The last few of my Orange Peel applique blocks were stitched up last week, and you better believe there was a little happy dance going on when the final one was done! The arrangement of blocks had already been figured out, so I was able to move directly to joining blocks together. I've got 1/4 of the blocks stitched together here, and the next group are waiting at the machine.
One thing I did before stitching the blocks together was a little color correction to the backgrounds of two blocks. One of them was the bright green block in the 2nd row from the bottom that looks like rows of knitting. Here's a close-up of that block and another with the same background fabric.
When I had those blocks on the wall with all the others, the amount of white in the background fabric really jumped out at me. I ran across some fabric markers while cleaning my sewing room recently (see, it really does pay to clean up!), and decided to try using those to darken this background fabric. After testing it on a fabric scrap, I carefully colored in some of the white areas on my block. In the pairing below, the green block is done, but the red is not.
Here they are with both blocks colored in. I pressed the blocks with a hot iron after using the marker to help set the color. It's not the neatest looking up close, but it accomplishes what I set out to do. The blocks blend in much better with the rest of the quilt now.
Happy quilting everyone!
Julie in GA
Oh the coloring in really makes those blend in better--nice call on that.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a pretty design you have put together--nice work
Hugs, julierose
What a lovely rainbow quilt! I am amazed at the difference the marker made on the white in the background. I've never used let alone seen one of those makers before! Great solution!
ReplyDeletethis is going to be a very pretty quilt with all the colors
ReplyDeleteVery pretty!
ReplyDeleteExcellent solution! (Should I confess that on more than one occasion, I've used a permanent marker to 'fix' a place where the piecing was off but it was too late for the seam ripper...)
ReplyDeleteI would never have thought of that! I agree, the white did stand out so great solution.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve a Happy Dance! And the marker was a clever way to change the background fabric.
ReplyDeleteLove it!! I like your color arrangement. Lots of movement.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, that's a great idea! I love Orange Peel quilts - yours looks great!
ReplyDeleteGreat save! The orange peels are so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThe Orange Peel quilt is coming together beautifully. Congrats on getting all blocks done, along with rehab on the orange and green block. It's always fun to watch the quilt top come together.
ReplyDeleteLove your rainbow Orange Peel. Great use of a fabric marker.
ReplyDeleteit looks awesome! Great idea to color the fabric so it blends in a little better!
ReplyDelete