Fabric can look so cute when shown in a small swatch on a monitor, especially when on sale, and described with a favorite color (purple) for the print. No mention was made of the yellow uneven blotches in the background. It looks pre-stained.
Sometimes when working on a quilt project, especially a “use only stash” project, my focus gets fuzzy. The end result needs to be more than just using up fabric in the stash, but creating a pleasing result by meeting the challenge of using only stash fabric in a creative way. The purple baskets quilt in progress needed some light to medium fabrics for setting the on-point blocks, and I was trying to convince myself that the blotchy bargain fabric would work well. It was actually too busy for the scrappy pieced baskets, and after considering it for over two weeks, I brought some of the blocks with the fabric in questions, along with a soft solid lavender alternate, to my quilt group for feedback.
The original pattern shows the crib-sized quilt with strong, dark colors for the setting triangles, which looked jarring against the light background of the featured blocks, and I brought the pattern along to explain my dilemma. It was fun to hear the responses - 7 opinions for the soft solid, one vote for the blotchy print. Everyone agreed that the blotchy print would be fine for the backing.
I knew that the soft lavender solid looked better, but didn't listen to or didn't trust my inner artist voice. It was a relief to hear most of the input from other quilters agreed with my instinct. Some projects just go together without any pauses, and this one needed a push. I'll hopefully post the finished top by the end of the weekend.
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