Thursday, May 30, 2013

sunshine and clouds



Usually, I'm very controlled with my colour choices, allowing myself one or two main colours only, and a generous portion of grey and white. For this quilt, though, the request was for "randomly colourful" -- a delight to have free-reign over all of my fabrics, and yet a challenge to my controlled aesthetic. Several times, I sent off a preview of the layout, and my lovely friend responded, oh-so-kindly, with encouragement to randomise it further.

In the end, what I found it helpful to do was to create an image in my head -- a cool, cloudy day, with glimpses of the blue sky and rays of sunshine smiling through. And then, surprise! A hot air balloon appears on the horizon, and then two, and suddenly the sky is dotted with colour.



Backing this one with a giant piece of Lotta Jansdotter's new line, Glimma, felt very extravagant -- I loved the touch of grey binding with all that yellow. And, as a special little addition, I made an eye-spy sheet (or three -- one for each little boy) to accompany the quilt. With so many animals, vehicles and little people prints, there's a lot to be found!

A pleasure to work in so many colours, for a change!

10 comments:

Unknown said...

you outdid yourself lady. It's stunning, & I LOVE the I-Spy guide!!

Saxongirl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Saxongirl said...

I get the feeling those giant sunflowers at the top of the page are smiling at your beautiful work. Well done!

Nancy said...

I absolutely love this! Come to think of it, I love all the quilts you create, the fabrics are all so wonderful:)

Red Red Completely Red said...

Thanks, everyone! Such kind words! It was a pleasure to make this one -- and lovely to pass it on to such a fun-loving household.

Julie said...

randomly colorful turned out beautiful!

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

This is so pretty... I just love patchwork quilts and yours is wonderful. Great fabric choices!

Julie said...

LOVE! I seriously struggle with random. It's the hardest thing for me to do. I once put all the pieces in a paper bag and shook and had someone else hand me the pieces to sew. I just adore how yours turned out! The eye spy sheets are fun too!

Heidi said...

I enjoyed visiting your site, from Lily's, love this quilt of random color!

Maya said...

I love this ! So beautiful ! Would you mind sharing the size of the squares ?