The Neighbor Composite

I am back at home after our long driving trip and finally back on my computer.  At last, then, I can post Randy's wonderful composite of the Neighbor quilts.  As usual, I will let him explain the how's and why's of his arrangement

  So I’ll have to admit, I anticipate reveal day as much as does Rita.

To create the composite for each reveal, I download all your creative work into Photoshop. The only “tweaking” I do to each image is remove the distracting edges caused by a slight over-lap on whatever background the quilt was photographed against. It’s easy for me to do – often difficult to do in the camera.

Next I put all those beautiful quilts on one screen and lean back and try to visualize a layout theme. At first “Neighbors” created a bit of a challenge – and you are most welcome to disagree in the comment block. But just look: If you put colors together, the themes clashed; formats together rarely work; so next I study under-tone subjects and the light went on. By under-tone, I mean, is there a common theme of buildings or animals or patterns.

Row one
It just had to be – a row of buildings. Consider an urban aerial photo to our dream of a hidden nature retreat to “urban sprawl” – it’s all there. But in today’s crowded world, you have to work to get away from “neighbors.”

Row two
How can these two quilts NOT be together, even the bull’s eyes [all four are menacing red] said so. Both even share a grin, from the delightful “flower” [sorry Kathy, you said it was just a “blond touch”] on Jersey Girl’s head to that “feeder bird” on the water buffalo’s back. Strange fact, those birds often build a nest up there and raise their young. 

Row three
I was surprised to see five of you pick animals as your Neighbors theme and thus row 3. Yes, chickens are birds J and a barking dog who likes to dig help make the connection.

Row four
A quick glance would make you think this row was “patterns”, but then there is a heart-felt Neighbor story to remind us our obligation to each other. Then Alice and Sara’s beautiful colors and patterns turn our creative minds to what is important in…..

Row five
….people! Janet shared her life with us to show how important neighbors are to all of us. And what a finish/beginning with Judy and Carolyn’s quilts and their stories. WOW!

Thank you all for letting me briefly participate in your journey.

Randy

P. S. Carolyn, I’m going to sneak in a personal note. As  kid I remember the “ice man” making his rounds to our house because we ha a true “ice box.” He would deliver a block of ice ever so often. We always raided his truck on hot summer days in hopes of finding left-over ice chips that he would give us.