Thursday 27 November 2008

Another Red Moment


Oh Apple !

I was sent this photo by a fellow RED admirer. What a bough.


Monday 24 November 2008

Esther's Occassional Quote for the Day


Thursday 20 November 2008

Red Moments



What a delightful suprise!
I took this photo walking across a damp field.
I found a ring of toadstools, just like a fairytale.
I dont need more reason to enjoy red, but when I stumble across it, I like to celebrate it. I'm always amazed at the vibrancy of colours in nature.

Monday 17 November 2008

Inspirations




I would NEVER have merged these three swatches.....
before seeing them exist in nature first.



The question I most get asked is : where do you get your ideas / inspiration from?
For me, it all comes down to colour.


Well, mostly, I get my drive to do something creative in quilting after I've enjoyed something beautiful - and that happens most often after spending time appreciating nature.


My work never ends up looking like what I've enjoyed - well rarely ( I have created a few pictorial wall hanging quilts) but mostly, I get an idea, or a desire to explore a texture or merge some colours and I start sketching and those sketches turn into entirely new ideas and designs. It may take a while, sometimes months or years, but once I decide that thats what I want to do - then I just let it brew into an idea in it's own time.





Sometimes colour and texture inspire me. Sometimes I have no interest in particular colour schemes and then I see some tones recreated in a place where they look stunning and it makes me reconsider my thoughts about a particular colour.


When I created Nightshade, I had previously loathed purple quilts. I didnt have a single one! Then one evening I was out in the garden and everything took on a beautful deep lilac hue before sunset and I was instantly inspired.





These beach shots were taken at twilight and I was overwhelmed with how many ideas there were just waiting to be used. It makes me wonder how many breathtaking moments I miss everyday because I'm otherwise distracted . Inspiration is everywhere.

Seeing colours in their natural environment helps me make choices when I am riffling through shelf after shelf of prints. Recently with Peony Pride I decided to follow the 'colour rules' and obediently observed the 'correct' charts when I was colour mixing - the whole time I wanted to rebel and just do it my own way like every other time, but I stuck to it and Peony Pride's colour scheme is 'correct' and I almost hate to say it - the most successful harmony of colour in any of my quilts.
I always prefer to feel a certain way about colour and let it evolve and choose its own scheme....but sometimes it doesnt translate well. So now I settle on taking my inpsiration from nature and matching it correctly on the colour chart afterwards. I cant find inspiration if I just 'select' harmonising colours - I like to have experienced it somewhere, in its natural state first.


Friday 14 November 2008

Peony and Cake - Birthday Perfection




Peonies are my favourite flower. I've been having a peony year - with my quilt Peony Pride, my endless sketchings of peonies and peonie sampler quilting and now, for my birthday, a breathtaking peony bouquet.


Peonies are perfection in a flower. And the perfume - it's just glorious. It's mild and fleeting, then collects intensity - I've been breathing the scent non stop for days and I can't get enough of it. It just reminds me of how difficult it is to bottle beautiful and natural scents.


Unfortunately, peonies only last a few fleeting days. When they crumpled, I couldnt part with them and the petals were still heavily scented, so I collected them in paper and they are still scenting everything beautifully. I definitely have to look into planting a poeny garden, even for a few days of flowering, I cant think of a nicer thing to enjoy in a garden.


This cake was almost too beautiful to cut, I love the chocolate leaves. The cake is a delicious walnut / chocolate layer cake.


This is the experiemental lemon layer cake. I think they girls enjoyed decorating it more than the cake itself.
The year has gone by so quickly, before I know it, it will be Christmas!
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