What do you get when you add a beautiful setting, great friends, and time to make quilts? Well, fun productivity, of course!
At a recent SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) retreat I took my portable design wall, my easel, and ALL of my hand dyed fabrics. I didn’t have an idea when I left home, but I got one along the way. I decided to be inspired by the colors of fall trees (which we miss here in Florida,) and to use tall vertical shapes.
First, I auditioned A BUNCH of fabric to see if I had what I needed.
Well, um, yes I did. Too many fabrics, as a matter of fact. (Or as Tim Gunn might say, “That’s a whole lot of look.”)
I quickly edited and started putting fabrics in place.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted for the “sky,” but I put some light fabrics there as place holders.
Next, I auditioned some yellow. Would one piece stand out too much? Did I need more? Could I use yellow in the sky too?
I settled on the arrangement below. In this photo many of the fabrics are still folded. I don’t cut until I’m pretty sure. (But, by the end of the 2 day retreat I had all these shapes cut, pinned in place, and a few glued.)
I knew I’d need some black to break up the bright colors, so vertical trunks and branches filled the bill nicely. And you can also see that I added more yellow/yellow-orange.
I also began to consider that sky. Someone at the retreat suggested a pale sky, so I tried it out. It didn’t excite me, though.
In future posts I’ll show you other options I auditioned and where I ended up.
Ellen Lindner
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