Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Feed Sack Frenzy.

Well, I did it. I made another quilt top using Chain, Chain, Chain. I love it to bits, I tell ya!
I used some of the reproduction feed sack prints from A Scarlet Thead, as well as some that I picked up from other sources. I thought the more varied the prints, the better.


To give the quilt a more modern edge, I used black as the dark accent fabric. I love the graphic pop it gives this top. I also chose to make the sashings from the prints as opposed to using a light solid. This pulls the sashings into the blocks themselves, making the lines blur a bit and allows the chains to really stand out. The white squares are the wrong side of a pillow ticking with tiny pink flowers. I did use it on the right side for a few sashing strips.



While I love the top, there are a few places where it could be improved upon. I learned a few things while making this, like never set your sashings at midnight when you are tired and your eyes are blurry. There are quite a few places where, in this scrappy-pieced quilt, like patterns happen to be very close to each other, but I think that the overall look is pleasant enough.
I like the fact that this top is strictly my point of view. It just goes to show that, while you have a pattern in front of you, you can take liberties with it and make some of your own rules. Be a rebel! It also gives a pattern much more versatility, more bang for your imagination buck. It makes me want to go through my other patterns and see how they can be reinterpreted.
I believe that the possibilities are endless.

3 comments:

Betty said...

Chain, chain chain? Now I have Aretha Franklin running through my head..haha.

Your quilt top is absolutely lovely! I agree about the black adding so much to the edges...really, really nice.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

Don't know which i like better....the red chain or the black chain.....remember John Travlota dancing to "Chain, chain, chain" in the movie Michael?!!

Enjoy the mental image....LindaMay

Unknown said...

Simply gourgeous. Don't tell or show people the flaws. They won't notice. And if they do, they shouldn't be pointing them out. It's amazing how not using the same color sashing throughout can change the look so much. Looking at the chain in black you can't see the 12 inch square blocks as much as with the red chain.