Having been a long time "traditional quilter" and
relatively new "art quilter" I have lots of bits and pieces of fabric
that I have not been able to throw out.
It is all sorted into strip sizes and
cut up into squares waiting for a project or the need for just that little
amount of colour.
I have long been a blog follower of Rayna Gillman and love her style
of blogging and thought I could stumble my way through doing some free form
quilting of my own. My initial attempts was ok... but lack the zing of pictures
I have seen via the internet.
Rayna' book has long been on my list of books to purchase so
I ordered it from Amazon. [[ASIN:1607052504 Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts: A
Stress-Free Journey to Original Design]] and it arrived swiftly to my mail box.
I devoured the book.
Rayna's book is well written and full of wonderful pictures
of her work and her friends and students. The book goes through a series of
methods and what if's to lead you through the journey of creating one of your
own creations. It is full of tips, design principle and suggestions including
colour theory.
The book has sparked my creativity. There is no wrong way to
create but leads you on an intuitive journey. If you don't like a unit you have
created then put it back in "the box" until you may put it in another
creation or you may decide to cut it up or add to it some other time.
Now I am off to the races sewing strips, creating units and
finding out why or why not I like certain combinations. When you are using up
your bits and pieces or even some of your stash in small amounts it is freeing.
It enables you to create something that is not a huge investment in
money...that you are willing to try things that you may not normally do and you
will be in for some surprises too!
I like the book so much I watched the DVD Rayna did from
Interweave - Free Form Fabric Art. The DVD is not as in depth as the book but
does give a live visual glimpse of her work.
So the journey continues... I am off to play with strips, pieces and my rotary cutter!
And thanks to Rayna for sparking my creativity again...
Warning this process is addictive...
Have fun!
Jo
