Pondering Color Schemes

What's up with this??? Lately I am so drawn to this color scheme! The top photo is a group of fabrics I bought yesterday at a darling little quilt shop I happened upon in Hiawatha, Kansas. Laurel Burch fabs were 1/3 off!!! I bought 2 yards of this adorable cat fabric. I am such a fan of Laurel's art. Then I proceeded to buy some coordinating FQs in luscious batiks. Do I know what I'll make with it? Do cats ignore birds? I am kinda thinking about a crazy style or string style... But no definite plan.
The second photo is my little beaded-fish-quilt-in-progress. When I got home yesterday and went to the quilting studio to put my new yummies away, I noticed it on the design wall....any similarities??? Can't explain why I suddenly become drawn to certain colors!

Pleasing color combinations are very elusive to me. I've read the books on color theory, own a couple of colorwheels, and have my favorite schemes. But! I am usually happiest with a finished quilt when I have used a focus fabric, then pulled coordinates from it. One of my quilt goals is to be able to--on my own--pull colors together that "have it going on"--all by myself LOL.

Much rain in KC all weekend. Grass is looking wa-a-y shaggy and weeds are looking too comfortable in the gardens.


 

Folk Art Fetish

I have loved folk art for as long as I can remember. I like to make it, I like to buy it, I like to decorate my home with it, I like to read about it, and I especially like to make quilts with it!!! Even though I am trying to break out of my box with more traditional and reproduction quilts, art quilts, and even crazy quilts, I am still very drawn to simple, primitive shapes and color schemes. Here are a few from the stack.


The first photo is my version of a Pat Sloan design, "Walk in the Moonlight". The second photo is "Folk Art Frenzy" that was made following a block swap on my online group. I decided to set the exchange blocks in tilted frames that I saw in a Fons and Porter magazine a few years back. The last photo is my Christmas quilt, "Starring Christmas".
The charm of folk art just makes my heart sing!

Jo's Little Women Quilts

Today's quilts are some that I made this winter while in a Jo Morton Little Women Club at my LQS. So fun! I did find that working in such a small scale had its own gray-hair-making challenges! The first one is called Freedom Quilt, second one is Meg's Four Patch, third one is Soldier Blue, and the last one is Nine Patch Checkerboard. Maybe some day I'll learn how to put captions with photos LOL!

Some of the ladies in the club are also members of my quilt guild so we decided to hang all of our little quilts at the show coming up May 5th and 6th at the KCI Expo Center (near KCI Airport). Hey, if you're in the Kansas City area, stop by! I am also hanging three queen-sized quilts but don't have pictures of those yet. It's always easier to get a good photo when a quilt is hanging at the quilt show! When I was reading Fibermania blog this morning (wish I knew how to do links), it really struck a chord. Melody talked about quilting for enjoyment--not for competition. That's me through and through. If I thought I had to be judged on my quilts, no way I'd hang them!!! Our guild show is not juried. Any member who wants to hang a quilt is free to do so. And it is amazing how gorgeous they are.


Today's weather took a nosedive here in KC. We dropped to the 40s and have a cloudy ole' sky. Nice day to work on the machine quilting of Spin so that's what I am off to do! Will have to stop soon though as I await Computer Guy who will hopefully figure out why the other computer won't let me get online. GRRRRRR. I know it is definitely time to upgrade that computer--but then, that would leave me less money for fabric...

Cat Helpers

In the first picture is dear Natasha, our five year old yellow tabby. She is my Quilting Muse, always hanging out on or near the latest quilting work-in-progress or warming up a finished quilt. Her advice is invaluable!!! She lets me know if the colors are right and if the pattern suits her. She helps roll the spools of thread around on the floor to determine if they are appropriate for a particular fabric. She sometimes tries to pull pins right out of the pincushion--not a good thing. And she has the bestest purr going!

Next picture is good ole' Rocky Boy (aka Rocket J. Cat, Rockums, Rock Star, and Rock Man), our five year old brown tabby (but he insists he is a caramel tabby due to the gorgeous coloration of his tummy). Rocky is the Technology Advisor at our house. Sitting atop the computer monitor, he is king of all things techie. In fact, he can even type on the keyboard: weutpipkj; n 'jaadd goaxvhk,; (classic example). When not perched atop the monitor, he can be found on one of his two humans' laps, demanding lots of petting and sweet talk. Can you say Ruler of the Household??

Birds of a Feather

Thought I'd post a photo of my first three blocks of the current KC Star's BOM by the Blackbird gals, Birds of a Feather. I am getting the fabric packs from my local quilt shop and the patterns are published every third Sunday in my local newspaper. Even though I enjoy needleturn applique, I am extremely SLOW at it so I opted to do fusible applique with machine blanket stitch--so fun and so-o-o fast.

The title, Birds of a Feather, makes me think of quilters. I have been enjoying reading the memes of several bloggers and their "quirks". It is amazing how much I found that I have in common with several of you.

Also we are Birds of a Feather in our thirst to learn more and more about our craft, always wanting to find the best techniques to make a project truly our own. Searching for that perfect fabric to express the theme of a new quilt. Drooling over luscious quilts at shows, guild meetings, or a buddy's home.
Leafing through the latest quilt magazines for inspirations of color and design. Talking about quilts to whomever will listen! And, of course, cruising through the quilt blogs daily to see who is up to what!!

Spin

This is a picture of the quilt I am working on to improve my free-motion quilting skills---my practice quilt. A year or so ago my guild had an "ugly fabric" BOM drawing. Participants were given a small piece of the purply, splotchy fabric and told to create a 12 1/2 " block of choice, using the ugly piece, off white, and any other fabrics we wanted. Well, I won half of the blocks! I brought them home and tried to square them up, but not all swap blocks are created equal--if you know what I mean! I tried not to cut off any points and fudged on sashings, made two rows of friendship star blocks, added a scrappy strips inner border and a purply outer border. I named it Spin because so many of the blocks seemed to rotate. This photo is just the top without any quilting. I am now about 2/3 of the way finished with the quilting and will post a photo of the finished one soon (I hope!) My free-motion skills have a lo-o-ng way to go LOL!

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Sunny and calm in KC this morning--almost too pretty to stay indoors and quilt. Just almost...
Here is a photo of the string quilt I started one autumn. I pulled it out of the UFO pile and am now thinking about borders, etc. I am thinking of using some Gwen Marston-style string blocks or houses. First I'll have to dig through the fabric stash and hope for a discovery of some similar fabrics!

Yesterday was a no-blog day due to Girls Day Out with sister and sister-in-law, both non-quilters (sigh) but mega-shoppers. So we headed to Osage Beach outlet mall (one of the few good ones left) and did a bit of damage to the plastic. Had wonderful Mexican food and margaritas and hit an antique mall on the way home. All in all, a pretty grand day.

As I am learning to post photos to my blog, I plan to put up some oldies I've made in the past few years. I lean toward folkart and primitives, as you'll see, but am trying to expand my horizons. I am also trying really, really, really hard to learn free-motion quilting on my Bernina. I just recently took the plunge and purchased the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator). There is definitely a learning curve but each day I see a tiny bit of improvement. I am using it to quilt a "practice quilt" and will (hopefully VBG) post a picture of that work in progress tomorrow. 

Well, At Least It's a Photo!!!

Okay, saga continues. Picasa helped me load a photo but it is NOT where I wanted it!!! Anyone know how to help me get the photo with my profile???

Photos

Well, I am still trying to figure out how to upload photos to my blog!!! I followed the instructions but the photo doesn't appear. I will persevere, dang it!
On the quilting front, I am very taken with string quilts right now and pulled out a UFO yesterday of one I started a year or so ago. I had intended to put that photo on the blog. I am intrigued with Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts and thought about adding some of her houses or log cabins all around for a border. Okay, back to the "photo loading drawing board"!!!

Why Blog?

This is my very first ever blog entry. I so enjoy reading other quilters' blogs that I decided to join in the fun! I am very new at this so please be patient.