Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I was able to get some pictures of my 'snow from my window" partially finished quilt - I am ready to apply paint and I wanted a memory of where I started. I also partially put together the five piece chessie piece - all I need to add are the outer borders and I have not decided if I really want them.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

I have been working on my design class project. It was easy to decide that the perimeter would reflect the golden square (~1:1.6) and that somehow I would use the fibonni (?) numbers in it - the sequence of 1:2:3:5:8 etc. Part of the design class requirement for this month was to work with fabric paints - something I had never done so I went and bought a small beginners package to play with . After that I wanted to set some rules for myself - I started with the negatives (not the right place to start but oh so easy to go there) - because of all of the chessie blocks I had been doing, I did not want a landscape, green. blue or brown, or dogs in the work. I forced my mind around and decided on positives - I want loud, vibrant reds, orange-yellows, violets. In testing, discovered that fabric paints do not show up well on dark colors - oops. Then the snow started again and I realized that I wanted to reflect all the time I have been spending staring out my window at the snow falling or covering everything. So the piece is turning out very white; cream and overall pale. I layered the top - put a road, cul-de-sac curve and some trees (and yes - one dog) on a muslin layer and then put the snow layer (in the 1:2:3:5) pattern over it so the objects just barely show up. Now working on a few objects on the top; will quilt and then do pale fabric painting. It is an experiment! This is a picture of the piece after the first quilting work and before painting - just so I will remember it.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Pretty Cold January Day - Colorado is in the middle of its fourth weekend storm in a row. Got to say that I prefer them during the week so the weekends are nice. However, temperatures below zero always make you appreciate the rest of winter. A six month design class started with Heather Thomas on Thursday night. We get together for dinner first so it is a fun night. I asked a big favor of Heather and she came up with several design ideas for all the chessie blocks (I had been having a lot of trouble with that). Once I saw her ideas, it was a ah-ha! moment for me - of course those went together - guess that is why she is the instructor. Anyone, I am going to focus on those blocks, work out all the details, play with fabric paints to work on eyes and things and hopefully get them put together in the next two months. Just do not want to have to work on them in the spring. I am going to play with the other blocks to figure out all the details.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Thought I would post two landscapes I did. Right now the chessies are hiding in the trees because I can not think what to do with them - any ideas?

Friday, January 05, 2007

Another Friday - another big snowstorm. Just finished shoveling another 12-15 inches. Just happy to be home. Thought I would show some more chessie blocks for comments. You can call, email or leave messages as appropriate. The leaping chessie was revised from the original picture. The sleeping chessie is very rough and I would love comments.