Space dust...the beginning

Since I got all caught up on my BOMs, I decided it was time to get cracking on some stuff I want to have finished before the end of the summer.  Primary among these is the Space Dust quilt I'm making for my sister to take with her when she moves to the Netherlands.  I dug the crap-load of fabric (Lizzy House Constellations with coordinating Pearl Bracelets and solids) out of my closet and started with the plan.  I didn't initially realize how intense the plan would become.  I SHOULD have.  I mean cripes,  it is ME planning this thing after all!  Here's how it started...

This is what Tula's looks like

I looked up the fabric placement for Tula Pink's original design. Then, realizing that I was going for a more monochromatic look - I needed to adjust the photo.  So I took a shot in instagram and changed it to black and white.

This way, I can see how the tones are placed so I can get my placement right.

I then looked at the fabrics I had chosen for this project and laid them all out so I could see them.

So awesome and pretty and beautiful.  I want to have this for me!

And did the same thing with this photo - changed it to black and white so I could organize my fabrics by their tone rather than their colour.

Going to black and white totally changes your perception of the fabrics.

At this point, I could start mapping.  I compared (by making a two column chart) my fabrics from light to dark with the ones used in the original design.  Once I had done that, I could sub in my fabrics for the ones Tula used so that the tonal combination would remain similar.

This process required multi-media, pencils, diagrams and a crossword puzzle for distraction purposes.

I'm serious when I say that literally, HOURS later, I had mapped the thing out and translated my colour choices onto each of the paper templates.  There are...I think....46 of them.  46.  I wanted to die doing this...I could seriously screw myself over if I made a mistake.  

All finished!  Ready to cut my border and binding strips and start piecing!

I finally got to start sewing!  Its not too complicated from this point on.  I mean, it IS paper pieced but all the pieces are so huge and they are all either triangles or quadrangles, it goes pretty fast.

This is block A.  See?  Easy peasy.  and it looks pretty cool.

I got the first row done before I decided that maybe I should take a break and provide an update.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

Please excuse the weird picture - I used the panorama function on my iPhone.  

Now, I'm taking a for real break to head to the movies!  Yay!