What’s on the design wall?

When it’s gray, cold and snowy here on a winter morning, there’s nothing better than walking into my studio…a large and steaming cup of coffee in my hands. I have to carry my cup with two hands, not because it’s especially large, but because if I don’t, I start fiddling with fabric, arranging and re-arranging blocks on my wall, and pulling fabric from bins. You know, touching stuff!

Design, of any kind, takes time. It’s hundreds of small, individual decisions that eventually lead to art. That art can be fabric, textiles, silk, lace, beading, painting, baking, drawing with charcoal or colored pencils, or 100 other things. Good design is good design, no matter what the medium.

When I get stuck on a project, like this one (for a couple of weeks), it helps to just walk away. When it’s winter and too slippery to walk in our parks or trails, I go to quilts stores, and JoAnn Fabrics. There are those who look down on JoAnn’s, but for me it can be an hour of inspiration. I walk down their many isles of designer fabric rolls, admiring the sheers, upholstery fabrics, and even outdoor fabrics. I run my fingers over the myriad of fabrics on these glorious racks of rolls that are 8 or 9 feet tall, and admire the color, the texture, sometimes silk and sometimes nubbly tweed. Sometimes I run across Minky or satin, which is always a surprise on my fingertips. Am I going to start making my own pillows? Nope! Am I going to make new curtains for the living room? Also, a nope! BUT, running my fingers along the nubby tweeds, sheers, linen blends, and jacquards, some patterns I would never have even thought about putting together, I’m inspired.

So, this black and yellow riff on a traditional Rail Fence is an experiment in quilting. While the size and shape of the blocks has been stretched, manipulated, and exaggerated, it’s still a fairly recognizable Rail Fence. Because I wanted to try quilting on my small machine and then putting the clusters of blocks together, each section has been quilted, but one, and each “block” has a slightly different character.

How hard can it be to sew y-seams into quilted blocks? I’ll keep you posted!

Make something good today,

Cheers,

Beth