Sunday, August 26, 2012

A great studio weekend

It has been a while since I have had a free weekend.  On Friday, I decided that this weekend would be all studio time - something I've been missing!  It has been a great weekend, on Saturday I worked on a writing project, made some progress on unfinished projects and worked on the quilts inspired by the books in my last post.  Sunday was spent outside, sunprinting fabric with Setacolor.  I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine & comfortable temperature.  After I cleaned up from that, I headed back to my sewing machine.  It's been a fun weekend!

I decided on the photo for the quilt inspired by Jean Wells' book, "Journey to Inspired Art Quilting". I took this picture in Bermuda, while my sister, Leslie, and I were walking to the "sea glass" beach in St. George's. 

I stopped to take a scenery picture and the color of the berries against the color of the sea caught my eye.  I love these colors so much that I'm working on using them as my logo colors.  Persimmon, Apple Green, Turquoise & Slate.  Yummy colors!

Here is the scenic shot I stopped to take:

The quilt is a work in progress, as is the quilt from the book "Quilting Modern".  I should have them both finished by the end of the week.

Hope you have had a wonderful weekend, spent doing something that you love!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I'm back to blogging!

I've found some new books that I have been enjoying and have decided to revive posting to my blog and making projects inspired by those books. 

The first book is "Quilting Modern" by Jacquie Gering & Katie Pedersen (Interweave).  I love this book for reminding me that less is often more.  The quilts in this book are clean and crisp in design - a refreshing change from quilts that sometimes attempt to include every technique known.  One of the things I've taken note of is how the machine stitching is showcased in these "modern" quilts.  I've got a wonderful selection of Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics & some great prints to play with.  Come back for a look at what this book has inspired me to make!

While I'm on the subect of inspiration... the second book I'm in love with is the newest title by Jean Wells, "Journey to Inspired Art Quilting" (C&T).  This book is completely opposite of Quilting Modern in that the quilts are made of many different fabrics, fifteen, twenty or more, per quilt.  I love the rich combinations of color and pattern. 

Another thing I love about this book is the in depth discussion about sources of inspiration, design principles, and color theory.  There are great examples of using photos to inspire quilts and color choices.  This book is a "must have" in my opinion.

So, there you have it.  Two books, equally interesting to me yet about as different as you can get, from a design persepective.  They are both great books!

Time to get busy making my projects - they should be posted in about a week.  Come back for a peek!