Back to the wonder of a land in winter

Phew, it would've been a lot easier to just say Winter Wonderland, but I already have a blog post with that title, and I don't like to repeat.

The second row in this round robin row quilt has snowflakes on either side of a central embroidered panel. I figured it would be quicker to do the piecing rather than the embroidery, so I made the six star blocks first. And that was when I became unsure about which fabric to use as the background for the stitchery (which I'll stitch in black). So, as usual, I tried out some options and snapped some pics.

My original choice - the central fabric is white with pale blue stripes running horizontally (and not used anywhere else in this row).

Second choice - same blue as the snowflakes. Too much blue?

Last choice - I used this shirt fabric in the centres of the snowflakes, so reusing it here would give it some cohesion I guess. And the subtle shading adds interest.

Okay, so before I started typing today I was up in the air about which one to use. But now, after loading those pics and explaining my reasons for selecting each one, I've settled on a final choice.

Tune in in a few days to see which one won.
Or leave a comment, let me know what you think!

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland is a round robin quilt created by Becky from Patchwork Posse. Actually, it's a row quilt, so not done in rounds, so I guess that makes it a row robin? Also, she hasn't created it all -- just the first and last row and the finishing off; there are about 10 rows in between which are designed by guest quilt bloggers.

I'm not sure if I've explained it properly, but it's heaps of fun, and this is the third time I've done it. (One day, there will be a post about my other two.)

A rather monochrome palette. The fabric is mainly recycled shirts. The blue in the background is a sheet.

Row 1 is four Delectable Mountains. I haven't sewn mine together into a row yet, because I wasn't sure in what order to arrange them:

Light to dark progression

Random placement

Alternating position and shading

Hmmm... I think I'll just leave that decision until later on in the series... where this row is placed in the quilt may help me decide how to balance the colour.

There's a new row posted every two weeks. Row 2 came out today.



Making a winter themed quilt top sounds just perfect for the weather we've been having here. It was 29 degrees yesterday (Celcius - not sure what that compares to in Fahrenheit), which was the hottest in the country. Last week it got up to 32 degrees; it was so humid, even the weeds were wilting (I am fully aware there are many parts of the world that are far hotter. I am only commenting on my own experiences).

That is why summer is my least favourite month: I don't like sweating. And the UV from the sun isn't safe -- among the worst in the world. The weather man says to stay inside/out of the sun between 10am and 4pm.

So piecing stars and embroidering snowmen is very therapeutic.