Playing with Design

I have not been getting a lot of time in the studio these days, I must say, but I have been sketching a bunch of designs. 

I took a few of those designs and tried them in EQ7. Yes, I bit the bullet and got it. Early Christmas present? Yes! :)

Fibonacci Flow - uses the Fibonacci sequence up to 5. Dying to make this one using a fat eighth bundle of shot cottons I have. The colours will change, but this is the idea. 

Have you heard of Quilt Design a Day? This Facebook group's goal is to "spend a little time (15-20 minutes) each day, creating a quilt design. The design can be as simple or as complex as you like. To spark our creativity, we have users contribute images and color palettes for inspiration. In addition to producing a design daily, QDAD helps members strengthen their creative process and hone their creative style by sharing constructive feedback." (From the group's description on Facebook)

I joined in September, but have only completed one design to date. No plans to make this one, but it's fun to play with.

Looking forward to doing some more though! Goal for 2015? Hmmm...

Have a great day!

Making Progress - Layers of Leaves

I'm sure you've probably heard the news of the events here in Ottawa on Wednesday. It was a rough day to say the least. Our hearts are broken for Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and his family. So very sad! Many Ottawans, yours truly included, were in buildings on lockdown for most of the day. It was scary, but we're okay. I'm so proud of how our military, police and Parliament security reacted to and handled the situation. We're trying to get back to normal today, though with Cpl. Cirillo's sacrifice front and centre.

As always, quilting is my therapy for stressful situations so I was pretty happy to spend Wednesday evening sharing my quilts with the Arnprior District Quilter's Guild. What a great group!

I have also made good progress with my Layers of Leaves piece. Here are a few photos of some of the design choices I've been considering tonight.

1) Go dark at the bottom?

2) Try some green?

3) Green and dark grey?

4) Green and brown?

5) Finish with the same grey as the top?

6) Finish with a slightly darker grey than the top?

What do you think?

Layers of Leaves - A Work in Progress

Inspiration: Smoky grey skies, orange and yellow leaves...

Design: Yeah, a little abstract...

Revised design courtesy of my youngest:

Colour ideas:

Curious where this might be going? Me too...

Bubbles - A Work in Progress

Hi all, happy Wednesday! First two days on the job have gone well. I have a LOT to learn, but the group is great and they are easing me in nicely. Phew! Shall we talk a little quilting then?

Have you heard about the Mystery Fat Quarter Event at Fabric Spark? Until September 14th, you can get a free fat quarter with the purchase of the equivalent of a yard (or 4 fat quarters, 2 1/2 yards, etc.). The Fabric Spark gang will pick the fat quarter to work well with your purchase. Fun! Aren't you curious to see what they'd pick? More details are on the Fabric Spark site.

I'm working on a quilt for a friend's baby, who was also born on the same day as my nephew. When we first began talking quilts and my friend told me the room colours (orange-red, celery and charcoal grey furniture), this quilt by Janet McWorkman immediately came to mind. Wanting to offer her more ideas though, I pinned a number of great baby quilts to a board on Pinterest to show her and get an idea of what style she'd like. She immediately zeroed in on the one I had imagined too. Love it when that happens!

I couldn't find a pattern so I thought I decided to try to figure it out and design something similar. I showed you this palette last week.

I laid out the greys and creamy white (Kona Snow) in the approximate proportions I was looking for. Then I cut out 5 different sizes of circles on freezer paper and filled the white area until I was pleased with the layout. (The photos are off - late night designing and all)

Then I started adding the colours, pressing the freezer paper to the fabric and adding a seam allowance to turn the edges under later.

All the colours are in place, but I find the Celery colour is a little lost. 

Better. May play around with this some more.

I had originally planned on doing the circles as turned edge appliqué, topstitched down by machine. Or maybe zigzag stitch around the circles. I could do raw edge appliqué, but it is a baby quilt that will see a lot of washing. I could also fuse them down and satin stitch around the edges. I'm still mulling the next step so please feel to jump in if you have an opinion!