Coco-in-Kansas

Red Doors for Crazy Socks Guy

For my daughter's British roommate in LA. I've wanted to work in solids for a long time. I'm fascinated by doors--especially the ones people paint red to keep out evil spirits. This quilt design just evolved organically on the fly, as you can see. I just used colors that were pleasing together or NOT pleasing together from my box of solid scraps--mainly strips. I intended to use a sashing of checkered black and white squares, but it was just too much visually, so I pared it down by cutting these strips in half and adding black to both sides for a road. Designing as you go is not the easiest way to work. I was stuck on the bottom row for several weeks before it came together. Also, I took the bottom row apart twice... which is rare for me. I love the little mistakes in a quilt, like an occasional piece sewn wrong side up. But when a color snafu draws your eye to it in confusion or discomfort... that's a problem. My husband is a wildlife artist, and we discussed this top for quite awhile. He asked me, "Where does your eye go first? Then where does it move?" When I answered these questions I was able to figure out how to rework the bottom row for better color balance.