Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Pink Play- Yes Indeedy Pumpkin Seedy

Yes Indeedy is a song that my kids loved from their childhood days in which the characters cannot make a decision. See this link. The verses say that "Uncle Fred could make up his bed but not up his mind " and "Uncle Zeke...  would sit for days just wandering in his head".  I too am similarly noncommittal in my quilting.  I waffle back and forth often enough, however, that I have come to the realization that I must enjoy playing this game of "what if" fabric choices.  If it was so distasteful, I would change. Planning and playing is half the fun.

Take, for example, this little pink mini-quilt of thirty 5 inch charms squares that I joined in a 5 x6 array for my first grandchild, a little girl due in October. I bet I spent three to four times the amount of time positioning the squares, as I did sewing them together.  See more about it here. The border fabric, a brown and rose tree limb quasi-stripe, I knew immediately would be perfect.  But then I had this great idea of offsetting the border with a thin strip of "something" to delineate the inner squares. I generally like the look of a mini-inner border.  To use a picture analogy, if the border is the frame, the thin inner border is like the beveled edge of the frame. Now I have spent time playing with the selection of this 1/2" to 3/4" fabric insert.   

I originally thought to use a rose pink like the dark one in the squares, but none of my pinks were quite right. I rejected a signature polka dot print I originally had in mind because it seemed to get lost against the pink squares, falling short of having sufficient contrast.  Then I thought a chocolate brown, but all of mine were too dark or too golden and clashed with the border fabric.  I thought a pea pod green, like the accent wall of the nursery, would add a pop of color to the quilt. The green really did pop, but, when not viewed from within the walls of the nursery, it seemed odd man out.     

Auditioning pink, green, or brown for accent strip.

Love the pea pod green accent wall as backdrop for black crib.  Photo does not do it justice.

I love the look of a stripe, running crosswise to the strip length; I did this on my doll quilt and liked the results.  See doll quilt before quilting here. I went through all of my stripes but, again, the Goldilocks syndrome, each was either too wide, too thin, too light, too dark....  I even considered just plain white but thought that was a cop out.  Then I found this beige subtle stripe.  It has white like the blocks and is a less harsh tie in to the brown in the border fabric.  I think this is it.  What a lot of trouble to go through for just beige! (Oh, what the heck, I had fun playing.)


I think the beige uneven stripe is the winner. Yes, no, maybe so.

That song I talked about in the beginning?  It is written and sung by Joe Wise who was quoted as saying,  "Yes I am the author, though if any kid sings it all across the country in the car on the family vacation I'll deny authorship in any court." Here is the chorus.  I can't get it out of my head.  But then again maybe I have not made the decision if I want to!


                    Yes Indeedy
                     by Joe Wise
     Yes indeedy, pumpkin seedy
     No siree bob, hey diddle corn cob
     Yeah but, no but, wait a minute, could be so
     Maybe baby, chicken and gravy
     Don’t be silly saspirilly
     Hardly yardly, bailing up barley, 
     Pick a little, I don’t know!


Ongoing projects:  
  1. Pink squares baby quilt- add borders, back, FMQ myself (eek!), and bind 
  2. Little witch girl quilt to be.. sneak peak here hidden in June 20th post 
  3. Duck, Duck, Goose - completed binding-  will FMQ (again, eek!) by self
  4. Doll quilt - attach binding and call it good

This week's stats:
     Completed  projects - 0
     New projects - 0
     Currently in progress - 4

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

5 comments:

  1. Pretty, pretty fabric set there. Love the beige stripe running perpendicular to the tree print.

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  2. Oh I quite like that beige stripe for the inner border! Though I also like the pink polka dots. So I am probably not help at all hehe! I'm as indecisive as anyone when it comes to choosing fabrics! But that is half the fun too ;)

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  3. Last night, while reading your blog entry, I asked Dan if he remembered the song "Yes Indeedy" from his childhood. Sure enough, he proceeded to sing the entire song to me:-) I had never heard it myself before.

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  4. @ Carrie, that song is a classic!

    @ Mom - You DO remember what happens near the end of the song, right? when they're poised to go over that cliff and Zeke asks Fred "should I hit the brakes?"... (HINT: the final verse takes place at the pearly gates)

    Anyways, It is amazing how much we are alike in some ways, and how different we are in others... usually by the time I have all the blocks assembled, I'm so anxious to get to the quilting phase that I probably spend on average 10 minutes thinking about sashing and borders, and then it's off to the machine with me... If I even think about them at all. Admittedly, I have had to remove a border at least once in recent memory due to my impulsive nature. If it makes you feel any better, for me the clear winner is the beige stripe... the pink polka dots would be a runner up, but given my thing for stripes (perhaps analogous to your think for polka dots? The husband had to talk me out of a striped border on our nephew's quilt), it's a reasonably distant second.

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  5. arthurmurraylivermore@yahoo.comAugust 13, 2012 at 8:44 PM

    Diane! Your work is amazing! The doll quilt you knit is beautiful. You are so talented. You should have your own show :)
    -Isabella

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