I bought this purse a few months ago and I love the pattern on it. It is by a British designer named Orla Kiely. From the start I felt like this could be a quilt pattern......
I also love this quilt by John Q Adams, (I too wonder if his name is John Quincy.....) I think his is paper pieced and I did not want to do that.
Last week Victoria Gertenbach from The Silly Boo Dilly did a workshop and lecture at Calico Cutters. She talked about shot cottons and why she liked them. I have to say I was smitten! This is yet another reason to join a guild if you haven't already, the inspiration in endless!
For those of you that may not know, a shot cotton is fabric made with 2 different colors. The warp and the weft are each different giving you a very rich looking fabric with a lot of depth. As you can see above a turquoise and a black were used here.
So I took all those ideas and things I showed you and started a quilt. I am calling it Sprouts on this snowy, wintery day. Victoria encouraged everyone to grab their scissors and fearlessly cut without rulers and see what happens. I have never been afraid to do that and loved seeing how these fabrics came to life.
I even cut the stems with scissors, you would be surprised how easy it is to cut things pretty close to the same width. I am not changing them and they will be "off" a little bit but I am ok with how it will look, in fact I like it even more.
The colors are washed out from the glare of the snow but in real life the colors are nice and rich. I even have purple in there, my least favorite color!
So that is what is on my design wall today. It's snowing again but you don't need to see a picture of that 😆
Kelly
I love your design. Shot cottons are wonderful and very rich. Can't wait to see this in person next month!
ReplyDeleteI learned something new today...I never heard of shock cotton. Very cool. I really like your quilt and can't wait to see it finished. Jim and I are in Vail with 7 of our neighbors. The Rockey Mountains are so beautiful. I encourage anyone who's never been to Vail, add it to your list
ReplyDeleteKelly, this is so awesome! I love where this is going and so cool to see your inspiration for these clever blocks. Can't wait to see more! Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to see what's on your design board. Sorry your fabric is experiencing more snow glare.
ReplyDeleteThis is really lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love this project, Kelly ~ your colors are fabulous! When I saw it on IG, I thought sure you were going to say your inspiration was from Sujata's book. I used a similar block from her book to make a tennis themed quilt as a gift last year. She cuts freehand with a rotary cutter ~ so many ways to "loosen up"!
ReplyDeletevery nice
ReplyDeleteI love and adore shot cottons. I was so reluctant to work with solids for the longest time, but shot cottons are just pure love. And they work wonderfully for applique and hand quilting too. Hope they are here to stay forever! Jealous that you got to hear from Victoria and lovely to see what you've got going here.:)
ReplyDeleteOh I love Orla Kiely. (She is an Irish designer). Do you have a pattern for this? I would love to make a wall hanging for my new house and this would look great. It is beautiful!
ReplyDelete