New York Beauty Design

Yes, the New York Beauty blocks are finished! Forty blocks ready to become a beautiful quilt. A beautiful quilt for my husband. I've never made a quilt for him. I don't know how I managed to sew and quilt my entire adult life without making one for him. I suppose I was waiting for just the right one, and this one is definitely right for him. He's a big fan of Mariner's Compass quilts and New York Beauty has many similar characteristics...the sharp points, the circular patterns, and the bright colors.

Now I need to choose a layout. He designed this layout:

We decided to go with a square layout which means there will be four leftover blocks. They will likely become a throw pillow. My design wall wasn't quite big enough to hold everything so the top row is a little floppy and the bottom row is mostly on the floor, but it's good enough to get the idea.

Here's another choice:

 

For this layout, I experimented with keeping like patterns together. The four center blocks are all the same, and each of the three corner blocks around that match each other.

And here's one more choice:

With this layout, I tried to pay more attention to the placement of lights and darks, but I don't think you can really see that once they are all together.

So, what do you think? It's sort of like going to the eye doctor...better one or two? And I say something like, "I'm not sure. Can I see that again? One is pretty good, but two isn't so bad either." Eventually, he forces me to choose something, and then we have to do it again. Better two or three? Gosh, this is hard. There are things I like about each layout and I'm sure I could play around with this and come up with about a dozen more.

I know which one I like the best right now, but I'm gonna sleep on it and see if it stays the same when I take a fresh look tomorrow. I'd love to know which one you like the best.