Quilts take so much time to make!!!

I don't know about you but I find it practically impossible to fit in all the fun things I want to do!
every day I see a new inspiration for a quilt, or a painting....and there's no time to do them all!

I certainly envy those quilters who make the quilt tops and then have them sandwiched and quilting and finished by someone else...but I think for most people that's not very affordable.

My answer to that has been to make several tops - maybe a half dozen or so, or even ten...and then select only the one or two best to actually quilt.


so these were the best of a whole series of "window" quilts that I made:

it began with the one above....but then I got into more color and less realism...abstracting the idea of the window frame...sometimes with the horizontal bar across the middle ...sometimes without...

 So why did I select the ones I did to finish them?  Well I chose the ones with the most impact, the ones that looked the freshest and most interesting after weeks of them hanging around in the studio.
I'm sure you all have bought some art work and then found after a week or two you're tired of it and it fades into the background and you don't even see it any more....
well quilt tops like that are the ones you don't finish!!!

I still like most of  these...looking back at them...
well the first one is pretty boring!!! but often the starting point is prosaic and boring...

I was just talking to a friend last night about how that happens with writing...you begin in quite a pedestrian way to tell the story...and then as you get into it the excitement takes over (or should if you're working it!!)...and then you discard the nondescript beginning!!

so please do write and tell me how you cope with the shortage of time...and the need to make lots of work!!!   it's so great to hear from you.

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!!!   Elizabeth

Abstract design quilt class

Like a lot of quilt makers, when I go to an art museum I'm usually fascinated by the abstract paintings...
why?
because I start to visualize them as quilts!!
or at least certain sections of them....
Although I seem to be "known" for my quilts about old houses and streets, in fact I've made just as many abstract ones..

......and am fortunate enough to have two of them recently purchased for one of the public libraries in Atlanta!!   (see below!)   Great stuff!  Just when I was needing some cash too!!

Runner

I look at a lot of abstract art, particularly that by women painters...I feel more connection to them...I never copy directly of course...but look and look and think about what I like.

One of the things that always strikes me is the sense of movement...

so the quilt above was really about moving forward, yes sometimes getting a bit mixed up...but always a constant forward motion...

My Abstract Art for Quiltmakers class  starts again this Friday by the way...and this particular class is totally focussed on women abstract painters.  Just five lessons and very affordable!  And you have me at your elbow to help evaluate designs....or not! if you prefer to work on your own.

They said ten thousand hours AND a good coach is the way to gain mastery in an art form - or music or sport....

so I hear you asking ...and the other quilt that they chose?

well here it is:

This idea is "abstracted" rather  than purely non-representational...what's the difference?  Well I go over definitions in the class...but basically abstract is really anything short of realism...and you can get more and more and more abstract as you move further away from the physical characteristics of the subject.  yes!! fascinating!

So, if you have been, thanks for reading...yet again!  And do please comment, or ask me any questions you wish.  I'm here!   Elizabeth

Quilt design ideas

I get inspirations and ideas for designs for quilts from a lot of places and things....of course every idea has to be carefully evaluated and honed and worked with.
I've found that making a quilt based directly and literally on a photograph never works out quite as well as I hoped.

Instead I try to figure out just what it was about the original image that really intrigued me....and it's rarely the whole thing.

so this quilt:

which hangs in the stairwell of my nearest public library (Athens Regional Library on Baxter St for locals!)    was actually inspired by a chair...looking at the woven rattan or cane seat and looking through the little holes created by the loose weaving just really fascinated me.
I actually did not need a photo.  As you can see I copied the color of the cane/rattan (whatever!) pretty directly....but was a bit more inventive with the backgrounds...I like the sense that these are all little windows onto different worlds.


This morning I was inspired by the light over the pond:

I may just take the colors...or that patch of light and shade...maybe it will be a quilt, or maybe a painting....WATER color of course!!

but the image below...taken last week sitting out an outdoor cafe ..would work both as a quilt or as an acrylic painting...

I would crop out or blur a lot of the detail...but I love the light/shade and the cream against the midnight blue sky....
hmm!!! I must away to my studio!!

And if you have been...thanks for reading!!  And do please write in the Comments and tell me how you get inspired.....

Elizabeth