Friday, January 13, 2012

Adventures in Freeform Quilting

Two nights ago, I had a vision - this is normal for me, to have ideas start to percolate right when I am trying to go to sleep. I usually write down the bits of an idea, and flesh it out when I have a bit of time. This time, however, the quilt idea gripped me like I rarely ever feel, and it even took shape in my dreams. With no further adieu, then, I set out the next morning to try my hand at cutting fabric sans ruler, and the beginnings of what I will call "Pink is the New Black" was born:



Each block took about 90 minutes to make (remember, this is my first time doing this, and you do have to sew very slowly in order to match seams) - the idea was inspired by the work of Alicia Merrett; there is a wonderful series of  videos on You Tube, but specifically I used this one to learn how to make the blocks.

Of course, the blocks don't end up being all the same size; I may work around this intuitively, but right now my vision is to cut the blocks to the same size and go from there. I've challenged myself to work with a very limited pallette here, and currently intend to use only the three fabrics that I've shown in these two blocks.

I love bringing new ideas into focus, and I particularly enjoy challenging myself to work outside of my comfort zone. What kind of projects have you started lately? Are you working outside of your comfort zone this year?

5 comments:

stitchinglife.com said...

The effect of true inspiration, I think! Nicely done; I like Alicia Merrett's work too.

Penny said...

Wonderful! I too am working outside my comfort zone - the jury is still out on how this is working for me *smile*!

Linda said...

Oooo...I love your blocks. I would love to try this.

Kitty Pearl said...

Lovely! And very brave too :)

Jean said...

Nicely done! I've been playing a lot with curved piecing myself, and found Alicia's tutorials helpful as well.