Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Decisions, Decisions

After tinkering with this blue piece for a while, I had finally got the large circular shapes looking as good as possible, I thought. The original sketch I made for this in a class was circular shapes crossed by lines, some behind, some in front, some through the circles. I'm trying to get the effect of spheres floating in space. Even after much work the "spheres" or "blobs" still weren't satisfactory to me.


Then last night I realized that I could piece the contrasting squares, cut them into a true circular shape, and applique them to the background. I think that was what I originally planned long ago, but I got so caught up with these curving blocks in the background that I forgot my old idea. So here is what it looks like with the small circle on lower left roughly shaped and pinned on.

It looks much smaller because the seam allowances are gone. I think I like it better, but I think the original would look better also when tightened up with seam allowances. And will the rough and irregular streaks look odd if the spheres are so regular? I'm still debating. Any comments?

I've also decided to try the Hoffman Challenge after all and began to plan that. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do, so that would be easy, I thought. Wrong. So last night was not a restful night.

8 comments:

Deb Geyer said...

Hm-m-m. I liked the original spheres better. They had movement to them.

Debra Dixon said...

I liked the first circles too. Why don't you sew a little section with one and some surrounding squares to see how they look done.

Good on you for going for the HC!

allie aller said...

Don't we all do our best designing while lying awake in the middle of the night?

Well, I like the smooth round spheres!

Rian said...

The best ideas come in the night. I can't wait to see what you do with the HC fabric. I need to spend a few nights on that myself.

I vote for the original spheres. It looks like underwater to me.

Nellie's Needles said...

Since you're asking, my preference is for the original spheres. They definitely "read" as the shapes you intended and they have a lot of "character". If you stitch one or two together to help determine your choice, do it with long machine basting stitches so you don't feel "locked in".

Liz in Kansas said...

Personally, I like the original spheres. The irregular outline is really dynamic. Having said that, however, the picture with one smooth circle has a different kind of movement. What about some of both?

Granny Fran said...

I agree with Liz. I love the originals because they look like the moving reflections in water or on glass walled high rises, and these have always attracted me. Having said that, I would like to see you do one of each; perhaps it could be done as a diptych, so they could play off of each other.

Kim said...

I'd go with the original and I'd be doing what 'Nellie' suggested just to get a better feel for it.