Running With It
I don't have a lot of regrets in life, but sometimes I think if I had to do high school over again, I might have done well to take an art class or two instead of, oh, I don't know, shorthand.
(Surprisingly, I can still read it: Dear Mr. Jackson: We have just decided to change the design of the letterhead we have used for more than 10 years. It is our feeling that the present design is old-fashioned and does not create a favorable impression. We understand that you are a commercial artist and that you have designed letterheads for other organizations in this city. We wonder whether you would consider designing one for us...)
So I might not have any art experience, other than muddling through a couple
paint-by-numbers and messing with my sister's oils or acrylics on occasion,
but as my current desktop photo illustrates, warm and cool occur together in nature all the time, and beautifully.
So I kept coming back to whether the warm and cool drunkard's path blocks could somehow coexist in my Tea Towel Challenge project. And thank you for your comments on the last post, as I considered them all. But wanting to try one more thing first, I unpicked everything and started from scratch.
We often learn what works and what doesn't by trial and error. I wanted to try the warm blocks on the outside and the purple ones around the center. Then maybe something at the corners to sort of unite the two and also play up the colors of her skirt and wrap. While I was at it, I removed the darkest purple background squares because they just seemed like distracting globs of grape jelly.
You know what? I like it. And right or wrong, I'm sewing this baby together before I change my mind again.
Who knows, a few years from now when I look back, maybe I'll have another woulda-coulda-shoulda moment. But for now, I'm okay with it, so off we go.
The corner blocks make me especially happy!
17 comments:
I like it! The corner squares help bring it together. I enjoy trying to get the warm's to play nicely with the cool's...it's like motherhood without all the squabbling!
blessings,
pam
Looks great!
I think removing the darks helps alot in ballancing the colors.
I did not take shorthand, but I am super impressed that you can still read it!
lol! I can still read it too!
Yeay we have a winner and I agree with you on the corner blocks!
I like it! Those corner blocks are real winners!
Me too! Do they even teach shorthand anymore?
It's beautiful, and I totally agree about taking out the darker purple blocks - I didn't want to say anything before but they did stick out! Loe the corner blocks, too!
O m g recalling shorthand in highschool. I thought I was so.dang.cool right? Bah. I cannot wait for full Tess reveal as I know you've done well :D
I don't know how or why, but those corner blocks really pull it all together! Nice bit of inspiration there P. :)
It was a struggle but I was able to read it too and I haven't used shorthand in over 30 years. I like the changes to the tea towel quilt. Very nice!
I like it. I really, really like it. Well done. I think that "going with your gut" is almost always the right way to go, even it if does require pulling out the seam ripper. You made your warm and cool tones play very, very nicely together. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, because you done good :).
I took art in high school. And college. One of my assignments in high school was to do a pointallism in black & white. I picked a picture of a very pretty woman's face from a magazine and spent quite a lot of time on my picture. It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. Our teacher hung our finished assignments on the back wall for a while. After a few weeks, he told us we could go and take our pictures down. I went back to get mine and someone from an earlier class had taken it. I still, to this day, don't know why someone would take my assignment.
The other thing I remember from art class is being required to draw thumbnail sketches, which I thought was pointless. I kind of get it now ;).
I don't know if you could call it a regret, per se, because it wasn't like I had the opportunity and passed it up, but I wished I'd learned shorthand. They didn't teach it in my high school, and as I recalled, when you got to college, you already had to know shorthand in order to take a shorthand class.
I've taken up way too much of your comment space (good thing there isn't a limit) with my "brain dump." Perhaps I should go back to my own little corner of the blog-o-sphere and put something down there.
I love what you did with Tea Towel Tess. Very nicely done, indeed.
xo -E
Yes! You have a winning combination there. I really like the green corners too.
Perfect .. absolutely perfect. The changes are spot on!
Did shorthand in Year 10 at high school. Couldn't read a word of it then and cant remember a bloody word of it now. Does anyone even use shorthand these days?
You know, I had my doubts when you were playing with different sides, but you really made these work. It's lovely!
Grab the quilt and go, I think the cornerstone blocks are perfect!
My momma did the gregg shorthand, even in her later days, I felt out of the loop, but I knew very few people who could read it. Have a happy day, you will enjoy that quilt finish!
:-}pokey
I really like the corner blocks--it really sets it off. I still occasionally use shorthand if I need to make a few quick notes.
It works! Another nice piece of piecing!
I missed shorthand and art classes somewhere along the way:)
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