Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hmmm...

First of all, I want to thank my readers for your kind words about my little art quilts. It does my heart (and my ego!) good.

Now for a new challenge: "Birds of a Feather Flock Together." We are to use as much as possible of this fat quarter.


Pretty quickly I thought of the flocks of sparrows and finches that swoop around our house and yard this time of year. That led to the idea to make a neighborhood of houses. There hasn't been a lot of sewing of any kind going on in my house the last few days but today I finally sat down and made these:


The problem is that I'm not all that happy with them. They either need to be funkier... or smaller... or something. (These will finish at 8".) The bird print seems to call for the fresh new retro-modern prints that are out there now but that I don't own much of yet. I purchased a few specifically for this project. So far I have not discovered the magic way to get the results I want.

In the meantime, I've also created these basket blocks out of scraps. Just because.


7 comments:

  1. For what it's worth - here's what I see.

    The windows need to echo the golden-yellow of the birds.

    The roofs need to feature darker fabrics so there is more contrast with the sky.

    The house and room need to be from different color families (like the red/blue one - not like the 2-tone teal house)

    I like the idea of using the same fabric for the door and roof (again, like the blue/red one)

    LOVE the basket blocks - good luck with the houses (love the idea of birds flying overhead)

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  2. Make that "the house and roof" - not room (oops!)

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  3. wonder if some "spacer" strips in the bird fabric along the sides of the house with a tree or two would change how you felt?

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  4. I agree with what Quiltdivejulie says. And I think it needs some bright orange if you want a really funky look.

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  5. Sounds like you've gotten some good suggestions on your houses. One suggestion I have is to create more contrast with the roof. Secondly, I think the focus fabric is lost in the block.

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  6. I love those retro fabrics, and I've bought a few recently. I think your house idea is a good one, and that you'll have fun fiddling around with it.

    Very cool baskets. That block always looks so cheerful.

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  7. Everyone has given you good suggestions. I might add that I think you need to make bigger blocks, or have more sky in the block. There's not enough of the sky showing to make the statement you want to make, I think. Maybe some "sky" on the side with a tree too. Just a thought...

    I love your basket blocks! Purple and yellow are so cheery!

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