Chinese Coin Color Study

Flotsam and jetsam. Did you know they mean different things? Flotsam is marine debris accidentally lost overboard while jetsam is tossed when the ship and crew are in peril - usually to lighten the load.

Sorting and clearing my stash located lots of flotsam - stuff I hadn't deliberately tucked away but was too small to find easily. It took going through the fabrics individually to bring them to the surface. And much of it needs to be jettisoned. It weighs me down. As a quilter, however; it's very hard to let the “precious” pieces go. It all becomes precious quickly - even when I've tossed it out of the box. {Gollum, gollum.}

Projects like Scrap Vortex and these darling Christmas balls make me feel terrible for not using everything myself... even though I'll never get through it all... even though it weighs me down physically and psychically. Currently my largest section is solids {which I collected for last year's workshops.} Of course there's a huge pile of printed scraps. The solids are large pieces so more difficult to discard {although I could cut each in half and not miss it.} But scraps dance in my dreams.

I decided to make a very quick one-block quilt that might resemble Chinese Coins {because it's very hard it is to actually discard/sell/give away fabric.} Just four tiny coins from each...

Pairing solids with prints - all from the discard pile. I wish I could say this was all the discards but it's barely a dent.

Coins cut and paired

Once I started sewing many of the pairs didn't work out. Each time one looked uninspiring, I left it out as I sewed the next sets so I could see if the pattern and solid paired better with something else. I wanted both continuity and contrast but wasn’t sure how to define that.

Here’s the first finished {sewn} combinations.

Simple color study block
mixing a print and a solid fabric

Moving the blocks around led to this...

Simple color study block
mixing a print and a solid fabric

Which cried for another column. Back to the never-ending scrap bag.

Simple color study block
mixing a print and a solid fabric

The sewn top emerged by the end of the day. .

Color Study Chinese Coin quilt top

This mix of solids and prints reflects ‘me’ more than all solids. It’s simply a one-block quilt that looks like a Chinese Coin variation even though it's made from blocks. That's a good thing because my guild demonstration is rescheduled for mid-September.

Just as I queued this up for posting I saw Cynthia’s version at quiltingismorefunthanhousework(dot)blogspot(dot)com. Interesting differences when sashing is added. Doubly interesting that we had such similar ideas independently.

Enjoy the day, Ann