Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Let Your Creativity Take Over


Have you ever created a design for a quilt or made a certain plan for one and then after you played around with fabrics and settings it turned into something completely different?  This happens to me all the time and I'm guessing I'm not alone. It truly does seem like the quilts always take on a life of their own and turn out the way they want to, not necessarily the way I plan them. What looks good on paper or in my head doesn't always work when I begin to sew the pieces together. This is one of the things I really love about quilting: if you trust your instincts and let your creativity speak to you, you'll almost always be pleasantly surprised at what you can make. 


Using prints that don't match made this simple block a little more interesting. Worked in the rest of the quilt too - I opted for mismatching the setting squares and triangles.


I never know how a quilt will turn out when I begin and I've been known to start over from scratch if I take the wrong road and ignore my instincts (much easier to do if you're making small quilts!)

This month my small quilt groups (Yes! There are 2 groups - Yahoo and Facebook. Take your pick. ) are making small quilts with Double Pinwheel blocks for the September challenge.          


I thought this would be a perfect project to display for fall and since I do not have many quilts in this color range it seemed like a nice challenge for me to work on something a little different. I designed it in nice, warm colors. It looked cute on paper. I poked through all of my brown and green and rust prints and tried to put something together. Here's what I came up with -


Yep. Sorry to disapoint. I really tried. But, no -  this quilt of mine does not not want to be made in fall colors. Indigo kept leaping up out of the scrap box and mixing it up with my pink prints. I guess my mind (or the quilt) was telling me something . . . . Stick with what you like and the creativity will surely follow.  If you're making one of these this month, don't listen to me - make it your own way. Hope I can stay on track and finish this one.  I think it'll be cute. 





7 comments:

quiltgrannie said...

Kathy, your quilts always come out looking perfect!! I love the indigo's and pinks together and staying true to yourself you added that cute little check. It's going to look great!!

Clare said...

Love the way there seems to be a square hiding in the middle of the block. Love your work. Happy Stitching.

marian said...

Yep, that happens to me all the time... i never know what my quilt's going to end up looking like.. it's always a happy surprise (well most times :))

Beth said...

Yes, that happens to me, too. I often make 1 block with fabrics I love, then start pulling out my stash and build from there. Most often what I see is not what I imagined! They say "a quilt speaks to you" ...well, mine often says, 'this is blah, better punch it up' or 'just start all over'. Sometimes frustrating, mostly fun!

Jennifer M said...

Kathy your indigo's and pinks look great! I love when seeing color or fabric choices I might shy from, when seen put together by another person and it looks perfect. I guess I have a hard time experimenting on my own, I definitely love everything you come up with!

Karen Andreola said...

As a result of your artistic eye and whim, our quilt looks wonderfully scrappy and handsome. Recently, I laid out my quilt blocks on the back of my wing-chair - where I could gaze at them, adding and subtracting for a week of fussiness. After setting most of the squares I thought, "Oh no, this isn't working." I seam-ripped, re-ironed, and have begun setting my pieces with different "shirting." Now I like it.

I'm new at this and your books and blog are an inspiration.

Karen Andreola said...

Oh, may I correct my mistake in my previous comment? I meant "your" quilt, etc.

Today, happily, I finished piecing my first quilt top from your beautiful book, The Civil War Sewing Circle. It is the Scrap Squares Doll Quilt from page 24.

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