Inspiration

Now for a little Inspiration....

Can you tell that I love flowers and plants, especially if they are dewy?  Now to get busy and create something wonderful....;o) 

UFO - Time to Quilt

I can finally say my UFO basket is shrinking.  I found the oldest project at the bottom and brought it to the top.  Thirteen years ago, I was given several blocks from the guild I belonged to as a good-bye gift.  The theme used was the surrounding area or nature.  All those creative ladies contributed blocks and signed them.  What a wonderful treasure to find after all these years.   I hadn't forgotten they were there, it just took me this long to figure out how to compose them in a quilt.

This top is not quite finished, though.  I want to frame it with a narrow border in the black.  My picture is wonky because it is stretched out on the floor of my studio.  It measures 72"X 72" at the moment without the border.  This was a challenging project, but not hair pulling or difficult, just time consuming. 

Already gearing up for the next oldest one in the UFO basket.  Yep, this Valentine top has been kicking around my studio for quite some time.  It is hanging in the corner of the studio just waiting...brewing in my mind. 

Previously, I mentioned adding a border with the words "Be my Valentine" only on the top and bottom.  Now, I am toying with the idea of adding words all around the outer border with some paper-pieced hearts to separate the wording.  When I place UFO's aside, I always put the remaining fabrics together with the blocks or top so I can easily pull it out and get back to it.   There are several scraps I can use in the border leftover.

I made a half dozen mug mats using the selvages from my scrap bag.  They all look wonderful scattered on my small glass top kitchen table.  (Ugh, blogger won't let me add any more pictures!!?)

So many quilts and projects I make look girly.  To remedy that, I try to think "what would my husband or son like"?   Not necessarily colors, but what elements or shapes would they like.  Then I think about colors and designs in fabric.  I was surprized to see my husband love a recent modern quilt I made using a geometric grid with lots of negative space, but the focus fabric had large-ish flowers all over.  I will blog about that one in the future.