quilt surgery

This quilt has been in progress for a few years, quite literally, but this is the first time I've shared it here. Over a month ago, I pieced the back, and since I liked that so much, I decided to rework the front, which I wasn't completely sold on. And this is how it goes in my world!

This is the top, before. The green and red (bottom) sections were bothering me. Some of the green fabrics were too drab for my liking. Some of the red fabrics weren't red enough for me. Since I had gone to the trouble of adding the borders already, the last thing I wanted to do was to chop it all apart and reconstruct it. I decided to do a little quilt surgery instead.

I got out my stitch ripper and carefully removed the green section. (This was very nerve wracking, by the way!) I made a green slab of fabric to replace it and used the original green section for a cutting guide. I carefully pinned and sewed the new section into the gaping hole in my quilt top. I did the two ends first, then each of the sides, pinning each step of the way. It came back together really, really well! I was surprised, delighted, thrilled. So, I decided to do the same for the red section. It worked equally well the second time, which, quite frankly, surprised me. I thought it was a one time shot. So glad that it wasn't!

This is what the quilt top looks like now. Last night when I was looking at these photos I had to wonder if it did any good? Or if I took one step forward and two steps back? Today, I think it DID improve the quilt top. (Feeling kinda wishy washy, I guess!) I love the fabrics now, and I'm curious to see how it looks all quilted up.

Speaking of the quilting...I'm "straight" line quilting with my free motion foot. Seems counter intuitive, doesn't it? I'm finding that it gives a wonderful "organic" feeling that I can't seem to achieve with a walking foot. It's been a fun experiment that is yielding great results. Love it when that happens!

I'm linking up with Lee of Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.