Hungry Eyes

That's the way I used to describe my need to be visually inspired. I honestly felt like my eyes were hungry in the way my stomach would be if I hadn't eaten.
When I first discovered online places like Flickr, I felt like that unquenched need had a place to turn to be satiated. And this, despite the fact that it might take a bit of searching to find images that spoke to me personally.
As an artist and designer, I think Pinterest does an even better job of meeting that need. Maybe it has to do with the way it is organized. Maybe it's because you  curate what you see, but I find myself turning to it on a daily basis, pinning images, and reviewing those images when the creative well is a little dry.
Today, I thought I'd share 5 images from my Inspirations Board, that's 5 out of 1,307 pins. These are not my 5 favorites, though I love each one. The board is packed with favorites, so I couldn't possibly pick 5. These are just a sampling, somewhat randomly selected, but all very beautiful. I hope they inspire you too. I've linked each image which hopefully will guide you to the original maker.

This is a knitted blanket design by Kristin Kapur. I love many of her designs and it's easy to see how this inspired this:

Next up is a print by one of my all time favorite artists/designer, Anni Albers.

Though this is a screen print, I can definitely see it re-interpreted as a quilt, couldn't you?

I find myself returning often to this image of crocheted blankets. I love thinking about ways to re-envision this concept in fabric rather than yarn.

Here's a rug design that would make an amazing quilt!

Sometimes, it's a simple twist on the tradition that catches my eye. I love the Double Wedding Ring pattern and I think this is a lovely rendition of it, but what really caught my eye and made me think about applying it to my own designs was the use of black rather than a traditional white or cream as the background color. This block is the perfect kind of inspiration because there's something in it that starts me thinking about seeing or doing things in a different way. That's exactly what my eyes are hungry for.

What I'm Working On Wednesday

Last Friday, I featured the beginnings of a quilt inspired by a digital pattern I found on Pinterest.
Since then I've worked on tinting the black and white version to be able to highlight different parts of the pattern. I like finding secondary and tertiary patterns and playing with those.
All that play resulted in this single block:

My plan is for the finished quilt to include 9 blocks and would therefore end up measuring about 64" x 76". 

Because I tend to mentally complete images I can pretty easily imagine the interaction between the different patterns that will be created by just varying the colors and values of the stripe combinations. it's actually very easy to piece. Everything is either a strip or a triangle. No complicated set in seams here.

While I was working on this though, I noticed this:

Do you see it too? Don't sweat it if you don't. But, at some point I noticed a motif that reminded me of another motif that I'd seen and sketched in November of 2012. 

I was in Switzerland and visited the Paul Klee museum in Bern where I saw lots of amazing work, made note of many things, but made several sketches of a motif I decided to call "Klee's Trees".

Since then I've made several attempts to figure out how this pattern/motif could be interpreted in patchwork,

but never quite figured it out until my eye was caught by that pieced section. It took a bit of color tweaking and probably will be adjusted more as I become more familiar with the pattern, but this is what I've come up with:

One of the things I'm discovering is the possibility for play just within each block.

I can vary the color of the strips simply to create a bit of difference.

I can vary the color of the strips to emphasize a section or create a secondary pattern.

Or I can vary the color of the background either part or all to emphasize diamond shape of  the "tree".

I can even play with the values of the strips that make up the tree and background to make the entire image drop back into the background.

I'm sure I'm not done discovering things about this pattern and maybe even finding new patterns that are outgrowths of this one just as it was an outgrowth of the larger block.

I suppose that's why we all do what we do. You just never know what's around the corner and what little inspiration from the past will come back to play a role in your present and maybe even in your future.

Inspiration: The Quick and Dirty Version

I've been thinking about this a lot lately: inspiration, where it comes from, why it's different for every person, and what you really end up doing with all those bits of inspiration you gather in the average day, week, year.
I think about this a lot primarily because I love Pinterest and gain a lot of inspiration from looking at images there.
Having said that, all I have time for today is the quick and dirty version of the discussion. It's the hey, here's a bit of inspiration I found and here's what I'm making of it.
I would, however, love to have a more extensive discussion about the topic, so I'm planning that for next week.
Today?
I have this:

Strips of color all neatly cut and ready for my next quilt pattern.
And this:

The inspiration image, found you know where, but linked to this site, and the beginnings of a quilt I'm calling "A Star for Baby C".
And even this:

The reject block or blocks. Because before you have the aha moment, you have a bunch of "eh, this is not quite it" moments.
The aha moments are a lot more fun. Here's hoping for a bunch of those this weekend!

Mid-Week Workshop::Kinda, Sorta...

I say kinda, sorta because, though this mid-week "workshop" is filled with hopefully loads of good stuff, it's not exactly a tutorial.
My planned tutorial was coming along fine until the mail came on Monday and this arrived:

One of the many perks of designing for Moda is getting freebies of their packaged fabric in my various designs. For every collection I've received jelly rolls and fat quarter packs and layer cakes. But, I'd never gotten this before. I suspect because this must be new, but how amazing is this? They are pre-cut hexies. Large pre-cut hexies measuring about 5" along each edge.
Needless to say, I had to stop whatever I was doing and work with these. I think you understand.
My first project was very simple.

Each package contains 42 hexagons in a variety of patterns and color ways. I selected 7 in a similar palette and created a single flower block.

I added some diamonds and triangles to square off the block as well as some 2" strips to give it a wee bit more size.

Next up: quilting in a much loved design,

rounding the edges,

and hand binding.
Normally, I'd sew down the binding with a zig-zag stitch in a coordinating thread, but I was still a bit giddy from excitement over these pre-cut hexagons.

Now what? How about a second one in a warmer palette:

Or resist patterning the pre-cuts and over dyeing?

The results of this little experiment are in the dryer as I write.
A world(one in the shape of a hexagon, not a circle) of possibilities awaits.

30 Day Challenge:: Blanket in Progress

I call knitting my fiber hobby. You wouldn't think that someone who sews and designs for a living would want to spend their free time engaged with more fiber, and, truth be told, I don't want to spend all my free time that way, but some of it is definitely devoted to knitting. Knitting also inspires some of the sewing and quilt designs I create. For instance this blanket. The pattern is Abby's Blanket by Kristin Kapur and and though it's not even close to done, I know that seeing it on Ravelry influenced this design. I like that idea of cross-pollination and would love to one day work in the opposite direction and design knitting patterns based on sewing designs.

Two-fold Purpose

Obviously part of the focus of today's post is to announce the winner of the Quilt Scene magazine. Before I do that I want to reveal my very special method for picking a winner. my technique involves sitting in my favorite chair an calling out to one of my girls. Sometimes the one being called doesn't hear me or is, in fact, not home. They are teenagers after all and there have been a few times when after calling their name repeatedly, I set out in search for one only to discover that she's not home. Thank goodness they have phones and I know how to text.
Anyway, I usually continue to call until someone, anyone, responds. At that point I ask them to pick a number based on the number of comments I've received. They don't even know or ask why I want them to select a number between 1 and 131, they just pick one. It couldn't be anymore random than that. Today's number, courtesy of my sweet Rachel, is 113.
That makes Mathea our winner. She said:

The magazine looks wonderful, and I love your quilt, but oh, what I'd give to have real sunlight in November.. :-D

Congratulations! Please email me at malka@stitchindye.com with your mailing address and I will send the magazine super quick-like. Unfortunately USPS doesn't allow me to ship sunlight, so I can't help you with that.

My second purpose is to pass on a bit of quilt inspiration I happened to photograph at Quilt Festival the other week. As I was heading back to my car, I noticed two small buildings across the street from the George R. Brown Convention center.

 Both these little structures are located on a bit of park-like space.  They're very small, so I'm assuming that they're purpose has something to do with controlling the lights or some other technical aspect of the surrounding structures. If someone sees these images and knows what their point is, please chime in because I am curious. Anyway, they've been adorned with the blocks of warm and cool colors.
True confession: when I took the pictures I thought the buildings had been placed there exclusively for Festival. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, but I figure it's just between you and me.

New...to me that is

I know that the interwebs are abounding with virtual quilting Bees and I've long watched the parade of finished blocks and quilt tops made by their talented members. I resisted joining in the past, not because, like Groucho Marx once said," I wouldn't want to belong to any club that will include people like me as a member," but because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fulfill my end of the bargain.
Recently, I threw caution to the wind and joined not one, but two virtual bees. I've received fabric from one, along with inspiration for the block requested and I'm here to report that making this block has been so much fun that I'm kicking myself for not having joined one before.



The inspiration behind this block was supposed to be triangles and the gal who's month it is even put together a flickr gallery to help spark some ideas.

My idea actually came to me when I was playing around with some hexagons and thinking about this blanket. I wanted to create a concentric pattern like the blanket where the base shape was not a square. When I divided up the hexagon into three pieces and pieced those pieces using strips, I realized that when I sewed them back together the centers made triangles. Eureka!



I made the center triangle smaller and from a print to differentiate it from the surrounding triangles. I also added strips along the edges so that the block would measure the required 12.5" x 12.5".
I still haven't figured out how I want to interpret the blanket pattern as a quilt. I've definitely ruled out applique as that's never been my passion. I like to piece stuff. I know I could do this as a circle within a square, but there's something about that kind of piecing that feels so tedious. I've done it before and it always makes me sleepy. I think the hexagon is the answer and making this block is a step in the right direction.
That's why I'm excited about having joined these Bees. Someone else's inspiration can become your own and push you to try new things. That realization shouldn't be new to me....Maybe I just needed a little reminder.


I didn't want to sign off before I gave you all an update on the skirt tutorial. I'm hoping to post it tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Answers and Inspirations

I'm combining answers to some commonly asked questions with a few recent photos of inspiring stuff because otherwise my blog won't be as pretty and I really like pretty.


The number one, most commonly asked question I get both here in the comments and via email is where do I get the plexiglass shapes for the shibori technique I used in my twinkle quilt?
The answer to that is three fold:
1. I use a local plastics fabricator,Regal Plastics, here in Austin, Texas. You all are more than welcome to ask if they are willing to take out of town orders. You can easily get their contact info via a google search. Be forewarned though, Regal Plastics will only cut shapes from existing plastic or metal shapes as templates. They will return your original with your order, so you could use plastic quilting templates or quilter's squares as your templates.
2. If you have a friend, neighbor, relative, long lost uncle, etc. who has access to a jigsaw, he/she can cut the shapes for you. A few years ago I asked my neighbor's mom's then fiance to cut some plexiglass shapes for me and they're still in use today.
3. Use the Alchemy feature at Etsy to request bids for plexiglass shapes. I know of one very clever gal who did this and got the shapes she wanted/needed.


Another question I'm asked is whether the shapes need to be 3/4" in thickness as stated in my Quilting Arts article.
Actually,no. The 3/4" measurement was an error. It should have read 1/4" and the folks at Quilting Arts ran a note about the error in the following issue, but I don't think most folks caught that update.


Monday's post prompted someone to ask where I got the form for the floor pillow and if there was something unique about it.
I bought the form at Joann's. It measures 17"x15"x3". I think it's basically polyester, but, according to the package, it's been densified. Now, up until I read that word on the wrapping, I had only heard the word densify used by Lydia Batianich on one of her cooking shows. I was pretty convinced that she had made up the word and chalked up her using it to the fact that English was not her first language. I was wrong. Apparently, densifying is a possiblility for polyester forms as well as Italian sauces.
Anyway, the form is constructed so that it holds its rectangular shape. I also bought it in the 22"x22"x4" size.


By the way, this building is called the Norwood Tower . Feel free to learn all about it.
My final answer comes in response to a question about the shibori DVD I gave away as part of the SEWN launch party. Someone asked if I was planning on selling the DVDs. I'm not selling them, but you can purchase it directly from Interweave Press by going here.
That's all the answers I have for right now. Thanks so much for visiting my little web space, commenting, asking, opining and just generally being there.

Colors in Combination

That's when they really sing...I think. And actually quite a few others do as well. The painter Josef Albers spent his life painting colors in combination and writing about it.
I think I go through phases of love with a particular pairing. For a while I couldn't get enough of orange and pale purple. Then it was chartreuse and purple. After that I abandoned purple in favor of turquoise and enjoyed it at various times alongside chocolate brown, red, and orange.
Well, I have a new color passion: yellow and gray.


It might be a case of "which came first?" because I've been noticing gray and yellow pairings in my work lately and I'm not quite sure whether they preceded my awareness of this color combination in the world around me.


The funny thing is I'm not a huge fan of yellow as a stand alone color and probably less so of gray. But, I just love them together.
What about you? What color duets do you think sing better together?

So many pretties

One of the coolest services flickr offers is mosaic maker. You can use it to make photo mosaics from your own sets, links on the internet, or from your flickr favorites. Though I like to fancy myself as computer savvy, the truth runs more towards semi-luddite, so it took me a few tries to make one of these. Now that I've "mastered" it though, I really enjoy making them.
This probably represents a week of lurking around on flickr and "faveing" various images. it's pretty interesting to see what I'm drawn to. Not suprisingly, there are quite a few quilts or quilt blocks, a lot of repeated patterns and plenty of color.
I really enjoy making these compilations and re-experiencing all the wonderful images I've encountered over the past week.
If you're as drawn to these beauties as I am and would like to know their titles as well as be able to follow a link to their respective flickr pages head on over here .

Stitch

I couldn't help myself. I didn't go there planning to buy it, but it just happened.
I was in the bookstore the other day and browsing the magazines when I saw a copy of Quilting Arts Stitch. I already mentioned that I had a design in the premiere issue of this magazine and, in fact, I'd seen the magazine at Quilt Festival. I resisted buying a copy then because I knew that as a contributor I would get a few complimentary copies along with my quilt when it was returned. But something about it staring at me on the magazine rack got the better of me and before I knew it I was buying it.


I'm not going to lie to you, I think the magazine looks fabulous and not just because I happen to have a design included. I'm especially in love with the feature on modern skirts and am planning to make at least two of the designs. By the way, the magazine includes the patterns for the skirts so you don't have to purchase anything additional.


My quilt had a lovely spot on the contents page as well as being part of a feature on patchwork alongside several other terrific projects.
I had written some incredibly lengthy instructions which they managed to condense into something a lot more understandable and drawn up quite a few sets of templates. It's very complicated to explain to someone how to do something improvisationally in a way that allows them to repeat it.


The quilt that I sent to Stitch was a re-creation of a quilt I made a while back.

The original was smaller than this version and featured exclusively hand dyed fabrics. Also the green and black checkered sections were made with discharged cottons. In the remake I pieced the checkered sections so that the quilt could be made by others.
Both versions were inspired by a wonderful book that I've owned for many years called Traditional Indian Textiles . If you can flip through this book and not be amazed by the fiber goodness coming out of the Indian subcontinent then you're probably unconscious.


Here's a view of the traditional Indian chakla or quilt that inspired my chakla.
Oh, so beautiful!