Where Do You Go for Inspiration?
Today’s #FabricFriday post - on inspiration
Today’s blogpost will attempt to answer the question where do I look for inspiration in a new quilt?
In this case, I’m looking for something which will satisfy two conflicting parameters. This is for my annual guild challenge, and I have been rooting around for inspiration since Christmas. When I looked at this spring’s calendar earlier this month, it became clear very fast that I need to pick a direction and just start. I have about 60 days (more or less).
This challenge is very open ended - in terms of size, techniques, etc – it’s completely quilters’ choice. Given last year’s challenge had a very specific size requirement, this is refreshing. This year’s challenge is to make a 3D quilt – open to anything but a tessalation quilt. They are reserving THAT for a future challenge.
I’ve never done a 3D piece, and I went looking for an idea online, and in a few books. There’s a lot of potential for this kind of a quilt, but nothing hit me. I wanted to enter something that was a bit unexpected…something that would not be done by everyone else. Doesn’t everyone? This is an insanely talented group of quilters, and I’m always amazed at what people come up with. On page 3 of my Pinterest search, my spidey senses began to tingle…because I found something that I could make work.
When I said I needed an idea…maybe I should have been more specific?
Without giving anything specific away, It’s an idea I’ve had to work on for a while – it was literally in my bucket list ideas bin. Yes, I have a bin for that – that shouldn’t surprise you. I took it out and looked through it, and then re-read the details of the challenge description in detail to make sure I can fit my square peg of an idea into that round hole. Done.
In re-reading the description, I found that there was one tool I needed that I don’t have – easily ordered from the designer, and now I’m onto the next step – the Fabric Pull.
How do you feel about this color? Now, I love it!
The inspiration for this pull comes from the Pantone color of the year - I had a very specific vision for this project, and that called for a very controlled palette of color. One that I didn’t think I had here – but it’s amazing what you can find when you are looking. I need 6 fat quarters that I can use of that color – and I have 5. I hope that no one recognizes the repeat of one of the colors – if I space them out enough, they won’t.
Thank you, Amy Bradley for today’s inspiration.
Batting, backing, binding, thread, project bin, name – all pulled together in relatively short order. It’s actually been a while since I did a fabric pull, and I was having fun pulling the pieces together.
Batting - I’ve yet to find a good way to store or organize it.
This is a laundry hamper, which uses vertical space and a small footprint.
Ok, I was having fun until I came to doing a deep dive into my batting box. Batting – ugh! Storing batting in this space has been an ongoing issue. Truthfully, it’s kicked off several rounds of reorganization, and I’ve finally settled on a batting hamper – or The Batting Box, which has a small footprint in my room but takes advantage of vertical storage. I buy mostly one brand of batting, and I try to keep one unopened package of it ahead of the projects.
Note to self – I need to go buy more, either at a show or online…but for today, I have enough for this project.
Second note to self – I need to splice some frankenbattings together soon for practice quilts.
How to YOU organize and corral your batting stash?