Stash Mania

I've decided to do this one. I went shopping yesterday in my stash and found some wonderful greens, purple and lavendar. At first I though I needed to go to the fabric store, but I remembered that I had done that a LOT already. I should have what I need here. The beautiful thing about being in love with fabric is that you always have something you can use.

But sometimes the lure of the fabric store attacks and you can't resist. You have to go there, walk down the isles and rub your hands across the fabric, while all the time your eyes are peeled to the color you are searching for.

I step back at the beginning of the isle and squint my eyes. Then I see it, the fabric that I must have. Sometimes it is just what I need for the current project and then other times I know it will be great for something-I don't know what yet. Those "great for something" fabrics come in handy in times like this.

Butterfly Quilt

I have been remiss with my blocking. I've been putting a lot of thought time into this new project. Of course you can see that I borrowed this picture from http://www.amazon.com/ I bought this book a couple of years ago and made two quilts from it, neither one a butterfly. This time I am going for a butterfly.

When I originally bought the book, I searched all the fabric stores for the ruler that goes with it. I finally ended up ordering it from the address inside the book. They were very prompt in responding and I was off and running.

Hope you will follow me as embark on this new project and maybe even make your own at the same time. I'm gathering my fabrics and will keep you posted.

Do As I Say

"Do as I say, not as I do." That was a saying I heard often as a child. It didn't make any sense to me but that didn't stop adults from saying it. When my aunt was teaching me to sew, she would say that. She would tell me to work on one thing at a time. Then I would look around her studio which was overwhelmed with half finished projects and wonder what she meant.

I think she was trying to save me from the fate she had fallen victim to. Only to no avail, I followed her footsteps exactly. I learned from what she did and felt bad for years that I couldn't follow her words.

Then I realized that no one who sews works on one project at a time. I also realized that I liked working on several projects at one time. It helps take the monotony out of it. Sometimes I get frustrated with a project and need to step away from it for a while. I work on a second project until I'm ready to go back to the first one. Most times I limit it just three projects going at once. But sometimes I slip pretty badly and find that I have started over ten things, then I have a finishing day. I work hard to get it back down to three.

I'm up to five right now, so I guess tomorrow will be a finishing day.

Out The Box

I was pleasantly re-united with a friend that I hadn't seen in many many years. She asked me what kind of quilts do I specialize in. I hesitated with my answer as I contemplated exactly what to say. "I try to work outside my own box," I said. She said, yeah I looked at your website (www.obaquilts.com) and noticed that you have a little of everything, some geometric, some people, some abstract.

I think my style is pretty distinct. When you see my work it has a certain look but I like to try all kinds of things. I will work on a wonderful abstract and then cross back over to a traditional pattern. I go to people with faces and then back to silhouettes. I work with light backgrounds, dark backgrounds, solids and then patterned fabric background.

Although, I am constantly striving to go outside the confines of my thinking, I still struggle with certain control issues. A visual artist cannot hide behind his/her work. The work will shout out quite loudly--she likes bright colors, she likes to frame a picture, she likes a certain amount of rest for the eye in the piece and she tends to focus her work to the right. Who knew?