Juxtaposition-

When your son looks at you with his big blue eyes and a crooked grin and says "Mom I would like a another quilt...one to put in the living room, you know..for the back of the couch...I don't care what colors...except red..well a little red would be okay...no hurry" it is hard to resist.

After all this is the son who never really asks for anything. I am actually feeling pleased that he wants another quilt for his home. So his wish got my brain churning as I started to think about the kind of quilt to make The colors are easy. He likes blue, and grey, and blue. He likes clean lines, and designs on the modern side. With that is mind I started browsing Keepsake Quilting catalog. There where several designs that caught my eye, but I decided on Juxtapostion by Amy Walsh of Blue Underground Studios, Inc.

Pattern by Amy Walsh - sitting on my blocks.

. The cover quilt is done in jewel toned batiks. There is one block This quilt will be a throw so I made 160 blocks. I need to knock on wood before I say this, but "it is hard to make a mistake with this quilt". The most important things are cutting right and keeping that 1/4 inch seam.  That said I have not finished it so anything can happen. This weekend I did get 160 blocks made. It is 10 blocks wide and 16 long.

If you have been following this blog you know that Tranquil Waters by Tula Pink was assembled in vertical rows. This quilt's instructions said to do the same. Amy says that this helps keep your narrow strips straight. She also suggested repeating values in some of the narrow strips. I have done this and like the look. I like this pattern so much I got on Amazon and order the book Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers. The book is from Blue Underground Studies, Inc. and  published by C&T publishing. I'll report when I get the book.

Something difference is that the instructions say to iron your seams open. I have to say they do press up nice. However I am unsure about how this will help the seams match. Back in the day when I only sewed curtains and clothes I always ironed my seams open. But with quilting I was always taught to iron to the dark fabric and to nest my seams. This has worked well for me. But I am open to new ideas so I am following instructions!

Here is a picture of my squares laid out on the floor. I have to say it's not a good picture and the fabrics seem to fade out. It's a gloomy day and I sew in the basement. so no natural light today.  I am not sure this is my final layout. I will let it sit for a while..maybe make dinner and ask DH for his opinion.. You can get a better idea of the fabric from the close up of the pattern. When I see this picture if have second thoughts about the raspberry. It is much brighter and not so pink in person. I hope it's not to hot for my son's taste. You can see how using blocks where the narrow strips have a similar values creates longer lines in the quilt. I think that is neat.

This is how the quilt lays out. The colors here look horrid. Much better in person.

Closer review of select blocks.

You can see now the narrow stripes carry from block to block.

  

 So for now the quilt and I are resting. I'll come back later and decide on the final layout. I'll put the vertical rows together and label them. Hopefully I'll get to start putting it together this week  The jury is still out on the raspberry blocks.It was part of a collection and does pull color from another batik. So anyone got an opinion? Should they stay or go?  Do I really want to make more blocks?  Will I really be okay with it if I don't change it? Maybe I'll just call that son of mine over and have him decide for me.