Pram quilt

I have been working hard on my hexagon quilt (see previous entries), but I have also started something new....

It all began the other night when I was surfing the net, looking at blogs, and I followed a link to http://www.paperpieces.com/ and started looking at patterns and designs.  I found one called Stars and Hexagons that took my fancy, and without really giving it too much thought, decided to make a small quilt in that design for the baby's pram.

I have a bit of time on my hands at the moment, and paper piecing is great because it is so portable, so I started making stars.  I like to use freezer paper as opposed to regular paper pieces, because it doesn't move around when you're trying to tack down the seam allowance (you iron the freezer paper on to the back of the fabric and it sticks lightly but firmly).  I already had a template for a 60 degree diamond that I had made in a beginners quilt class to use to make tumbling blocks.  So I had everything I needed.

I was thinking of making the background hexagons out of a navy print from the new Amy Butler Love range...

But I thought it looked a bit busy.  I feel like the print, which I would have fussy cut into the hexagons, distracts from the stars.  My Mum, who is really good with this sort of thing, suggested using more of a mid blue, so we tried putting a beautiful Nani Iro fabric behind the stars.

I think the colour is beautiful, but again, the print doesn't work.  What about this?

I think it works a lot better.  It's a tie-dyed looking fabric I bought a decade ago that I don't like anymore, so I wouldn't use it, but I think the block colour looks better than a print.  So then I started thinking about other block colours.  I've got a few bits and pieces on hand, so I tried red (no good because the stars are red), pink (it's a hot pink, so there wasn't enough contrast against the red in the stars) and green.

I don't really like the green.  The plain navy looks good.  I think the mid blue looks the best though.  What I really need to do is take the stars to a quilt shop and try out different fabrics, but I'm on bed rest in hospital until the baby comes, so that is just not possible for the time being.  I've got some fat quarters on the way from Fabric Worm - the entire Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley range!  Maybe one of those fabrics will work.