The project in my class this time is to make a center star design then to surround it with different sized blocks - most of them have been hand or machine appliqued - depicting our 'favorite things'. The other people all jumped in on this. The design walls are full of cats, fish, flowers, dragon flies, pigs, food, iconic buildings, camping trips and more. I, however, was drawing a blank. What were my favorite things? So for several weeks all I did was observe and learn.
But then I remembered my intent to make all the blocks in the Cultural Fusion book by Sujata Shah! They qualify to me as favorite things. I will probably not be able to put them in the one quilt, but I am making progress finally these week. It has been fun for me to pull out her book and remember the terrific time I had meeting Sujata while a student in two of her workshops. But I'm also trying to stay focused to have a project to show the teacher and class.
I warmed up by first grabbing some blue fabrics and cutting squares. I admired them for a while, then finally made some half square triangles.
My original idea was to have the same sized blocks throughout the project, but I really wanted my yellow star/sunflower to stand out so I moved to larger squares of fabric. After debating my choices of fabrics, I finally decided on darker oranges and golds for the center, and then mostly brighter yellows for the petals of the flower.
I decided to use Sujata's method for adding some 'leaves' in the corners:
Now I need to pick the size of the blocks... Hmm, I'm sort of liking having the extra space between the blocks... Well, I'll think about that, but in the mean time will be squaring the blocks up sized by the smallest block.
this is a good way to see the blocks about time I read the book as it sits on the shelf with so many other quilting and embroidery books hardly looked at!
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by! I recommend the book - written clearly and good ideas!
DeleteI like the slight curves in each piece. It's an unexpected take on HSTs and feels very organic.
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise! I'm liking the curves now too - it's interesting to see how the blocks trim up - how much has to be cut off to make square or rectangle again. I ended up having to add a bit of fabric to the two leaf blocks on the right side... Thought I had measured them all and picked the smallest in size to square up to but had made a error. Easily fixed..!
DeleteI love that you used Sujata's idea in a different format. So lovely and unique. I like the space between the blocks, too.
ReplyDelete