Modern Wedge workshop with Kathy Doughty

Last Saturday I went to the Modern Wedge workshop with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession fame at All Things Patchwork. I had such an enjoyable time! Kathy was really interesting but also kind of chilled out - a great combination in my mind.

Kathy began by talking about some of the beautiful quilts she brought with her. Then she had us lay out all the fabric we had brought with us in warm and cool colours, and from dark to light. This was so we could think about contrast looking at the fabric we had. Then we got got started on making our modern wedge combos. At one point when I was standing looking anxiously at my pile Kathy asked me what I was thinking about. I said I had just grabbed anything from home and hadn't thought about whether they 'went' together.

Kathy: "Well, do you like the way they look together here on the table?"

Me: "Um... yes" (Add a little of that kiwi habit of going up on the end of the sentence and you'll get the expression).

Kathy: "Ok" (Facial expression - "so what's the problem??").

This was very liberating. So I just got to cutting anything I liked the look of.

The great thing about this process is that you cut the wedges and lay them out, and if you don't like what you see, you can try different options.

Kathy also showed us an abundance of possibilities using the wedge ruler. I was particularly taken with this block:

I would definitely do another class with Kathy if there was the opportunity - a great way to spend a Saturday. If you haven't already you might want to pop over and see how Linda, Karyn and Rachel got on.

Creating colour palettes with Anna Maria Horner

I can't quite recall how I came across this class with Anna Maria Horner on Creativebug, but I'm glad I did. I'm not very confident at choosing fabric when I set out to make a quilt and I have been known to be disappointed with the final outcome :-). A little colour theory class seemed just the ticket! You'll need to watch the clip yourself if you're interested, but this is what happens...

1.You start by making a colour wheel using some paint cards (thanks Resenes).

2. You follow Anna Maria's instructions, without overthinking (what?? Is that like, not breathing??), and you end up with six different palettes.

3. Then you choose the one you respond to and see if you can make it work with fabric. I love that word respond. My choice surprised me - it's from the part of the colour wheel I tend to avoid - the yellows! (Right next to my other not-favourite, the oranges).

I love this little palette. Next week when I have some holiday time, I'm going to going rifling through my fabric drawers and see if I have anything in fabric that might correspond with these paint cards. I kind of doubt it, but I may surprise myself.

Round robin {Karyn}

We swapped round robin blocks at our Monday Modern meeting last week. I received the cuckoo clock that Karyn started. Cuckoo clocks are kind of quirky to my way of thinking, and I really liked what Carolyn had done before me with the sort of deconstructed circles. I started by raiding my stash for anything that looked like it might fit. I particularly wanted to use some quirky Dr Suess type (?) fabric that I had.

I forgot to photograph my out takes and revisions. Anyway...this is what it became.

I'm no designer, but if anyone wants to know what I was thinking, read on...

Firstly - that brown fabric (is it actually Dr Suess? I don't know) reminded me of clock pendulums and the colour seemed to work really well, as did the little circles which kind of play on Carolyn's circles. I didn't want to do flying geese as they featured in a number of blocks this month, but something about the shape of the top of the clock made it a bit irresistible. And finally, I wanted to add some hour glass blocks. You know, in keeping with the whole time theme... I'm not completely happy with the bottom left block, so it might get a makeover before next month's meeting.

Friday morning was spent setting up at Alberton. I managed to get one picture before I had to leave for work.

Pop along if you're local - its worth it for the beautiful old home alone.

Hamilton Craft and Quilt Fair

I made a flying visit down to Hamilton yesterday for the Craft and Quilt Fair. Here are a few of the quilts that caught my eye:

City Shadows by Hellen Borrington

Sea Blue by Dianne Firth

Sea Blue (close up)

Gathered Consciousness by Cindy Watkins

And a very rare shot of me (mostly for mum) in front of my Anna Maria Horner quilt which was part of the Road to Colour exhibition.