WIP Wednesday - Who'd a Thought It

 I have just learned that there are quilters from all over North America, who have chosen Wednesday to share their WIP's - their "Works in Progress". I think this is very brave. After all, it means revealing yourself, telling others where you are and what you're doing. But I suppose that's what a blog is all about. So before I "go public" and join one of these groups, I thought I'd give it a try, and show you what I'm working on right now.
You will recognize these blocks as being part of a quilt I've named "Who's a Thought It", in recognition of the African-American quilters who inspired it. I didn't know how big it was going to be, but it's turned out to be a wall-hanging. After I determined the overall shape, I had to choose a background for the irregular outer lines. All along I'd been thinking about using black, but when I put it up on my design wall to try it out, I didn't like it. It seemed to suck the strength right out of the quilt. Next I tried a taupe print fabric, thinking that it's irregular squares would fit right in, but that

 looked pasty to me. Next to be auditioned was a cream coloured print with black script all over it. Better, but I still wasn't entirely happy. Then, remembering a log cabin quilt I'd made with African fabrics and using a variety of honey-coloured prints as the neutral, I started piecing together scraps of warm sand and honey-coloured prints. One of these was an historic piece - one of the first five fat quarters I ever purchased, in making my first block and project - a tote bag. It felt great to be using it again more than thirty years later! There was little rhyme or reason to the piecing of the background. I just added whatever I thought might look good, varying the widths of the strips and the order in which they were added. I was very happy making this background, and was pleased with the way it looked with the African fabric blocks. You'll see on the final photo that I've added an extra border on the top and the bottom, and will do the same on each of the two sides. That way it floats on the background. Then it remains for

 me to quilt it and bind it. So that's it for me for this WIP Wednesday. Now I think I'll go and take a peek at those who have been brave enough to join the blog (first I need to find it again), and see what everyone else has been up to.