My Attempt at "Low Volume"

I tried to make a "low volume" quilt, but the red just kept jumping in there.  

I hope it still qualifies for the QAL here.  It seems like a pretty forgiving group.

I had fun making these blocks, "liberated log cabins," Gwen Marston style.

I used any old low volume scrap, and chose them mostly randomly, as I learned in a Denyse Schmidt class.

I didn't have many whites, so I used a lot of "wrong" sides.  

There was a time when I would NEVER have used cut off creatures.  Never say never!

 

It may get a border of this plaid table cloth I found in a thrift store in Norway.  Oops!  More red.

 Well, as Popeye said, "I am what I am."   

I also made a couple of blocks for Tonya's next project.   

Gone Dotty!

Barbara Brackman recently posted about how polka dots have been used over the years. Modern, stylish women were using polka dots way back in the late 19th century. There was even a Polka Dot Club!

It got me thinking about the quilts I've made with polka dots, and some of the teachers who've shared my love of the nifty little shape.



I made this quilt in a workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably a few years ago.
They taught me how to focus on the colors and combine them in a pleasing way.



Dots come in more than one shape!



Last fall, I got to take a workshop with Freddy Moran. She taught me that any colors go together, the more the better. This is the Liberated Wedding Ring pattern in her book with Gwen Marston, Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again.



Anything goes!


I made this one with the Gee's Bend gals in 2009. They taught me how to choose fabrics by using my intuition. And put away that rotary cutter!



They all loved this black and white dot, cut from an old dress.




Last summer, I made this quilt in a class with Denyse Schmidt. I chose the red dot as my focus fabric. She taught me how to use scraps in an improvisational way.



Dots go with everything!

Denyse Quilt Top is Done

This is the quilt I started in the Denyse Schmidt workshop in Sisters, Oregon, a few weeks ago. I just finished it this weekend. I do love improvisational piecing!





Each block started with a small piece of orange or yellow. The rest of the pieces were picked randomly.

Denyse suggested I quilt it using black yarn ties. I think that's a great idea, and a good fall project.

Denyse Schmidt and the Sisters Quilt Show

Just returned from a very fun four days in Sisters, Oregon. I got to take a two-day workshop with Denyse Schmidt! Here's my piece.




She's designed experiential exercises that really get you to loosen up and improvise. Here is what the class made before lunch on the first day. Isn't it amazing how they all go together?



And here is the highly talented and fun Denyse. I totally recommend her workshop!!



The next day, the whole town came out to hang quilts for the show--1,300 quilts for 13,000 guests. I hear it's the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. Even the fire fighters hung quilts.



These are all quilts by employees of the Stitchin Post quilt shop.


Every business contributed space.



Even this car dressed up for the occasion!




These are a few of the many beautiful quilts made by the Stitchin Post owner, Jean Wells. Her latest book, Intuitive Color and Design, is fabulous.




This is made by a group of gals who come from California, Georgia and Canada for quilt week every year. Each one made her own basket and traded with the others. Don't you love the fish basket?