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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fabric... Welcome to the Patriotic Quilter where I like to share all things quilty as well as red, white, and blue! Please feel free to look around and enjoy yourself! I would love to hear from you.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Easy Street Journey Complete (Except for Borders)

Hi Everyone!

Goodness, I have been a very bad blogger lately.  My parents were here and so we spent time having fun and otherwise "larking about" (or at least bird-watching, ha ha) while they visited.  I very immediately "hit the road" on Easy Street after they left, though.

When I read Bonnie's directions I got a bit uneasy when she said that there may be problems with the seam allowances not going in the right direction to nestle.  That really makes me unhappy, but the great news was that it wasn't that bad.  I had to clip and repress a few here and there, but nothing like I feared.

I arranged both block types on my design wall and analyzed how I wanted to go about constructing them.  Both looked to me like a framed 9-patch, so that was how I made them.  I began by carefully choosing the 9 "patches" for each.  I didn't want any obvious star points or squares to be the same.

Here are my Block A's with the center 9-patches complete.  I didn't want any of the navy triangles, the red squares, or the medium blue squares to be doubled--I wanted as much variety as possible.

Next, I prepared the "framing" pieces:


Next I used the framing pieces and the four-patches in the corners to frame the 9-patch to complete the blocks.

 I repeated the process for the B blocks, but I don't have any photos of them or the setting triangles under construction.  I do have this picture of my design wall, though.


Can I just add a comment here?  What is it about turning blocks 45 degrees (on point) that makes everything so darn confusing??!!!  Ugh!  I did the blocks first and then worked on the setting triangles.  The 4 small ones were easy enough, but the larger ones were more complicated.  No chain-piecing for me--I made all 12 individually so I wouldn't mix anything up.

Are you waiting for the big reveal?  I know I was.  It was about the only thing keeping me focused.  That and the Monday Link-up deadline!


Ta Da!!!  Here it is, sans borders, though, as I don't have anything yet.  I'm not even sure of my border plan.  With this coming out as a square, I am tempted to enlarge it for a king-sized quilt, but still have no idea how to proceed.

 
As you can see, we still don't have any snow here in Virginia.  Can you tell how I "hung" this?

 
We have this "structure" in the back garden.  Laying across the middle are a bunch of lengths of bamboo that my husband trimmed in the summer.  I got the idea that maybe I could attach the quilt to a piece of it and then lay it across the top of the framework for a picture.

 
I used some of my husband's woodworking clamps.  They worked great!  And I carried it outside to the back yard.


After I photographed it, I stood back to admire it.  And then I saw it!!!  Can you find it??  A mistake!

 
Here at the top edge--one measly 4-patch is turned the wrong way.  At least it is at the edge and so easy to fix.  I did toy with the idea of leaving it as a quirk, but then decided not to. 
 
With just a bit of ripping, pressing, and stitching, it was fixed in no time.  And I photographed the quilt again just so it would be correct.
 


Much better!


EasyStreet 058 
Bonnies Quilt!


I love how mine came out, but I would like to take a minute to discuss fabric choices for a bit--in particular, value.  Early on, Bonnie mentioned that someone asked her about changing the colors and if value would make a difference.  She thought that in a scrap quilt, value wasn't as important.  I tend to agree for the most part.  When I assigned my new colors, I did so by comparing the yardage amounts.  The largest amount of fabric that Bonnie approximated (aside from backgrounds) was the lime green.  So I used red.  The next amount was for the turquoise--I wanted more navy blue than medium blue, so I assigned navy for turquoise and then medium blue for Bonnie's purple.  What I didn't realize or maybe even notice, was that her purples were much darker than the turquoise.  In retrospect, I wish I had switched navy and medium blue.  As you can see in the photos above, my star blocks (the centers of the B block) are MUCH heavier, visually, than Bonnie's.  Also, the A block (which I refer to as the arrow block as it looks to me like crossed arrows or something,) has less distinct arrows in mine.  Over all, I like them both, but I think that Bonnie's has a bit "lacier" feel to it and mine is more "blocky."  I  think mine looks like a wonderful mosaic tile floor or something and again, I love it, but I may have switched my colors if I had realized the difference. 

For now, though, it is done--in one large piece, until I decide how to border it.  I'm so excited for tomorrow's linkup  to see how everyone is progressing!

Have a great day!
JoAnne

28 comments:

  1. Your Easy Street is the nicest one I've seen yet! I love these colors and fabrics!!! I'm not too good on "value" but I think your choices worked out very well!

    If the mis-turned 4-patch had been closer to the center, I "may" have left it (tho it's doubtful) but it was an easy fix when it's near the edge. Great quilt display rack you have there in your back yard!

    :)

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  2. I think your quilt looks lovely! My neutral blends so well in my quilt that I have gone cross-eyed checking for mistakes. You will be pleased you altered yours. It was hard trying to second guess what Bonnie had in mind for the colour placement, but ours will certainly stand out from the 'lime green crowd'.

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  3. I think your Easy Street is really pretty (tho it makes me wanna throw up when I see a totally finished one..HA). I kept up thru all the steps but am taking my sweet time puttin' it all together. I'm thinkin' no big rush here-it'll get done eventually. (and I probably wouldn't have fixed the boo-boo).

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  4. Your quilt looks great. You did a wonderful job on it. Love Love Love it

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  5. JoAnne How amazing does your quilt look I LOVE it. xxx

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  6. Wow JoAnne your quilt looks amazing! I love your colour choices.

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  7. Wow! What a beautiful quilt! It just sparkles!

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  8. Absolutely love your color choices and how your quilt turned out! Lucky you to catch your mistake before you added borders or had it quilted. Can't wait for tomorrow's linky party to see everyone elses color choices.

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  9. I like it just the way you did it.....(hence the mystery part of the project).....and can't wait to see what you do for borders.

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  10. Hi JoAnne!

    Had you not mentioned the one block that was turned, I know I would not have noticed it. When I first look at a quilt I see one whole design.
    I love the colors you chose for this one...well, I always like the colors you choose!

    Happy New Year!

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  11. I love your Easy Street! And Yay for you for finding the 4 patch in time to fix it! I have a couple turned wrong....and oh well! Ha!

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  12. It turned out great JoAnne. I love it. Now, if I do it, I think I want a more predominantly navy quilt, so I'll put the navy where your reds are, then sort the others out after that. You say it's not snowing in Virginia. Is it cold? We don't get snow where I live in South Australia, and we say its cold in winter, but probably not cold like North America. It's about 12-15 degrees Celsius in winter.

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  13. I think Bonnie's looks "lacy" (or I would say sparkly) because she used the black on white prints. I think I like yours better. I looked for your mistake but couldn't find it. Easy Street is such a busy quilt that I would have to look a long time to make a mistake -- which means I'll have to be very careful putting mine together.

    It's been great to see the non-conformist quilts (that don't have Bonnie's turquoise/lime/purple). I think yours looks beautiful (even if you do think it looks blocky.)

    I used non-conformist colors and since the mystery has been revealed I've been struggling with value, too. I took Bonnie at her word that it was about color, having no clue about placement of the colors. She originally said 3 yards lime and 3 1/4 yards turquoise. I substituted red for lime and teal for turquoise, thinking that the red would be dominant. I think I will make a few color adjustments after I lay the quilt out....

    Congrats on getting it stitched and photographed so quickly, JoAnne.

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  14. I love your color choices. Of all the quilts I've seen, yours is the most attractive.

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  15. I LOVE your color choices. I am not fond of the brights that Bonnie used (except for maybe kid's or baby quilts) and I used colors similar to yours. It looks great (and I would have fixed that block too!!)

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  16. Your quilt is beautiful! I'm especially partial to red/white/blue quilts. :) I really debated using a differently colorway from Bonnie's and seeing yours makes me wish I was braver and just went for it! Great job!

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  17. looking good, mistakes and all- lol

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  18. Gorgeous! I love it with or without the error!

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  19. Your colors look great. I agree with your comment about value. I have several purples (lavenders) in my quilt that look too much like the gray from a distance. Your quilt is beautiful!

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  20. Awesome quilt! I used many of the same colors as yours, but I am not done with the last steps. Hoping this week. Excited to see what they look like. Thanks for posting!!!

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  21. Your quilt is amazing! I swapped red for your blue, and it is neat to see how it looks with different colors in different places. I would have left the four patch and said it was a "design element!" LOL Again, it looks AMAZING!

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  22. I love your clors I hope mine turns out 1/2 as nice as yours, and I love the mosaic feel of it.

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  23. Fantastic. I love your quilt.
    Liebe Grüße Grit

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  24. Your quilt is gorgeous. I love the effects with the same pattern using different colours.

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  25. Thank you for discussing your thoughts on the color/value placements ... Your analysis was enlightening for me.
    And your quilt is beautiful!

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  26. I also love your colours. Your values are fantastic!

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  27. Good observations about the values. I was kind of worried about that too but since this was my first Bonnie Hunter Mystery, I didn't want to change things too much.

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  28. I really love your version and I agree with you about the values, my stack of fabrics look great together but I have not enough contrast between the gray 4patchs & my greens, never mind...

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