Notwendy

I need to stop trying to be scrappy - it always ends up being taken apart and used in a more orderly fashion.

This started as a layer cake of Kaffe Fasset fabric. I paired each piece with a solid and made hst blocks and joined those into 42 approx. 9x18 (unfinished) flying geese blocks (I also made a few extra from yardage).

I then put them up on the design boards - Not. My. Cup. Of. Tea!.

Would a much smaller scale have saved this or were the fabrics too disparate to work?

My worry is if I made much smaller blocks I'd just end up with a huge pile of smaller geese when I inevitably decide the scrappy look doesn't work for me. Again. Rinse. Repeat. : )

I decided to give a controlled scrappy a try. I took everything down and formed them into Dutch puzzle blocks with sashing (2 in finished bright red cutting each 8 goose block in half and wider orange sashing between each of 4 Dutch puzzle blocks and as a border around the whole thing. That used 32 of approx. 50 geese. I might put some of the others on the back or use them for small projects.

I am still working on the fix - I'll post a finish to compare. : )

I hope the picture is oriented correctly. Feedback on scale of blocks or values, etc is very welcome.

tallchick

Personally I love it! It’s bright it’s bold and it says happy! But I understand when a project is not working for you. You mentioned that you made the flying geese the HST method. If you undid the Geese you could rework the HST into another pattern that you did like. Sorry you don’t like it, but I really do!

feline fanatic

I too prefer a more controlled scrappy. In my case I like to have a single unifying color or group fabrics in like color families. My preference is to add some order to the chaos that can happen with no holds barred scrappy.

While I do like a lot of Kaffe's fabrics I have none in my stash and probably won't buy any because I do find his scales hard to work with. Sometimes I like quilts made with his fabrics, sometimes they do nothing to float my boat.

I wouldn't call your quilt a disaster but if it is not your cup of tea that certainly puts a damper on your enthusiasm to continue and I have definitely been there too, only to completely finish the quilt and still hate it. So you are wise to recognize that before spending any more time and effort on something you don't like at all.

TeresaA

I think what I'd have done differently is use the Kaffe's as the "centers" of the geese. They are so busy that putting them in a non-prominent place means that the eye sort of doesn't have a place to rest. The eye wants to focus on the centers, but those edges are so busy....

But....I like the quilt.

Maybe put colors together or separate the pairs of geese with black or white sashing.

I have a few Kaffe prints, but only because I got them in a grab bag. They can certainly be hard to work with sometimes!

Beautiful geese!

Iceblossom

Scrappy that we like is actually harder to achieve than you would think. Random often results in ugly, we want attractive randomness. It took me years of working with scraps to develop techniques to also working with my design sense to get to where I am not working so hard to achieve perfection.

I've also spent serious years trying to learn how to use and appreciate large scale fabrics, or color combination that don't instantly appeal to me. While I have always loved wild backs, most of my chosen fabric fit into the "tiny vine-y" classification.

Since I'm not so close to the project, I think it is fine. Maybe not what I would do or set out to do, but enough to finish the project. But sometimes we get all we want out of a project by piecing the blocks and it is perfectly ok to put it out on a free table at guild meeting or something -- but then when they bring it back all jaw-droppingly wonderful we do have to congratulate them!

If you decide to go on, maybe try making those geese into squares... I know, it would have been a lot easier to start it that way! If they are already put together in groups of two, just make the squares framed by a goose unit.

You could get more compulsive and piece some smaller geese to make sashing between every other row or something like that. Maybe this time use the Kaffe as the centers and just black or something strong to define the background.

But hey, step back and give yourself a hooray for trying something out of your comfort level and finding out more about your likes and dislikes. You know, a photographer can take thousands of shots to get that one cover shot. Artists often repaint their works until they get it just right. Sometimes we do that with our quilts, I rarely go back and do another one the "right" way but I've been known to do it. All I do know is I haven't made a perfect quilt yet, there is always something I would change or do differently or better. So there is always next time!

bearisgray

From what I have seen of his fabrics/prints - they could be very challenging to work with them.

sewbizgirl

I also think the solids would be better as the backgrounds. Since they are hsts, you can just turn them around and see if you like that better. Also, maybe the geese need to be a little more orderly... less random in direction.

Sometimes we just don't know if something will work until we try it out.

Judith1005

I like the idea of the kaffe' prints in the middle. And, I have seen geese where sashing strips are used on each section. It helps to calm down busy. You could just lay a strip around each section without taking apart to see if you would like it. My favorite is white. But, navy and black are nice also. (heavy contrast)

This gives you an idea of sashing. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/250935010475049935/ I've seen a better example and am looking for it.

This is close to what I'm talking about. Only reversed. They have the color sashing instead of white. But, calm geese on the inside. But, it gives you an idea on what the geese look like sashed in sections. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/221731981641671639/

Notwendy

Thank y'all for the suggestions - I didn't ruin the fabric or plow through only to make a quilt I don't like, I just opened up a plethora of alternate design choices! Yeah, almost like I planned it all along. ::cough::

Bearisgray: Kaffe isn't a designer I buy for stash (Tula Pink either) - I like some of their fabric designs and love the bright colors but prefer to use one or two prints with a ton of solids to corral the chaos. A little goes a long way.

I was gifted a layer cake and thought I'd give a large flying geese block a try. Going through the process at least showed me where I need to make changes. Looking at images in the gallery and elsewhere on the web, I am much more drawn to controlled scrappy - a few tweaks (and not trying to use all 40+ geese in one quilt) might make this something I want to keep. : )

FelineFanatic & Sewbizgirl: Of the ones in the picture I pulled out all the odd number geese units and only kept the ones that had two units of the same solid. That toned it down a bit. Plus they can be reassembled in the same direction (or a common configuration like Dutchman's Puzzle using 8 geese units).

TeresaA: Separating the blue solids from the red/orange solids is an option I should lay out on the design board.

Tallchick & Iceblossom: turning them back into hst units or putting the busy fabric in the center opens up a bunch of design choices.

I think some sort of sashing will help it even more - the suggestion to put some smaller blocks throughout the quilt would also give the eye something to focus upon.

Y'all have given me much to ponder. After all, I have either 80+ hst blocks, or 40+ flying geese blocks, or some combo of each (sampler?). As mentioned above, a little goes a long way. These might show up in many, many future quilts. : )

I am glad I tried something scrappier than my norm. But, I'm also glad I can take it apart. Ha!

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

Notwendy

Judith1005: I really like the look of the sashed sections - I could see using that on several other busy designs too. Confession: I am a Magpie and have many loud/large prints that I don't use often. Adopting some sashing techniques would let me use them without causing me to break into hives at the business of combining them with other loud/large prints. : )

I love loud, bright, & large but I'm not a fan of busy - which has taken me longer to realize than I'd like. Ha! No wonder my stash stays on the shelves.