Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
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I saw this orange dotted champagne flute (plastic) and thought that it would be a great idea to have a really nice glass in the bathroom. I, of course, also liked the dots. This is a little more Halloweenish than I think I could look at every day, but a champagne flute I could go for. Unfortunately, I have no counter space in my bathroom, so I won’t be wasting my money on a champagne flute that will get knocked off in a day and a half. I did like the reflection from the flash on the wall, the bubbles in the water and the dark spot next to the water glass.
Here is the Kaleidoscope baby quilt that TFQ made. She and I talked about the method of making Kaleidoscope blocks that I learned in a class a zillion years ago. She ended up just using one of the Kaleidoscope rulers. I think it is very fresh and pretty. Lucky baby! It is being machine quilted by Angie at the Quilting Loft.
Below is the propeller quilt again, which TFQ made from the leftovers from the Kaleidoscope blocks above. She said that the blocks needed a little something so she hand appliqued the dots over the centers. I think it looks similar to some of Be*mused‘s quilts, but this one is very cheerful, more cheerful that the quilts that Jan from Be*mused has been posting lately. Ingenious use of the leftovers as well.
More detail below. You can see the fabrics pretty well. Notice the different prints. TFQ said the use of fabric was inspired by my use of fabrics in the Flowering Snowball (Cross Blocks) blocks. It makes me feel good to know that I am inspiring someone else. 😉
Below is one block. The centers were made in the Yo-yo fashion. After the fact, we discussed using buttons instead of applique’. It would make for a different look and might be fun for a slightly older child. One would need a lot of large-ish cheerful buttons.
I have been to Seattle on trips when the weather has been challenging: pouring down rain and a flat grey sky. This trip, however, displayed really beautiful weather with a lot of opportunity for nice shadows in the photos.
This was a door we walked by. The door grille/safety gate is a really interesting design and it made a great shadow. The circles make me think of bubbles and I like the way they are contained in that oval shape.
TFQ’s block of choice for her 2008 Fabric of the Year project is a Shoo Fly variation. She doesn’t necessarily use only fabric she has bought this year. This makes sense to me, since her blocks are much more complicated. She puts the new fabric in the corners, the triangles and the center and then chooses something else, which could be from her existing fabrics to go with the new fabrics.
The three below are very sherbety looking. I love the way this project illustrates how different blocks can look just by using different fabrics. A person can learn a lot about color from piecing the same block over and over. I have done this (though not to the degree that TFQ has done it) and think it is more exciting than it sounds. TFQ could speak to this point much better than I can. As you can see, there is one Economy block, on the right, from her FOTY project last year. 
Below are more of the Economy blocks. Again, we put them up on the design wall in groups and took photos of them.
Below are blocks made with mid-century fabrics: 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. TFQ also used fabrics that look like mid-century fabrics.
In case you didn’t have a chance to read some of the recent comments, Laume wondered about the sturdiness of the Eco Market Tote that I discussed in a previous post, by asking “I’ve been wanting to make some bags for awhile now and have been resistant to actually buying a pattern – a bag – how hard can that be I think. But I know I really do need a pattern and so instead I just talk about making a bag some day. Are these sturdy? Are the shoulder straps comfortable when they’re weighted down? They all look wonderful, especially the first one with the big art deco print.”
TFQ saw that comments and answered:
“I’ve been using the red/white/black one for a couple of days and the straps are pretty comfortable — not cutting into my shoulder despite my walking a mile and a half to work with about 10 pounds of stuff in it.
I think the straps would be less comfortable if we had not made them wider, and interfacing the handles for the lighter-weight fabric definitely helps. The bags are completely lined — in fact, they are reversible — which helps with the sturdiness factor, but for a bag you’re going to use to haul around a lot, I agree with Jaye, choose a fabric with a little body to it, like heavier linen or a lightweight home dec fabric. ”
The Eco Market tote comes from Favorite Things. Watch out for the errors described in the previous post. The company said that they have fixed them, but the patterns with errors are still in quilt shops.
