p d x s t u d i o q u i l t s

Some of the quilts that I was first attracted to when I fell in love with fiber art and beautiful works were Amish Quilts.  These are typically solid colors, simple shapes, and very graphic.  I love these quilts for all of those reasons but most of all the visual simplicity that grabs my heart! Recently I have been working with solid colors and exploring the possibilities with an endless palette of color.  I am interested in diving deeper into a study of focus and intent.

Jean Wells is an artist, author, quilt designer / maker, instructor, as well as the proprietor of     The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon.  I love going into her store when I am in the area.  It is like going into a candy shop filled with visual beauty everywhere you look!  She recently wrote a book called:  Intuitive Color & Design.  I have read this book from cover to cover several times.  It is filled with a wealth of information specifically on creating with solid colors.

She has several assignments regarding design and color in her book.  One of her assignments is selecting a patterned fabric for inspiration and then dissecting it and picking out all the solid colors that represent the selected patterned fabric.  From this selection she then has a variety of exercises using  this specific palette with intentional design challenges and construction modes.  It looks like a great way to focus on color and line.

This challenge and exercise will provide the focus that I am presently  looking for.  I love taking workshops and classes from time to time because they hone my skills and help me with my craft; pushing the envelope.  Though this will be an individual study, I am looking forward to the discipline and practice.  In addition to the specific color palette I  have decided that the pieces that I will be creating will be smaller in size so that I will be creating a series.  I am thinking that my pieces will be either 8-1/2” x 11” and or possibly a 12” square module. Working in a small scale is  new waters for me, I enjoy working with no constraints, however, I am excited about creating several smaller pieces in a compilation.  No doubt, I will probably have other projects that I will be working on simultaneously while I complete this work.

I plan to use several fabrics over the next few months and repeat this exercise several times.  For the first study here is the fabric that I have selected for my challenge:

I selected this fabric because of the “layers” of color that it has.  I will admit, I have always been smitten with the color pink and all the colors in this family of reds, rouge, and rose for as long as I can remember.  I studied the printed pattern of this textile and selected these  fabrics to work with:

My first assignment will be to create a series of strip piecing where either the light or dark fabrics will be predominant with accents of the opposite value.  In addition to this, I will experiment with the composition of the strip piecing as a whole.  The next challenge that I am thinking about includes a  “Log Cabin” construction mode.  I have some ideas for that grouping and will formulate my ideas as I progress.  For now that is as far as I have gotten with my homework assignments.

I will post my work so you can see my progress over the next few weeks.  My goal is to use this as a study and know that their may be discovery and things learned.  I am giving myself permission to play.  Since the pieces are small, it is OK if something does not work as I may have imagined.  I have nothing to lose but everything to gain!  Stay tuned……

I have been playing with solid colors these last couple of weeks and it has been a challenge for me.  A challenge in a good way.  My creative spirit says  “Go back and play some more”. Here is what I have completed:

There are things that I like about this piece and there are things that I have mixed emotions.  The finished size of this piece is 42″ x 42″.  I can’t put my finger on what makes me restless when I look at this composition, so for now that is all I can share with you.  What this piece has done for me however is to create my next assignment!  I have some ideas on a little exercise that I am excited to begin.  For me, it will be like “going back to school” and you bet there will be homework!  I will share more in the coming days.

This week I finished the stars quilt.  I need to think of a name for it.  It also needs  to be sent off to be quilted.  Speaking of stars, I have another star quilt just waiting in the wings….  I hope to start it this coming week!  In the mean time, today I was playing around with solid colors.  I made several “units” and placed them up on my design wall.  Here is a first pass:

There is no rhyme or reason to any of these pieces yet except for the color palette and the similarity that they share in the selected colors.  I  love to use black in my work because I think it gives the eye a place to rest.  I am not sure if I like the black ladder that I have created;  at least for now anyway.   Maybe when I get more units or blocks completed I will rethink that or maybe I need to create more of them before I pass judgement.  That is the mystery though until you get more on the wall and create some repetition, it is hard to say.

Here is what happens when I move the ladders off to the side.

And here is what it looks like without the ladders.  Right now I tend to vote for this version without the ladders.  I think the scale of the black ladder is too strong.  I am not sure where I am going with this but I would like to create a piece somewhere in the range of 36″ – 48″ square or perhaps a rectangle.

I enjoy working in the improvisational mode following the work I just completed on the star quilt.  Even though all of the stars were little works unto themselves, there was a repetition in the work.  I completed a total of 48 stars.  I would work on them in phases of 5 stars at a time and then would often take a break and come back and complete some more.  Color work like the above is very unpredictable and I kind of like that for a change of pace.  Who knows how this work in color play will turn out, but the operative word for now is play!