Design Wall Monday - bow tie thoughts

July 05, 2010

I didn't plan to have anything new on my design wall today, but I was itching to work on something different. Below are 24 bow tie blocks, one of the UFOs from my friend Lois. Her original plans called for making 144 blocks into a bed size quilt, but I am just going to finish the 24 she made into a small lap/baby/wall quilt. I threw them up on the wall and discovered two possible layouts, then got bothered by the light/dark contrast, so have four options. Could you please post a comment and share your opinion with me? Should I just sew them together as is or add some sashing, and which layout do you like better? I do plan to add a border once I have them all pieced together.

1. Random "circles"

2. Random Diagonal

3. Dark to Light Diagonal

4. Dark to light "circles"

Thanks! (And once again, sorry for the poor pictures...camera replacement is on the schedule for this month!)

Comments

Peg Turner said…

I vote for the random circles. Since its scrappy fabric and a traditional pattern the random placement would keep with the traditional look, I think.

7/5/10, 3:55 PM

Quilter Kathy said…

I like them all, but my favorite is the random diagonal.

7/5/10, 4:00 PM

Anonymous said…

I like the random circles. If you can pull off the dark-to-light, then that will look stunning too. I would fret too much over the exact gradation but it would really look great!

7/5/10, 4:26 PM

Unknown said…

I like the random circles. I have probably 100 bowtie blocks in many different colors from an online swap that would look great in this setting too!

7/5/10, 5:04 PM

Becky said…

I like all of your settings, but just for thought, you could set them on point with setting squares between and make a larger quilt if you would like that more.

7/5/10, 5:37 PM

sophie said…

I also like the random circles best of these four. If you want a more ordered arrangement, I would arrange them light-to-dark (or vice versa) from the center to the outside, instead of side-to-side.

They are very pretty blocks and will make a great quilt, whatever arrangement you decide.

7/5/10, 5:39 PM

Cheryl Willis said…

I love bow ties and have made several, I perfer the X&O (random circles as you called it) Glad to see you are getting a top finished. cw

7/5/10, 5:46 PM

Cathy said…

I like the random circles the best.

7/5/10, 5:52 PM

Happy Quilter said…

I like random

7/5/10, 6:12 PM

Moneik said…

I like the random circles best.

7/5/10, 6:29 PM

Becca Quilts said…

Random circles :-)

7/5/10, 7:08 PM

Regina said…

Count another vote for random circles- love the simplicity of the blue and white - on this hot day it is very refreshing, especially since I am working with HOT colors like red, orange and fuschia!!!

7/5/10, 7:33 PM

scraphappy said…

The circles look great, either random or arranged. It also leaves you space for a nice quilting motif in the middle.

7/5/10, 8:54 PM

Big Rig John said…

I like the circles - It's a great simple pattern. I am torn between 1 & 4 - they both work. I could see 1 with a border - but 4 with the shading - I border might stop the movement that is happening - I would opt for a border on 1 and no border on 4. (Aren't you glad you asked!!)

7/5/10, 9:02 PM

InfinityQuilter/Knitter said…

I also vote for random circles.

7/5/10, 10:24 PM

Colleen said…

I'm another fan of the random circles.

7/5/10, 11:17 PM

LabMom said…

Wow. I thought I was going to be the only one who liked the random circles, but that clearly isn't the case.

I especially feel that way knowing it is going to be a crib/baby quilt.

7/5/10, 11:24 PM