Progress

I've been busy today, working towards getting this wall quilt finished before monday ( I have to set deadlines on myself or I never finish). It's a whimsical quilt and I've decided to call it Dream Fountain.

This is step two, and I'm loving the brights, it's a nice change and it's really rewarding to work with hand dyed fabric. That's also why I enjoy stencilling so much - the artistic control, down to the last detail.

I'm builing this quilt from the 'background' up. I've placed the squiggles in their spot, but I've got a long way to go yet.
I'm having difficulty photographing it so the hues are correct - it looks a bit too stark in this image - but you get the idea.

New Designs

Now that I've satisfied my red craving with my monthly BOM, I've been struck with inspiration. It's not like I don't have a million other things to do....but when you feel you must....so for the last few days I've been hand dying a pallette of vivid hues

I've been inspired by a walk through the garden again....(nature can't get it wrong when it comes to matching colours)

Green is my other favourite colour (my quilts are like my wardrobe, I love wearing Reds, Oranges and Greens - not all at once). I'm still working hard at getting to love Blue a little better, I know it's classic, but often I don't get past navy. I just need to appreciate it in nature somewhere to apply it to a quilt design.

Christmas is nearly upon us, so before I definitely didn't have a spare day to dye, I got stuck in, and I'm now in respite from a few days of non stop procion shifts.

Above is a pic from some of my new pallette. The grey didnt show up well in the photo, but it's a greeny grey and it makes the greens and oranges look alive. I'm really inspired with this design at the moment and think I will have to finish it before Christmas. Or it might become another UFO and sit on the shelf for years before I discover it again!

Colour Palette

Here is my latest inspiration, a passionfruit flower; I love this colour combination. I'm drawing up a design called Dream Fountain and these are the colours that have moved me towards blues and yellows.

Another Red Moment

Oh Apple !

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

Esther's Occassional Quote for the Day

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.

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.

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!