Blogs

A few weeks ago I found this STUNNING peacock feather fabric.  WONDERFUL colors with a bit of metallic gold and I did something very unusual, I purchased it for full price.  As soon as I saw the fabric I knew it would make a marvelous market bag.  It was the last thing I made right before we went on vacation.  If you look at the top left picture, that is the finished bag except for one thing I discovered as I was hanging it up on the door knob....one of the straps was twisted....DAMN!  This was such a lovely (and expensive) bag to make so....what am I going to do????

This week has been all about table runners  I made the 4 shown here plus two fall themed ones for the Garlic and Arts Festival which is the last weekend in September.   The design of the 3 in the bottom photos I have been making for years.  Many years ago I made a Boston Common quilt which has a Seminole border.  Once I got it made I took a look at it and realized that this border would make an excellent table runner.  It lends itself to strip piecing so it can be made quickly and inexpensively.

Several years ago I found this wonderful purple/plum/beige striped fabric and right next to it was a purple coordinated print AND it was a blow out sale so I purchased what they had left on the bolts.  Over the years I have made several reversible aprons from this two prints and they have always sold quickly.  Alas and alack...I did not even have enough to made a complete apron from what I had left of the two of them. I had come to the end of these lovely fabrics and the question was what color should I put with the two of them that would be stunning.

Who thought I would find the time this week to update my blog what with all the craziness of getting ready to go on vacation but I an rather excited about this weeks project.  I ran into a fat quarter sale the other week and so I pick up these 3 fabrics that I thought would make an interesting bowl.  I didn't go whole hog and make a large bowl since I didn't know it I was going to like these colors once they were fashioned into a bowl.  I ended up really liking the red and the orange together and found that out by working in an orange stripe in the base of the bowl.  I could easily see that they did look nice together but what was lacking was some contrast.  Since the orange fabric had not only a bit of red in it but also some green I thought I would separate the two colors with a green stripe.  Once I took a look at it outside in the natural light, I found myself very attracted to it.  Should I make another one but a bit bigger with the orange on the bottom and the red on the top?  What came to mind is this photo of a multi colored scrap bowl my friend Margaret sent to me and I really loved this HUGE bowl she had made which had plenty of red, orange and green in it and also some yellow.

Due to the fact that I was under the weather most of last week, it was not one of my most productive weeks.  Last month I made a market bag out of these wonderful fabrics I had found while we were in Santa Fe last year.  Here is the blog entry about said market bag   http://www.newenglandfiberarts.com/node/228.  I had also made a very large bowl at the same time.  I had been thinking about a design for another bowl and the top photo is the one I made last week.  What sometimes happens while I am working on a bowl with a certain group of fabrics, another design presented itself.  I made the bottom bowl this morning.  I separated the darker fabrics with the gold batik which created a bit more contract.  I find it interesting that I really like both of them but for different reasons.  They are definitely similar but both have a very different feel to them.  I can't wait to get back out to the Southwest in June and see what other delightful fabrics I can find!