I LOVE talking about blocks, studying blocks, and playing with them in Photoshop... I am always on a quest for great blocks and trying to figure out what makes them so great ... So I started this companion blog that will be devoted to this quest. But also check out my regular blog at http://olderrose.blogspot.com

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Can this block be saved?

I started this block in 2010 as part of a challenge on CQI  and there were specific elements it had to adhere to... It had to be a landscape and contain both fans and paisleys... Also it had to be contain a color out of our comfort zone... Well turquoise is so far out of my comfort zone that Nikki Lee had to send me a "turquoise care package". 

I've a lot of time and work invested so far in this block but found  so much that I wasn't happy with that it just went into the WIP basket... But I now want to combine it with my upcoming fanRR

There has been a moon in and out of it.  I liked the lace bridge but it looks like the tree is growing out of it so either the tree or the bridge has to be changed. 
The lower left had several options and was considering a second peacock resting... Both peacocks were to have beaded tails... But now there will be just one peacock with an outrageous elegant tail...

But I do love the peacock theme and the Asian garden.  I also  like the rockwork I have started around the pond.  So when I couldn't sleep last night I got up and starting playing with possibilities for saving this.







There will be an elaborate and very long beaded tail on the peacock on the right and the peacock on the left will be gone.  But I decided that block just had to be rectangle instead of square but that is an easy fix...  Maybe not this long but long enough to handle an outrageous tail...

Then I needed to add a lot more blossoms to my cherry tree.











Now I am liking it more...The bridge still will need a different solution...


















If I reduce the snow and do surface stitching on the mountain and the snow it will move both  to the background.  There will be a branch the peacock will be sitting on.. But it will be added after all the pond work is done.











Actually the whole thing would work better it I narrowed the block even more   but that would mean unstitching the tree and moving it... I will have to think about that...  I see this now as a summer project.  But since I want to use incorporate it with my upcoming RR blocks I had to get it out and give it more thought. Now I can go back to bed and sleep... Isn't it funny how sometimes you just can't shut your mind down....  You'll probably see MANY more revisions before I actually get to it...

This theme came about because for a couple weeks we had a rather tame, wandering peacock as a guest....much to my delight.





2 comments:

  1. I like the mountain made less prominent because now the peacock is the feature rather than the mountain. Gotta love those no-sleep nights. I get a lot of blocks figured out then.

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  2. that tail is certainly a tail and a half, so much to see and admire here.the pond is looking good too

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