Intuition X2

 I have a friend, Janet, who is on our NYC MOD Quilt guild, who makes really lovely things...

After I saw what she did with my scraps...(above from our scrap swap)

I cornered her to ask her if we could do a project together.

 I started it by making two red CROSS blocks.

Our idea was to build two quilts the same,

and then we will each have a quilt for ourselves in the end.

 It's been completely intuitive, and SO fun to get in the mail..

 

I got the two tops last week, and yesterday put on the outer rows on all four sides...

 

It's been a real challenge to work on TWO at the same time, and make them  the SAME.

But nothing wrong with a good challenge... gotta keep trying new things...

I had to RESTRAIN myself from finishing 

it off KING size...

Right now it's 37" X 47"

I'm so into it... and am thrilled I get to keep one of them!

In this last round, I added a repeat of the red CROSS, X shape we started with, and wanted to add in 

another pop of yellow into the borders.  I liked how that top Yellow balanced having two X's opposite each other, and then added the red slash bottom right to bring it all together.

The Ikat strips on the outside, I had thought I would have used RED, 

but decided it was to bright just yet... But I have it waiting in the wings.... 

You never know, it might work on the next round!

I'll see Janet on Saturday, I hope she likes the next round!

If anyone wants to pair up, and try this, 

Let me know... I can arrange it.. Or just find a partner from on the site, and go for it!

You can work on the same, or two different like Sue and Janet.

They really are fun to work on and send back and forth...

Just FYI:  

My address book was hijacked, and sent emails to everyone 

saying I just gave you free movie tickets.. .

please delete...I didn't...

I'm so sorry, although, that's a nice idea...

I hate spam mail more than you know... 
I don't like forwarded emails, or "nice thoughts"

emails that people forward on, 
"because they are nice thoughts emails"

Don't like them, don't read them, I delete them...

I do like Polka dots, and bright happy colors!

and fuzzy groundhog's who think Spring is coming early!

And other nice thoughtful emails written by you personally!

;-)

Intuition complete!

 I cranked out the last bit of blues to finish the outer border of my Intuition quilt.  

I had really hoped it would clean up my scrap bins... But Alas I have more, but Smaller pieces! 

Darn things!

Now to move this to the "to be Quilted" pile...  It maybe a while before that  happens...

I did get another idea while working this... Do Is tart another ?? Dare I? eeek. 

I have to many on my design wall (7) right now.. someone please stop me.

One last round.

 

 Making more fabric....

I spent a bit of time this morning making more fabric to make the 

last round on my intuition quilt.

 The pieces go together very quickly... then I trim them down... I had run out of blues

so I had to raid my stash to add more... That was so much fun...

I just  hacked up a whole bunch more...

my studio is now a disaster, and I love it! Fabric flying everywhere...

Anything to stay warm... See my post here.

 

 I couldnt' stand how cold it was down there though... so I had to abandon any thoughts I had of

PLAYING in THESE!  Jeans, suiting, and other workhorse type of fabrics....

Perhaps after I warm up a bit, I will go attack this after all.. just for 15 minutes...  

I was gifted this bag of fabrics last summer from a friend whose elderly

aunt had been a quilter... She cut up all the
men's clothes as they wore them out, and stuffed them in a bag to later make quilts... 

My head is spinning with ideas...

Stay Warm!


OH! almost forgot,  
Please go POST your work at the FLICKR site.
All your finished or works in progress..
http://www.flickr.com/groups/15minutesplay/

like 15 minute block quilts, intuition quilts,
orange light bulb quilts, anything related to this site...

thanks!

V

nearly done.

 I've gotten the outer row of yellows and Cheddars around my Intuition quilt.  

I pulled every yellow type of fabrics I could out of my  bins of scrap fabric to make it....

 I thought I would stop when I got

this far with it, But I feel like it needs one more row

of the scrappy blues, reds and more dark brown, to frame it one more time,

then call it quits...

 

It would also add about 6" more all around to have a 

larger drop on my king size bed...

 

I was also hoping that my scrap bins would take a hard hit and seem smaller,

But I feel I barely made a dent in them! Isn't that funny how that happens?

From this view I can see I want more RED and BROWN in the last border.

The blues are popping out nicely, and I think I want a darker

outer edge to hold it all together... 

Hmmm, I wonder if I have more brown...

Happy Playing!

intuition progress

I finished the next round on my intuition quilt.... 

I need to sew the blocks together and join it to the center....

I got stuck wondering what I would do for the next round to it...

I pulled all the Yellows I have in my scrap bins... 

Here at my house I have 4 scrap bins to work from.. so whatever is in these

scrap bins has to finish this quilt...  My gut says add all the yellow

with a few tiny touches of reds and blues...

I have some really nice scraps from our scrap swap that went into this quilt...

I have to say It's  been GREAT fun playing in others scraps...

So many prints and colors I never seen to have... I love it!

I have a small green one growing on the side too...

But that one is to the point I may just cut it all to bits and start over...

Some of my favorite quilts that have grown from simple random play....

Have fun! let loose!

If you've said you'll play along with the Individual intuition quilts, 

I can't wait to hear more about your process and your choices/decision making....

I think we will all learn a lot to see how all your brains work! 

Those who want to try it with a partner,

 I need a few days to get that organized... stay tuned...

Happy New year Everyone!

We may have snow here, but it was 45 out today and is

hopefully going to be 50 degrees tomorrow.

I'm hoping it will, so I can get my Harley out of my basement,

and take a NEW YEAR spin... (the roads are clear!)

;-)

Any plans for New Years day?

Have a great night all!

PAIRS? for intuition quilts?

We could also do the Intuition Quilts in pairs, 
(Two blocks will rotate between the two of you
so in the end you have two identical tops, one for each of you) 

as a mini round robin between two people, if anyone is game.

see my post with another project I am doing here.

This will really get you to loosen up... and think randomly.

And it's very fun!

Challenge project: Intuition Quilt

Challenge project: Intuition Quilt 

come play along.

When I started this site, it was based on peoples emails to me,

wondering how I make what I make...

So I started to show you all how through play 

you discover things you might not find otherwise... 

Instead of thinking about a finished quilt, 

how to start from just a block of inspiration...

I'd like to challenge all of you on the site to make an abstract quilt

top based on this idea.

and share with us, not just a finished product, 

but

1. what started your inspiration?

2. how did you make fabric choices?

3. how did you decided what piece went were...

and take pictures of things that you change along the way and why...

Here's the rules:

start by making a completely random 12" block.

no patterns, just sew stuff together...

Make mental notes about the choices you are making...

Why did you choose red over blue?

why the square piece instead of a rectangle, etc...

Once you've made the block, 

LOOK AT IT...

What is it saying to you?

does it need more blocks similar?

is it the start of a random sampler?

is it a medallion?

should it be on point?

THEN add to the 12" block showing us your progress, and explain your choices...

YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ASK FOR PEOPLES OPINION or HELP.

This is purely your intuition, and getting you to realize why you are making

the choices you are making.

Work quickly, 

lay things out, 

step back look at it, 

walk away come back

and make decisions...

add to it...

Do you think it's balanced?

does it need to balance?

is it top heavy?

Is it bottom heavy?

What if you rotate it?

How can you work it out?

Can you leave it and work around it fixing the problem?

Can you leave the mistakes,

and make them work to your advantage?

These are some of the things I want you to think about as you work.

Make it as big as you like. 
Stop when you feel it's complete.

Put your seam rippers away... work with what you have in front of you.

there is no time limit to this project, join in when ever you want.

Take lots of pics of your work as it grows... what works, (in your opinion)

what doesn't work ( in your opinion) and what is challenging you...

that is what we want to see... How your making choices...

Keep your inspiration based on a fabric color or palette of colors not on someone else quilts...
You want to build your own quilt.

 ******

And as an example of the posts I expect, 

I am showing you how I worked so far, 

putting this scrap quilt together.

 When I started this quilt, the RED PLAID is the first piece of inspiration for this quilt. It came from one of you in the scrap swap...  I had only a small piece of it... 

As I was PLAYING, I decided to take one 8" block of the plaid, and scrap fabrics around it... 

So first I started by PULLING ALL THE SCRAPS out of my 

bins that I wanted to use... (ABOVE photo)

reds, golds, yellows browns, and blues...

When I made the scraps to make the block that dark brown piece

hit the square like a LID on a box...

I hated it... so I left it on my wall for three weeks looking at it, 

should I tear it out?

do I put it on point?

As you know from my other posts, I started designing this quilt on point,

Only later realizing I preferred it straight...

I liked the big scrappy border, and I took care to pop in bits of color,

like the BRIGHT BLUE in the upper right.

I liked how it started to make that brown slash on top of the box

start to seem less... so I added the GOLD, and the dark RED down the right side...

Then just to balance it all, that spot of  ORANGE on the left.

Now, I see all those spots of color at once, 

instead of that dark slash in the center...

Next I thought going simple

(big wide yellowish borders) would be enough for it, 

but no, that didn't excite me... so I started piecing the Golds 

around it to highlight the yellow around the original square.

That was the trick.

As I started piecing scrap blocks to go around the golds, I realized very quickly

that I did not like LIGHTS in the border, like this top yellow white tiger print...

I have not take it out yet, as I continue to piece more blocks..

perhaps it will work somewhere else... 

More play to discover the resolve...

I did purposefully add this yellow piece to line up with

the gold in the gold border, I like how it breaks out of that 

row and into the next outer row. I also did this on the original block from

the light yellow into the dark border above the lower red plaid square.

I also stuck in another orange slash(upper middle left) 

to keep your eye moving around the quilt.

Careful as I make the scraps, to balance to blues and browns 

so it doesn't get TO dark and heavy.

 ***

If your willing to play along, leave a comment
and Just start in and post your 12" blocks...

please put a label on your post, INTUITION QUILT (and your name), 

so we can see every one's progress if we click on it...

**Note- your process to build your quilt should not look like mine,

this is only an example of how this quilt grew for me.

Your quilt will find it's own way to grow...  

**A second thought is to do this in PAIRS.
(rotating TWO BLOCKS so you each will have a quilt top in the end)
LIKE MY POST HERE

If you want to participate leave a comment saying which way you prefer,
singularly, or paired. (I will pair you up)

Keeping it abstract will force you to make decisions you might not otherwise make...

Have fun! Happy Sewing!

15 more with new eyes

A little more play... 

play a bit more...

 I made this block a while back and it's been sitting there, looking at me... staring....

I was unpacking my stuff as we just go to the house today, just barely ahead of the blizzard...

 I had lots of stuff to put away, but I just had to take 15 to throw some fabric at the wall...

 Later I came back, looked at it some more, and even though i laid it out on point...

 It felt like it really needed to live vertical...

 I threw a little bit more fabric on the wall, and had to walk away... 

Will see tomorrow if any of it still sticks...

It feels so good to PLAY!

My view out of the studio at my house... 

I am thinking that branch on the right just may snap off tonight... 

12-18" predicted... about 6 right now... and VERY WINDY...

So glad I'm inside, and warm.