I am actually making progress on the autumn-toned Easy Pieces quilt. The first time I made one of these, I agonized over the design and block placement for literally weeks. I could see I was heading down that same path, so I decided this morning to just forget about the blocks and focus on the colors. It occurred to me that the colors are what I see when I look at the mountains close to our home at this time of autumn- the valley trees are still green, but the higher you go on the mountain, the more spectacular the colors. So I went for that effect, and came up with a design I like. And, in this case, simple is better.
Here's my first try at this idea--
This arangement captured the idea of the mountains, but I wondered if it would be more interesting if I offset the rows. I think it is, so this should be the final arrangement for the middle of the quilt.
The half blocks sticking out will be trimmed. Now I can agonize over the border. I wondered if I could use this other set of blocks to make a border, but I'm not sure they do anything for the quilt. I've got them folded in half in this picture, to see if a narrower border would work.
And, then I started playing in EQ5, wondering if an odd- sized (meaning, not the same width on all four sides) border would work. I thought I might applique some leaves, or some other fall motifs on a wider side. Maybe half a tree, with leaves falling off? I should have time to think about it while I put the blocks together.
Bentlee came and spent the weekend with us. She arrived on Friday after crazy hair day at school. Normally she's a blonde, but not that day!!
Whatever the stuff was, it was quite the job to get it out of her hair. And she has lots of long, thick hair.
She came to my watercolor class with me on Saturday morning, and was great- even did one of the exercises with us. Me, I got a couple of pieces done- but nothing I'm willing to post for the world to see. Watercolor is HARD- it makes no sense to me that watercolor paintings are generally less than oil paintings, when the watercolors are so much less forgiving.
Then we came home, and she made three fabric postcards with my large stash of scrap fabric. She even did some of the stitching herself, after I showed her how to use the sewing machine. She's short, so rigging something that made it possible for her to get at the foot pedal took a bit of work. But she certainly seemed to enjoy it.
And, finally, less than a week until the opening of the Surface Design group show. I helped hang part of the show Thursday, with Chris and Polly from the group. Good thing they have done this before, I hadn't- and there is quite a bit involved. It took us three hours just to figure out where each piece would go. Then we worked the afternoon hanging them- and I had to leave before it was done. But I think it will look wonderful, and I am still kicking myself for forgetting my camera.
I can, however, show a picture of the card that all of us were given, and the Art Center is mailing out to their list. The picture is the front of the card, the information is printed on the back- I just scanned it so you can see both.
I am still pinching myself!!
A busy week ahead, I am in Salt Lake all week, and the days will be long. I'll post pictures of the opening reception next weekend.
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