Another Paintstiks rescue...

Thanks for the many sympathy wishes for my aunt. Her funeral was small, mostly family -- just like she would have wanted. I gave the quilt to my cousin's wife, who will give it a good home in Aunt Ann's honor and cherish it in her memory.

In my rush to finish her quilt, I didn't take my usual week or so (or, in some cases, months) to play with the block arrangement. As a result, it had several value issues that I didn't really discover until the top was completely finished.

I got most of my lights and darks sorted just fine, but there were two in particular that read completely opposite once I got them in the mix, resulting in some muddy, confusing spots.

The original top, too muddy in places.

Rather than remove the offenders, though, I got out my Paintstiks.Where the navy floral was too dark, I stenciled over it in white...

...and where the dark was reading too light, I used blue to darken them up. But forgot to take pictures.

The results weren't perfect, but definitely improved some of the contrast.

Paintstiks to the rescue again!

The best laid plans...

I was cutting the binding on Sunday night when I got the call that my aunt had passed, much more quickly than expected. I'm sorry I didn't get the quilt to her in time, but that's OK -- it was a great therapeutic exercise for me, and I'll present it to my cousin's wife, who nursed her through her extended illness.

It really is a pretty quilt. But I didn't even notice it was asymmetrical until I hung it up to take this picture. Too close to it the whole time, I guess.