So those half-square triangles hit the mailbox on Tuesday, and it was something of a relief to have them out of the house. Soon another 1400 will take their place and I'll be contemplating ways to sew them together. But for now I've got another many-pieced project on the brain.
In January I took a workshop through my local guild with Bill Kerr of
Modern Quilt Studio. I've interviewed Bill's wife and business partner Weeks Ringle for
American Patchwork and Quilting, and wrote a story about them both for
Magic Patch. I love their work and how thoughtful they are about the design and coloration of their quilts. Plus they're friendly, funny, down-to-earth folks.
 |
| Fabric Fusion |
For the workshop, Bill had us bring an assortment of fabrics and we teamed up with someone we didn't know well and had a "fabric smack-down." Bill said he and Weeks do this when deciding on fabrics for a quilt, alternating fabric choices and describing why each might work with the others. It was a real challenge: my partner Jean is a batik-lover and my stack consisted mostly of bright and bold pieces. So when she laid down a leafy batik, I laid the Brandon Mabley piece (above) on top of it. We both laughed in surprise—not a combo that either one of us would have thought of on our own, but one that seemed to work.
 |
| My Fabric Fusion palette |
I took that same piece of fabric and decided to develop a palette around it and make their Fabric Fusion quilt from the February 2012
American Patchwork and Quilting. One of Bill's and Week's strengths is combining unexpected fabrics—Jo Morton calicos with contemporary David Butler lines. So while I found 26 of the fabrics to use in my stash they were mostly brights and I had to buy just a few more to round out the look. Here's what I've come up with...are there any that you'd remove from this fabric smack down? There are one or two I'm not quite sure of, but maybe they provide the foil that makes the others work...let me know what you think!
