En Provence - Thanks for the Memories!!

I am just about finished my Quiltville 2016/17 winter mystery quilt.  I was on the Mediterranean cruise with Bonnie last August and was actually in Provence so I just HAD to take part in this year's mystery.  And besides, purple is my favourite colour.


The one thing with a mystery is that you can choose fabrics that complement each other but until you know how they will be used, you can't set your choices in stone.  I had a hard time accepting my yellow.  It seemed just too muddy.  What I loved about Bonnie's quilt was the 'light' created in the centre of her main blocks.  I wanted that effect and I didn't really care about which colour it took to get that effect.

Here are my original fabrics pulled from my stash and augmented slightly with a purchase or two:

 I tried many variations:

Following Bonnie's fabric placement. 

 Too muddy in my opinion and doesn't give enough contrast between green and yellow and doesn't produce the light I was hoping for.

Replacing neutral four patches where the yellow was.

Maybe if I switch out yellow altogether...

Pretty...

But not quite right.  It changed it too much and once again I'd lose the light I wanted to radiate from the block. It's OK... but still hoping for some yellow in this quilt.

 Let's try switching out the yellow to another fabric. 

Changing the yellow fabric.

 Meh...Same effect.  Not enough light.

And finally...

This!  This I like.  From a distance it radiates light.  The colours aren't overwhelming but I was trying to avoid another 'bright' quilt.  My Grand Illusion was just too over the top so I wanted to tone this one down. 

And here are the blocks before the sashings:

I have just a small amount of yellow in the centre of my main blocks.  These blocks will be joined by sashing rows (the magenta tri-recs stars).

And finally, I've got the top together.  Voila!

I just have the borders to go on and will have to make some more neutral four patches before that happens.  I love the neutral border that Bonnie did on hers and I won't be changing mine one iota!

Another gorgeous Quiltville/Bonnie Hunter design.  It was fun!!  I tried not to obsess over the colours.  I confess I did have one sleepless night deliberating about it all and bemoaning the fact that I chose the wrong colours and it would be a dull quilt.  But overall I'm very pleased.

I will be quilting it myself but that will be another blog post at a different time.

Thanks for reading and here is the link back to Bonnie's Linky Party:  

http://quiltville.blogspot.ca/2017/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6-7.html

Until next time!

Mavis