In January I started making some new pieces to send to the Illinois Artisans Center. This was the first one I made and it reminded me of the colors of Chuckles, the candy, so I named it Candy Colors.
Then I had the leftovers. They seemed so cheerful in the northern IL winter that I continued to work with them. First I made this wall hanging from the leftovers, then I made the 2 postcards, and later the journal cover. I still have some strip piecing left to play with.
I usually like the pieces made with the leftovers better than the original project. What is the lesson here? It makes me wonder if I should scrap the original piece. Maybe I just need to design the original, but not sew it together. Then all of the parts will be leftovers. Does anyone have a solution for this?
The strip piecing was all made from the clean up cuts of the fabric so the strips have one side that is crooked and one that is straight. I always make my clean up cuts generous and they immediately go into my crazy piecing fabric bins. When I am ready to work with it I pull the color palette I want and put the rest away. If it is not lively enough I go back to the bins and add a few zingers in.
Oh these are lovely, Wanda. And I like your 2nd piece better too.
ReplyDeleteThey are all wonderful. I love your black and white fabrics. I am starting to collect B&W because I like what they do with bright colors.
ReplyDeleteLike Joyce I am amassing a huge collection of black & whites. I love bright colored quilts and black and white sets them off wonderfully. Yours are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I prefer the one made from left-overs as well!
ReplyDeleteWanda, I think it has to do with the feeling of freedom--that is, you're done with the 'real' piece (the first one), so now it doesn't matter what you do, it's just 'play'. So the more (even more, because the first piece is quite good too, I think) creative pieces tend to come later. That's my theory, anyway. If this is right, then the question is, how to get that playful freedom right from the start. The second piece you show here is one of my all-time favorites!
ReplyDeleteI really like the second one. I love flowing lines, but a piece like this reminds me how much I like these symetrical geometric ones too. I think it's that traditional background of mine. Really like that little optical illusion thing going on in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary that you're probably free-er with your "leftover" pieces and therefore more creative. Also, we often think of the obvious solution first and only through numerous sketches (or whatever you favored way of working through a design problem is) do we reach the best solution. Of course, there's always the occasion where that first "gut" instinct WAS right. My solution: make the first piece (but don't quilt it yet), and then keep going. If you like later pieces better, then give yourself permission to cut up the first piece and use it as scraps as well! If you still like the first piece best, then pat yourself on the back and finish it up.
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