Saturday 12 February 2011

DQS10 - designing

I never rush into a swap quilt design. I look at my partner's Flickr favourites and galleries. I study their mosaics. I read their preferences. I check out their blog. Then I forget about it for a while. Then I have another look and repeat the process. Then when I have a bit of time, I have another look, and get a few ideas in my head, then put pencil to paper, and let something evolve.


I put pencil to paper the other day, and this is what happened. You might need to double-click on the image to read the notes, which explain the meagre sketches. Top left are the main notes I took for ideas, the rest are notes about how I'm going to put the quilt together so I don't forget anything. That said, there's a fair chance things will intentionally change as I go. So far, this quilt is going to be a real mix of techniques to get the effects I want - foundation-piecing, hand applique, machine applique, trapunto, free-motion embroidery and free-motion quilting...


Here's my starting palette (it contains Sandi Henderson (Farmer's Market), Patty Young (Flora & Fauna), Heather Bailey (I think Freshcut and Pop Graden), Chez Moi (Swanky?) and a couple of tone-on-tones to fill out the colours. The finished product won't be so overwhelming, becuse they'll be set on a solid white background. The stripe is a potential binding; I rarely settle on binding until the quilting is complete and trimmed, and I can lay out a few options accurately.

I can't wait to start sewing tomorrow (hmm, it's 3am, perhaps I should say 'after a sleep'?).

2 comments:

LittleWhiteDove said...

So bright and cheery! I bet your partner will love it.

FlourishingPalms said...

I'm always impressed by your nighttime sewing stamina. I'm sure you do this because you have little ones to care for during the day, but doesn't it wear on you? Or do you not require much sleep? I wish I was as dedicated - giving up sleep for it - to quilting as you.