A DP decision...I think!

I've been playing with fabrics (and searching online/through my stash!) for what feels like weeks but is only a couple of days and I think I've made a decision  - thanks for all your opinions and suggestions on arrangements of the blocks, I've considered them all (and exchanged many emails on the subject with some unfortunate souls) and have been playing with Paint...more of that in a bit...

My initial thoughts were to use a narrow dark grey (when I looked at the grey available I soon realised I'd meant a medium grey as I think the darks are too dark for this) border around each 'square in a circle' block and then use various bright colours as a wider border on each.  I was struggling to decide between solids and tone on tones for the wider borders but decided on TOTs as I felt two solid borders would be too stark against the pattern of the blocks.  So I was left with the decision about what colours to look for and what sort of TOT I wanted - nothing too obviously patterned but nothing too mottled, nothing too 'paint factory explosion' and then my fabric orders arrived...

I'd ordered a few spots and stripes (for my hexies) from a couple of shops and while I was looking a TOT stripe in aqua caught my eye so I ordered a bit in the hope it would be suitable for my DP blocks - I love it!!  I'll show you the 'hexie only' squishy first...

These came from Fabric Inspirations (which I've never used before but will happily use again) and are (from top to bottom) Sevenberry yarn dyed tiny pink stripes, Sevenberry light pink stripes and Sevenberry medium dots in light blue - I hadn't realised they were all by Sevenberry until they arrived - they're lovely! The shop sells mainly in half metre cuts but they do have some lovely fat quarter packs of Sevenberry dots or stripes which are really good value.

My next squishy was from The Eternal maker.  It was also my first visit there and I will happily use them again too!  (And they sell fat quarters - always a bonus!)

These are (from top to bottom) MoMo Just Wing It aqua stripe, Lecien colour stripe basic collection in pink and pink egg dot stripe by Simply Baby (no longer on the website).  Aren't they all pretty?!  They're on the clothes horse as I type so I'll be able to use them when I next prep some hexies, maybe this evening!

As soon as I saw the stripe I loved it and it looks great with the City Weekend DP blocks.  I pulled some pale grey Moda Bella from my stash (left over from wonky) which I'd dismissed as too pale until Rebecca suggested using a paler grey and played around. I've had a go at mocking up a block in Paint (oh, to have EQ!  I spend enough time on the computer as it is!).  To make the comparison fair I've made two mock ups - one using the Bella grey and one using Kona medium grey, both images taken from images in online shops (as was the stripe), I do hope it's ok to do that and then show it here, if not will someone please let me know!  The stripe won't be going the way it is in the image (and the scale is off) but I think it gives enough of an idea for the moment...

Kona medium grey on the left, Bella grey on the right

I feel like the paler grey border is too dull - somehow it pulls down the vibrancy of the stripe and makes the centre look a bit, well...sickly looking!  It does the same with the more vibrant blocks but I'm not sure it's as obvious on the screen as it is in real life...

Kona medium grey on the left, Bella grey on the right - sorry, this one's a bit rough!

So, after all that (!) my decision is Kona medium grey and the stripe around all the blocks and then possibly some sashing in the same grey.  The binding will probably be the stripe if I add sashing or the grey if I don't!  All I need to do now is decide how much to order and resist the other nice things they sell - it's a good job I don't live nearer!  At some point I need to decide how to use the stripes but that can wait for a while!

Edited to add: please can someone with a Kona colour chart tell me how much darker coal is than medium grey and offer their opinion as to which one would be best?  Thanks!  I've decided on medium grey - thanks for all the help!

I hope you like/don't hate my decision but if you're reading this after about 6pm this evening it's too late, I'll have bought the fabric by now so please keep quiet!  If you're reading this afternoon and you think I'm making a huge mistake then please shout really loudly!  I really could be making a mistake - this is the first time I've shopped online for fabric to work with an existing project and I've found it much harder than shopping at my LQS.  I'm not counting the hexies fabric as I'm deliberately aiming for really scrappy on that!

My Mum bought me some flowers yesterday and I thought I'd share them...please excuse the arrangement, my skills don't extend to flowers!

Can't resist a gerbera, especially a pink one!

And Alfie and Archie had another sleep over last night (and Alfie woke me at 6am licking my arm - he obviously decided it was time for some attention - my mind was whirring with DP thoughts so I got up...which is why reading this post is possibly like following a grasshopper - all over the place!  Sorry about that!).  I took this just after I'd told them off barking at leaves blowing past the window, for about the sixth time...

"I didn't start it..."