. However, the yellow/orange gets my vote, too. And much as I love strings, a few larger pieces add some size variation. Congrats on your changes.

Sally Trude said...

Yes, the gold is a nice relief to all the gray and using blue is completely awesome. Molly thinks that white is a good addition to gray while Buddy prefers taupe.

Donnie said...

Love your quilt! I like gray, but when I got to the border I was out of gray strings, so I made a green string border. Then I changed the inner border to orange. I like it, and yours as well.

I’m making my (first) sand castle quilt to commemorate, remind me of, family beach vacations in Cape Hatteras. The strings are blue for the ocean, the narrow strip is still white, the lozenge shape backgrounds are various sand colors and the little squares are a riot of colors to represent all the stuff people drag to the beach. I hope I’m not being to literal!

QuiltGranma said...

I have been to quilt shows which have Bonnie Hunter mysteries all lined up next to each other... all the same colors in the same places ... migt as well be a kit in my book, too much same - same. Changing up the colors makes your quilt... YOURS! and not a ticky tacky same as someone else's except for the differences in the scraps used.

Mystic Quilter said...

I'm another quilter who is not a lover of grey. Sometimes we just have to go with our gut feeling and change something out - your blocks are looking great!

Anonymous said...

I like grey, but when I saw the reveal that was all I could see. Someone used a constant grey rather than the string sashing, and I was surprised at how much less prominent it seemed. I liked it in that case. This quilt is yours, and you should like the result and enjoy making it. If you can't play around with fabrics you've missed the point of quilting as I see it.

Andrea in MO