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August 5, 2006

Quilt inspiration & color lessons everyone can use

A few links to jump-start your brain if you’re thinking of joining the quilt block swap:

  • Whip Up’s Quilting category
  • Astronomy quilts
  • Uncomfortable with choosing colors? Try this! (This would work for any craft, really. Team up with your knitting friends to trade snips of different colored yarns from all your stashes — try combining them on a page).
  • The Dairy Barn art gallery in Athens, Ohio, where I went to college, sponsors the Quilt National every year. They’ve got back issues of the show catalog for sale here. Speaking of which… if we did a fundraiser for Heifer with this quilt swap, it would be hilarious to display it at the Dairy Barn first. Get it? Heifer… Dairy Barn… Oh, never mind.
  • The Art of Fabric Collage was also a real kick in the pants for me, inspirationally. It has lots of great details and instructions.
  • I’m not the only knitter with quilty thoughts: Kaffe Fassett is a master of the art. Here’s a good spot to find all his fabrics in one place, though Repro Depot is now stocking them, too.
  • Purl, the NYC yarn store, just opened Purl Patchwork — also, check out the header image on their blog, it makes me want to haul out my embroidery stuff!
  • Lest we forget, it was Kay and Ann who got everyone knitting log cabin squares — traditionally done as a patchwork quilting piece.

I really think this swap is going to bring me out of the mini-funk I’ve been in… not to mention clear out some of the fabric that’s just waiting to be used in something. I’ve got a stash that, while not as large as the yarn one, is fairly varied, and needs a little editing / sprucing up.

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2 comments

  • kristi

    Thanks for the inspiring links. I really dug the astronomy quilts. I keep getting the itch to do the quilt that’s been waiting in my wings for a while. It’s a collaboration with a visual artist and I’ve had the inspiration painting hanging here, for, well, years.
    I learned somewhere about “fusing” — which means you just iron on, you don’t have to sew the pieces together. And that concept really freed me up quiltwise. Fusing is much more like making a fabric collage. I really love beautifully pieced quilts. But I also recognize my limitations.

    Reply to kristi
  • Post authorShannon

    I hear what you’re saying, which is why I think I’m going to go the string quilt route. Working on a smaller scale, in strips, will be easier for me to do than piecing together some crazy-complex design. And then you can just rely on the magic of Putting All The Pieces Together to make it come together…
    (Of course, if I wanted to throw a few crazy-quilt style squares in there, who’s to stop me?)

    Reply to Shannon

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