White-on-grey & Grey-on-white

My first post on this quilt, working name presently Whirligiggles, was 1/23/16 where I began it in a class taught by Sandy Klop. A single triangle piece and Y-seams make up a hexagon and secondary star pattern by judicious color placement. The subjects of posts dated 1/27/16, 2/17/16, 2/15/17, 2/22/17, 2/28/17, 3/7/17, and 11/23/17 were assembly, color arranging, and prep for FMQ. My most recent posts were on 8/23/19, 9/5/19, 9/8/19, and 9/9/19 in which I discussed FMQ of the red/blue/green star blocks. The white and grey hexagons still needed FMQ and so I have resurrected this quilt again six months later. The white/grey FMQ is th topic of this post. I am bound and determined to finish Whirligiggles in 2020. Some projects hang around so long that their appeal fades. Twelve posts on one quilt - so far- is excessive, even for me. (This post is number thirteen.) Initial enthusiasm has given way to the irked goal of just finishing the @#$%^ thing.

From the previous photo I counted sixteen full-whirligigs in the central area and four ⅔-whirligigs on the top and bottom edges; half have gray blades with a white background and half have white blades with a gray background. I contemplated for quite a while on the FMQ pattern. My goal was to project a sense of rotation and to try to avoid stitching in the lumpy intersection of many seams. My points from piecing met precisely but no matter how much attention I paid to pressing direction, or how hard I steamed them, I could not flatten those bumps. I printed photos of typical hexagons and slid them in plastic page protectors. Using dry erase markers I tried out different patterns. This first pair did, to a small degree, convey rotation like air streams flowing from the rear edges of the blades. The one on the left seemed too angular but I did like the small loops within the gray blades. The one on the right had more rounded shapes but seemed very busy. If that was air flow at the pointed rear edge of the blades, it was extremely turbulent.

In the next pair, I kept with softer, less angular shapes. On the left I tried out arches or single bracket type loops in the background and a few spirals or loops in the blades themselves. It did not appeal. On the right I tried parallel lines or lazy-L loops in the blades and single bracket type loops in the background. I liked the loop combination.

I then laid the sheet protector over a full size block and practiced the pattern. I was comfortable with lazy-L loops, but those bracket-type loops were difficult for me to execute. I decided that they were a variation of my own that I would refer to as lopsided loops and convince myself they were "organic" and "endearing". In a matching thread color their imperfect design feature would not be so noticeable. A rule of thumb I had heard was that the areas of the quilt intended to be emphasized and stand out should be quilted less densely and those intended to recede, like a background for example, should be quilted more densely. That was not the case in the patterns I chose. It was actually the opposite of that which would cause the blades to be dominant. But I attempted to compensate with color.

I used contrasting grey thread on the white bladed hexagons. It was prominent on the white blades and blended into the gray of the background. That is a good thing since my lopsided loops are not too skillfully implemented. Maybe I will get better by the reverse colored hexagons.  This photo is of one of the white-bladed ⅔-whirligigs, still under the foot of my Sweet Sixteen Handi Quilter.

On the grey blades with white background I used white thread. The white does not stand out as much on the grey blades which is unfortunate, especially since I thought I did a good job with those lazy-L loops. My lopsided loops on the white background, which I thought would blend in, stand out more than the Lazy-L loops in the blades. I kept trying to find registration points on which I could focus to orient and size the loops. I did improve with practice but not to the extent I would have liked. I worked around the whirligig in a clockwise fashion FMQing a blade triangle and then FMQing two background triangles.

The two hexagon variations are shown in the next photo. Notice one spins clockwise and the other spins counter clockwise. I found I could quilt the lazy-L loops in either direction with equal dexterity but one direction of the lopsided loops was usually more lopsided in my execution. Nothing much shows up on grey. That should be my takeaway from this quilt. I should make all future quilts in grey and shades of grey since that way I do not need to fret over my invisible FMQ patterns.

The title of this post is White-on-grey & Grey-on-white. The American English spelling is grey. The British English spelling is grey. Both are correct but for some reason the grey spelling looks better to me and it is what flows naturally off my American fingertips as I type. The post title reminded me of a joke.

An adventurer was out in the jungle when he came upon Tarzan. He was painting white stripes on black zebras and black stripes on white zebras. Although curious, the explorer returned home. A year later he came back. Again he finds Tarzan in the jungle. He’s painting white stripes on black zebras and black stripes on white zebras. Every year the explorer returns and every year it is the same scene. Finally he grabs Tarzan and says: “every time I come here you are painting white stripes on black zebras, black stripes on white zebras...What does it mean???”
“Well,” he said “Tarzan stripes forever.” 🇺🇸

The next photo shows my FMQ on the white/grey hexagons and my FMQ on the red/blue/green stars. Hardly shows up, right? I certainly do need to stop agonizing so much over this FMQ stuff since its visibility, or lack thereof, is hardly worth the worry. FMQ is finished. Yay! Next step is my label and binding. Ah, yes... yet another post. Maybe number fourteen will be my final.