Day 6

With a new day comes a new strategy. Let’s compare the Day 5 and Day 6 design wall photos.

Mystery QAL Day 5, Design Wall

Mystery QAL Day 6, Design Wall

If we divide the right photo into vertical thirds it will be easier to identify the changes.

Mystery QAL Day 6, Left Section

Mystery QAL Day 6, Center Section

Mystery QAL Day 6, Right Section

Let’s look at the left section first. In that area there are three changes to note.

1. A yellow border was added around the bottom improv circle block.
2. A blue border was added around the block directly to its right.
3. The block in the bottom right corner was moved over from the center section.

In the center section the only change made was the addition of a yellow border around the bottom block.

Now, for the right section there are two changes

1. The improv circle block in the bottom left corner now has a blue border.
2. A green border was added to the bottom right improv block.

Are You Lost?

Could you stay with me or did I loose you? I really didn’t mean to confuse you if I did. I just thought it would be fun to dissect and compare the two photos. I know I’m a nut when it comes to details, but what can I say! I’m a detailed oriented, spreadsheet packing numbers person. I guess it comes from being a bookkeeper for darn near three decades.

All kidding aside, the process of analyzing your original art piece is a very important exercise. This activity helps to identify the areas that are working as well as the ones that need more attention. Hopefully through careful examination you are able to achieve a much more pleasing outcome.

More Applications

This technique can also be used when selecting your fabrics. Next time you are pulling fabrics for a project lay the fabrics on a surface and take two photos; one in color and one in mono tone. Then compare the two. Ask yourself this question, “Did I achieve an even distribution of light, medium and dark fabrics?” If you can’t answer yes, then rethink your color value choices.

The same principal can be applied when choosing colors for an individual block. Before cutting those fabrics do a color value test. I think you may be surprised at how strongly some of your colors fight against each other and how some of the colors simply get lost because there isn’t enough contrast.

Even if you have already made the investment in fabric, don’t be afraid to make some changes. Better to do it now than press on and be unhappy with your project in the end. If you use this technique, when creating your next block or quilt, I think you will be much happier with the overall outcome.

Let’s Take One More Look

Remember how we did the color value experiment in Day 5? The examination showed obvious issues that needed to be addressed. Well, lets compare a mono print of Days 5 and Days 6 to see how well I did or did not do at finding remedies.

Mystery QAL Day 5, Mono Version of Design Wall

Mystery QAL Day 6, Design Wall In Mono

Comparing Day 5, which is on the left, and Day 6, over on the right, at first glance it looks like not too much has changed. However, if I look more closely I can see that even though the blocks are pretty much in their same arrangement the appearance of some of them has changed.

All of the changes took place in the very bottom row. In the left photo pretty much everything reflects a dark value. On the right I see that the blocks have taken on an alternating dark, medium, dark, medium, etc., pattern. By adding a medium valued border to every other block I have achieved more interest. While I would like to think that this was enough of a change my hunch is that I could do even better. Let’s see what happens next time.

Thank You!

Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me and allowing me to over analyze my design. I really appreciate the time we had to spend together and I look forward to our next visit. Talk with you soon! 🙂