To bind or not to bind that is the question

I have to decide whether to do a facing or a binding on my windmill quilt. I usually like the look of a binding so have never done a facing. Also the quilts that I see faced often do not have very square corners which is one of the reasons I don’t like that technique.  Also I feel more comfortable doing a binding since that is what I have done and have gotten good at. But the trend these days for art quilts is to do a facing.
If I do decide to face this quilt I think I will use Terry Aske’s directions on her blog. This may be less bulky as well as creating better corners.

What do you think? Here are 2 pictures of the quilt. One without binding and one with 1/4 inch binding. I just cut fabric 1/4 inch wide and laid it down on the quilt to see how that would look.


 
On Monday I did some more snow dyeing (although it was more like crushed ice dyeing). I used 2 purples (plum and blue violet). I used white fabric on top of a grid and put on the snow and powdered dyes. This time I had a piece of unbleached muslin under the grid to catch the dye drips as the snow melted. Both pieces came out great. Nice patterns. What is interesting is how different they look in terms of the purple color. I see the unbleached muslin piece as a stormy night sky with lightning going on.


I sent my sketches off to Elizabeth Barton for our March lesson on line. We are supposed to remake a quilt that we have already done with the emphasis on lines instead of shapes.

Here is my original quilt that I call “California Dreaming.” It is a very small quilt at only about 10 in by 12 in.


I decided to focus on the trees in the background since they seem to be lines in my mind. These are my 3 sketches of the trees.


Now that I see them posted I am not sure I like these at all. They were fun to do, but I am just not sure.
Here is what EB said about them, “I like all of these ideas - student 9 has been careful to vary both positive and negative space which makes these very interesting - and I love the very narrow dark line that edges the medium value.  I know she's going to say - oh that was just the drawn line!! BUT when we look at the sketches that is what we see and that's what's adding to their beauty - that very very narrow linear element - so don't then go and omit it when you make the quilt!! Because then you'd wonder why the quilt didn't have the elegance of the drawing.  I think all of these work, but probably the first and third are stronger, in that the overall shape of the second one is a little more predictable.  You could increase the four patch to a nine patch too - or do a row of patches changing orientation.  What makes all of them is the negative space variation.  All are so much more painterly and much stronger than the original which is basically a photograph rendered into fabric - nice enough as it is, but nothing special.”

So EB liked the drawings! Why can’t I get the confidence to see what she sees before I send them to her? I liked them to begin with and then I started to doubt them. Maybe I need to go with my first instincts and forget about the doubts? But sometimes something bugs you about a quilt and you do have to change it. When do you know when to go with it and when to change it? I guess that will always be hard for me to answer.

Do you have a lot of confidence in your work or do you still have self doubts? If you are confident were you always that way or did you work through that?

I am linking early to Off the Wall Friday. I will be on the road tomorrow and not able to blog.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Chris