Insert Your Own 50 Shades of Grey Jokes

I still have to piece seven half blocks for the Rose Star quilt, but this post is about picking the background!

I had a great lead on this awesome Shot Cotton in Latte from Form and Fabric, so I bought a yard of that and the Cotton Couture solid in Cream. Both Mr. Pins and I loved the Shot Cotton, but neither one of us felt like it was what we envisioned for the background. I was already feeling way out of my Kona White element. I wanted to use something other than white as the background, but none of the other prints or unlabeled gray solids that we pulled from my stash seemed to fit either. I will definitely be labeling all of my solids going forward. It would have been sad if one of those colors was a good fit and I couldn't identify it to buy more.

I wasn't convinced that any of the gray colors in my Kona or Cotton Couture color cards were what I was looking for. I went ahead and ordered a Stella Solids color card from Fat Quarter Shop along with thirteen gray solids. Can you tell I was invested in finding the right fit? Craziness. 

I asked that Fat Quarter Shop label the fabrics so I could tell them them apart and know which one to reorder, and they kindly obliged. The UPS man delivered the fabrics on Friday afternoon, and thus began the background picking saga. 

I had a really hard time seeing these blocks on a dark background. Don't get me wrong; I love a good dark background on a quilt. Hence my friend, Cindy's brain exploding Sedona Star quilt top. 

You're welcome. 

I had just been staring at these blocks on the white design wall for so long, that I was having trouble envisioning something other than white behind them. I pulled a really dark gray from my stash and threw it up on the design wall in wall in an attempt to train my eyeballs. 

Ultimately, getting input from folks on Instagram was a huge help. Ya'll are AWESOME! 

When I got down to three fabrics, I arranged the whole fabric setup on the bed hoping I would have a lightbulb moment seeing the blocks with a background as a finished quilt. This did make it a little easier to rule out the lightest fabric. At that point, the other two didn't seem that different and I picked the darkest one from my Fat Quarter Shop order, the Stella Solid in Gray.

For the record, this was Mr. Pins' first choice. He immediately liked it the best of all thirteen fabrics from Fat Quarter Shop. He's got the fabric picking gift, but I have to work a little a lot harder to see it. 

With the decision made, I started cutting up the half yard into hexagons and hexagon thirds. I pieced some of the background in and was very happy with it. However, it would have not bothered me in the least to pull out even ten hours of hand sewing if it didn't seem right.

Deciding on the background fabric is a huge milestone, but it feels anticlimactic now looking at all the background that has to be pieced in ;-) I've got another three yards of the Stella Solid in Gray headed my way. I'm going to do my best to get it chopped up into all of the necessary pieces quickly so that I can order more pronto if it's not enough

Alright, you can be honest with me. Am I the only lunatic who has made such a fuss about picking a background fabric?

Happy Crafting!

Claire