Monday, November 22, 2010

Christmas Draw

My siblings and I started a new tradition last year, of drawing names for gift giving rather then trying to shop for everyone. It makes it a lot easier as we are all pretty busy people like everyone else I know.
This year (don't worry - they do not read my blog, we may be blood related but that does not mean we like the same things) I drew my brothers name, and Mr. Hunter drew his wife's name. Awesome! I actually had my brother last year two and I spent way more on him them I was supposed to, but he is my brother! And we do both like the same shoes! I got him the coolest pair of Converse high tops on the planet. Seriously, they were lime green and black half checkers. Sweet!!
This year, they both requested a 20 something item ordered online -easy peasie and now I am making them for their new to them house - placemats, coasters and a table runner. If I had time, I would make them matching oven mitts and maybe some knitted washcloths. But alas - I do not have that kind of time. I can still strive for it and just package up whatever I do get accomplished. 
So, after a couple of days wasted trying to come up with and choose "The" design, I finally went with this:
For the Placemats

The table runner - I want the stars to overlap onto the triangles - but I am a lazy sketcher.
  So this was the plan, but then in reality - as why would I use a pattern or draw this out on paper?? Well, I could not find my paper roll - too lazy to look that hard. Its so darn cold, once I am under the blanket, I do not like to move. So, I used my new Dresden ruler to make my triangle shapes, 13" long. I think they look nice:
Then I placed my pinwheel pieces on top to see what it looks like:
I hate it! The patterns get lost in each other and well, that's about it - I need to choose different fabric or forget the pinwheels on the mats altogether. The latter is what I thought last night, and thought - why not use them on coasters? Like this:
Again, my patterns get lost on here. I think the red and purple pattern is OK, but the other has got to go - that or I need a different background fabric. I just flipped the patter here so you could get an idea - but now I am second guessing the whole thing. 
What do you think? Should I keep the pinwheels on the placemat, but choose more contrasting fabrics? Or leave them as is, and do the fancy pinwheel coasters? Or both. Ah, I don't know... feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what to do. ha ha
Another thing I am thinking is to use a 60 degree pinwheel square, rather then the above 45 degree. This makes a pinwheel with 6 points, rather then the 8, so it would be less busy.
I hope all your projects are going well.


As for the quilters carry all bag. I will do a tutorial for you - but please bare with me until after Christmas so I can get some gifts done.
Cheers my friends,
Carolyn

4 comments:

  1. The placemats are really cute without the pinwheels. I really like those fabrics and would suggest you leave them off. For the coasters, do you have a darker fabric that reads as more of a solid that you could use for the background? The fabric in your pinwheels is great, but you need a better background to show them off. Just my 2 cents.

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  2. The placemats are adorable and I think the pinwheel with the darker purple/red looks great. You can just sort of see it - but it doesn't pop too much. I say keep it!!!

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  3. I love your design, love the fabric. My idea was (as Dee was) to use a fabric that reads solid for the pinwheel coaster - Which I totally love! And then maybe use that same fabric to make the pinwheels for the placemats. Or only use the fabrics that are darker in the pinwheels on top the placemats, not the blues ones.

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  4. Love the placemat, the fabrics are gorgeous. I would definitely add the stars, but the green fabric needs to be replaced. It seems to blend in. The burgandy (red) fabric is great! Good luck, I am confident whatever you do, it will be beautiful.

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