Ripped from the magazine…

I read magazines on the plane. As I go through them, I rip out pages that are interesting to me. The March 2013 issue of Dwell was very rip-worthy! First, for Jacquie… this is so you! If I had a room for it, it would be me, too.

Dwell-cabinets

(FYI – you can click on any picture to make it bigger.) I am sort of intrigued by the idea of inlaying tiles in a wood floor… I've not seen it done quite this way. At some point soon we are going to do a bit of remodeling and I wonder if this would be good in either my dining room or breakfast room…

Dwell-tileandwood

Hexes really are everywhere! These are wall tiles by Form Us With Love for Traullit. I don't know where I would put them, but they are interesting – and very reminiscent of the 70s. The Traullit website has more.

 

Dwell-hexesandstripes

I never could figure out who designed the iron screen, below. The house it is in was designed by architect William Massie. At any rate, I really love the design…

Dwell-ironscreen

I went through Consumer Reports and found out that yellow Frog Tape is actually better than blue painter's tape in tests that involve actual paint. Good to know.

AND – the folks at Why Quilts Matter, a non-profit created by the Kentucky Quilt Project, is making episode 8 in their very informative series available on youtube. If you like it, you might consider purchasing the whole series – proceeds will be used by them for future quilt projects. There is a free Discussion Guide on their website if you want to watch the episode with friends and then disucss it. Watch episode 8 here or click here.

 

Have a good weekend – I hope you have time to sew!

 

 

Seen in Santa Fe…

Actually, I saw a lot more than I can show you here, but here are some designs that I saw that could absolutely inspire applique…


SantaFe-Patterns-01

There was more tile than this, but it's hard to take a photo from a moving car. I like the simplicity of this design and I like the way the yellow negative space comes together to form a secondary design. I also like the way the pattern changed at the window…


SantaFe-Patterns-02

It flattened. And look at the corner… nice!

Anna and Marian took me to the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. It felt a lot like the church I grew up attending, familiar. The cathedral has been undergoing restoration and was lovely…


CathedralStFrancis-01

I like this design that was carved into the ends of the pews. But when I looked up, the ceiling was even better!


CathedralStFrancis-02 copy

The block designs are similar to the tile I showed earlier, but in richer colors. 


CathedralStFrancis-03 copy

I like the way the pattern above meets in the center.

I'm about to board my flight for home so I suppose I'd better sign off. I hope you are warm and dry, wherever you are. I have missed most of the news about the weather but I understand that there a lot of snow and ice out there…

 

 

My Life In Quilts, so far…

I know I wrote about the fact that many of my ‘famous’ and not-so-famous-but-I-love-them quilts are hanging in a show at Austin College (in the gallery in the art building). I thought I’d share some photos of the exhibit (you can see more here).


23_Installation_view


25_Installation_view

Last week I took mom and her friend Cora Lee to see the quilts. It was fun to watch them looking at the quilts – made me see them with fresh eyes:


MyLifeInQuiltsShow-03 copy

See that pieced quilt to the right of mom? That’s the Delectable Mountains and she may finally have convinced me that she needs to hang it at her house.

The show is up until mid-March if you happen to be in Sherman. I hope you enjoy it!

Even more ugly fabric…

I think I have enough ugly fabric to work from – which is either a happy thought or one that makes you wonder just how this fabric made it to the bolt. I don't think all of it is ugly – only 97% of it.

UglyFabric-06 copy

The monkey clowns are just scary…


UglyFabric-MonkeyClown-01 copy

Oh my:


UglyFabric-Chucky-01 copy

And, yes, my first thought was of Chucky (and here)!

 


UglyFabric-Chucky-02

This is one I like but just do not understand. It seems 'scientific' but Steve couldn't figure it out either. The printed stripe part is really nice…


UglyFabric-Science-01 copy

I have more than this that I haven't taken pictures of. When I get home and get to work on it – eventually – I'll post more.

PS – I suppose if you still have something ugly to share, it's not too late… you can send it to me at 919 Starlight Dr., Sherman, TX 75090. Little pieces – not yardage :-).


Holy quilt show (Batman)!

I was just in San Antonio with the UUMCQG, University United Methodist Church Quilt Guild. Such a nice group! They meet at the church which is huge, beautiful and very well-run. I was the featured teacher and speaker.

I gave my lecture Friday morning in the sanctuary. I got to preach about color and quilting! After my talk the ladies finished putting together the show – in the sanctuary. This is a most interesting 1-day-only show – most of the quilts are draped over the pews and it is very pretty indeed:


UUMCQG-SHOW-1


UUMCQG-SHOW-2

Now I'm in Albuquerque – which, in our family, we call 'apple cookie' thanks to Christopher (when he was 3). That always makes me smile.


Fabric has a mind of its own…

I’ve been buying fabric lately – more than I normally do –
to use in the quilts for the Color book. I’ve shopped at quilt shops and online
without much thought about how these fabrics will be used together. I’m really
enjoying the quirky relationships that are happening between these different
fabrics.

For example, I bought this cute little floral print:

 Gray-GreenFlower-01

I bought it knowing that it was more gray than clear. I use clearer colors often, but not exclusively. That said, when I bought it I
thought this would be more of a filler fabric. But darned if the little floral didn’t want to
buddy-up with a variety of other fabrics in the stacks on my table.

It thas a great texture that plays well with a variety of prints. I love it with this puff-ball fabric…

Gray-GreenFlower-02

Because the puff-ball fabric is soft and gray, the little floral feels cleaner next to it.

I didn't particularly love the next print, but I bought because it was interesting. I like it a lot better when it is with the little floral print.


Gray-GreenFlower-03


When I put the little floral with this blue and white print, it both look brighter.


Gray-GreenFlower-04

You might be wondering where I will go from here. I'm not sure. I like each fabric pair, but I'm not sure that I have a quilt in mind in which I would use all of these together. It is more likely that I'll leave these pieces all together in a stack and watch them. In time I'll figure out which fabrics together make me smile more.

I only bought 1/2 yard of that little floral print… I wonder if that will be enough? I am resisting the urge to buy more. I know that if it turns out that I need more and can't get it, I will find something else and that choice will be more interesting in the long run. There. I decided – I'm not going to buy more!