Most of my designs start with something visual. I’m inspired by a combination of colors, a particular photo, or the pattern of some fabric. I’m not particularly good at (or comfortable with) designing for a particular theme or idea. Yet that is exactly where I found myself a short time ago. I wanted to create…
My latest quilt, Rhythm of the City, is now complete. It’s made almost entirely with fabrics I dyed myself. I’m very happy with both the fabrics and the composition. I added additional pattern and interest with couched heavy black thread. I think it adds a lot. More information about this quilt Audition this quilt in your home…
I had a fabulous time teaching “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” in western North Carolina recently. The students were talented, excited to learn, and willing to experiment. As a result, they produced some amazing quilts in our two days together. After learning some design concepts in the morning, the fabric was flying in the afternoon…
I needed to depict a traffic jam for my hurricane (evacuation) quilt. Thankfully, I had a reference photo. So, I made a colorful replica. I thought it needed to be thick/padded to go with the texture of the raw-edged spirals. However, the bright colors of the vehicles disappeared a little against the bright floral background. I corrected…
You readers are really great! When I posted my quilt at this stage several of you had good suggestions about how I might improve it. The most common suggestion was to add some orange back in. Something I had considered but rejected. Another tip was to break up the white and to extend the “splashing”…
I got this far on my current quilt, before I knew it needed something more. Clearly, the white needed some texture. So, I decided to fling some paint onto it! I practiced first on a piece of muslin, then I just went for it. Amazingly, I did this without any fear! I was READY to break…
Well, after painting those (challenging) fabrics I had to figure out what to do with them. Since I wasn’t crazy about some of them, I knew I’d need to cut isolated portions and motifs for use. I had NO IDEA what my composition might look like, but I started cutting out sections and MINDLESSLY sticking…
After doing LOTS of trial and error on my current quilt, I finally decided to cut it into pieces and to reassemble it. My goal was to add some skinny or small pieces of black, to move the black around the piece more, and to add interest to the composition. Of course, I could cut…
Good grief. I’ve about worn out my brain cells trying out different ways to proceed with my current project. I was really thrilled with the background composition but felt like it needed to have some more black added. But nothing that would detract from the black already there. Maybe something loose and organic that would…
I’m working on a new project, inspired by some great new fabrics. The bulk of these were painted by Pat Pauly. I purchased them to use together and they make my mouth water! In the photo above I’ve folded each one to reveal the parts I intend to work with. I think a good dose…