Dresden Plates: Fabric Auditions for the Center Block

The Winner!  Or, Not?

All eight plates are attached to their background blocks!  Yay!  When I originally made these Dresden plates, it was for a machine embroidery blog hop that I was participating in, and I didn't have any specific project in mind for them.  I completely used up the fat quarters in these eight plates, so I'm short one block for this 3 x 3 quilt and I can't make another plate to match the others.  So I decided to choose a complementary print for the center block,  and the winner that I chose last night is that pale blue floral fabric above.  The black and white striped fabric is going to be used for 1" sashing with yellow posts, so I laid it out beneath the blocks to help me envision how all the fabrics would look together in the finished quilt.

This is the fabric I was originally planning to use for the center block, but I decided against it because the whites in this print are too bright.  My plate fabrics have off-white accents, and the bright white in this Asian floral print just make my plates look dull and dirty:

Rejected; Whites are Too Bright

See?  Although I did love how the blues, purples, reds, and yellows in that fabric sort of tied everything together.  And that was the fabric Sarah picked out herself.  Now I'm second-guessing myself...

I also auditioned this daisy print fabric for the center block; daisies are my sister's favorite flowers:

Also Rejected for Upstaging the Plates

I liked the idea of using the daisy fabric in the center, but again, the white was too bright and I felt like this fabric upstaged my Dresden plates.

So then I looked at this one, a floral print with a much lower contrast to the chevron background fabric:

Do We Love This, Or Do We Hate This?

Hmmm...  Last night, when I was taking these pictures, I thought this blended in too much and was kind of blah, but now I'm wishing I had looked at this fabric with the stripe separating the blocks.  I REALLY need to get a design wall in my studio; it would make these decisions so much easier!

Ugh -- now I'm not so sure anymore about that light blue floral fabric.  I feel like I like the red, purple and yellow floral better now.  I don't have time to hem and haw about it, either, because the Princess's birthday is in FOUR days, and five-year-olds do not understand birthday presents that do not show up in time for the birthday.

I'm just going to have to pick one and go with it so I can get the quilt top assembled today.  Meanwhile, having felt that my Dresden Plate blocks needed some black accents, I ordered some Jet Black Swarovski hot fix crystals from M&J Trimming yesterday.  They are supposed to be machine washable, *but* the manufacturer recommends cold water, delicate cycle, and turning garments inside-out for laundering.  You can't turn a quilt inside-out.  I toyed with other options, like sewing on little black craft pom poms (that would take too long) or black sequins (those would be scratchy, and again it would take too long to sew them on).  My Swarovski crystal rhinestones should go on fairly quickly, and they will also add some BLING to Princess Petunia's covers -- and my princess likes her some bling!  My mother suggested that I just send my sister some extra rhinestones so she can replace any that fall off, so that's what I'll do.