Rebel inspiration

How to arrange
twenty 11 1/2 inch blocks made from silk ties

too structured for me today

I tried integrating reds, pinks and all sorts of other ideas inspired by my fellow bloggers' comments.  Nothing felt just right.  Except this bright orange linen tie that I had yet to cut apart. Not enough in that skinny tie to last very long.  So I had to give up on the idea of the linen, unless I want to stop and hand dye some linen fabric.   
 I opened one of the storage units that hold 
my stash of multi-colored florals
and this Alexander Henry design was looking me straight in the face.


Maybe because of the brisk fall air, seeing pumpkins everywhere I go, 
but shades of orange kept whispering to me.  And then perhaps the upcoming holiday was hovering in the back of my mind too?  I think that Sujata's brilliant use of color was also nudging at my subconscious.  The ties were just not quite as colorful as I had hoped.

Now how to put together 11 1/2 inch blocks with 7 1/2 inch blocks. Don't even ask me how I ended up with these disparately sized quilt block units.  Let's just say it was therapeutic at the time.

Late one night, perhaps because Kaffe Fasset was in town teaching and lecturing, I opened up one of his books of quilt patterns, "Passionate Patchwork".  This may have also been the result of seeing Nifty's blog with the wonderful striped shirtings quilt as well as her suggestion of using black as a connector. Very dramatic, yes?  Color issues solved for the moment.

But wait, too much black and too much orange to fill in the spaces, was detracting from the silk.  I need to let the silks shine. 

so more spacer blocks were needed.  






And I won't bore you with the countless
 arrangements and rearrangements.  
Here is where it hangs now.  
66" x 34" 

No telling what may happen next.  What you see is not always what I end up doing.
Thanks to all for your suggestions and inspiration.  It's not over yet.