Random "Deep" Thoughts....

[bakermom]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

I get ideas everywhere. sometimes it's a tutorial from here(sometimes altered to fit what I have to work with). sometimes I sketch an idea out and play with it a bit. Then again, sometimes I just "wing it" as I go along

[pcbatiks]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

Thanks Pam for getting us started.

I've been quilting about 17 years and have made quilts with all sorts of blocks and patterns and finally realized I like quick and simple patterns that I can change the look of with fabrics in different styles and colors. I also am better at patchwork than quilting and go for eye appeal rather than lots of quilting.

I also like quilt challenges as they force me to look for inspiration in books, magazines and on line, and sometimes make myself think outside my box. I save tons of photos, articles and drawings before I really get to down to creating a design. I belonged to a small Book/Quilt group that really challenged me. Each month we read a new book, most were novels with varied themes, and once a year we would choose one book to be our inspiration for a quilt. Boy was that difficult. We were all pleasantly surprised because everyone found a different inspiration and all the quilts were quite different. We all would enter our quilts in our quilt show and they were displayed together in the hope they inspired others to think outside their box.

I also look at floors especially when we are on vacation - spend lots of time in bathroom stalls copying the floor designs. Well that's were the really good designs are.

May, I remember you mentioning the book/quilt challenge. That is such a great idea. What book was your inspiration for your quilt?

[grammaterry]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

You all at the forum are my inspiration

[MayinJerset]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

May, I remember you mentioning the book/quilt challenge. That is such a great idea. What book was your inspiration for your quilt?

Pam, I'm going to look through my Story Weaver's folder to find the books we used for inspiration. Now you've got me thinking that I should match them up with photos of the quilts. Another thing to add to my TO DO LIST.

[SewnByBee]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

You all at the forum are my inspiration

(((((((( "DITTO" ))))))))

I Love learning from everyone here. ......
Love the binder ideas , got mine started.....wip.

Book/quilt challenge. .....
do tell more please......

I do love thumbing through look books, and mags. I am a hands on person, so the tutorials are very helpful for me.
Also Found some free Crafsy classes too. They are very nice.

I love being able to download patterns onto this touch screan, so I can see the instructions better. It's awesome. ....lol.

Of course Jenny's tutorials. ...and all of you.

[AuntieVic]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

Thanks for kick starting a fun thread.

Where do I find my creative ideas?
Everywhere I go I look at color, or designs or just how things stack on top of each other. Then of course there is the patterns in the books or magazines that will speak to me, but when I start to do one of them, they morph. Very few times have a completed a quilt from start to finish exactly how the pattern was written. Or in the colors they show it in. I always change it in some way when I get going. It is fun. My DH will always ask "how are you planning to change this one around" and we laugh about it.

When I am making a quilt, I think of it as a puzzle to put together. (And I love putting puzzles together.) That is probably why my first quilt did not scare me away. I started with a t-shirt quilt for my son, and the shirts were from sizes 12 months to 18 years old. No pattern could explain that to me, so I just started sewing things to fit everything together.

I am looking forward to reading everyone's else's inspiration ideas.
Thanks for the invite to join.

[Granny Judy]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

I remember My Gran cutting and sewing small pieces of fabric..and asking for colorful sheets for Christmas and birthdays...And I never could find a top sheet for any of her beds... they were all made into quilts.. She never showed any of us grand girls how to quilt.. that was Her Alone Time... (like her Herbal Tea.. laced with Irish whiskey)

Any how she was MY inspiration .. since I kept seeing all these traditional blocks hidden in her sewing basket... Yes I peeked. Thus I fell in love with the traditional blocks and quilting. Since she didn't show me how to do any of it..and My Mother gave up trying to get me interested in making "templates" since all I wanted to do was SEW. I decided to do it "MY WAY"... That decision wasn't fully realized until I was fully retired and in my early 60s.

I'm still going thru the Quilter's Cache doing some of their traditional blocks.. and working on Orphans really gets my brain neurons firing all over the place... I am overly enthused and just trying to keep those ideas going.. My best tool?? pen and paper --Inspiration notebook.

[jjkaiser]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

I don't know why but I seem to get a lot of inspiration from--bathrooms?! Yeah you read that right. It seems wherever I "go" I am staring at bathroom floors, which 99% of the time are some kind of tile flooring and I always see quilt patterns in them, ones I actually recognize or others that I find myself looking at a mosaic tile and mentally calculating how I could chop up a layer cake or something to replicate the design. Sometimes I am in the bathroom so long daydreaming about this that ppl have knocked on the door saying, "Hey is everything okay in there?" which of course jolts me back to reality. I have never actually MADE a quilt based strictly on a bathroom tile but I'm pretty sure I would be able to!

[sewluvit]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

Caroline T, I love your family tree! I am into genealogy too and I know your mom would be thrilled with your creation.

Lol Laura, you could be right about the butterflies.

[Bouse]

Re: Random "Deep" Thoughts....

I get my inspiration from lots of places but a lot of time it's from other people's work. I love the tutorials here but have never made a Jenny one yet. I also get a lot of idea from a facebook group I am a member of. Even though I haven't made that many quilts yet, this forum gives me the incentive to keep going and try new things too. I have taken part in several table runner swaps with groups from this site and have tried a new technique with most of them.