The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

I’m Back!

Sorry I’ve been gone so long-so much has happened. BRAG ALERT: Son #2 graduated from Univ of California-Santa Barbara and most importantly, HE HAS A REAL JOB! It’s even in the field he studied-Mechanical Engineering. He is off our payroll and he’ll have insurance, vacation, everything!

While we were visiting, his girlfriend volunteered to take me to the Santa Barbara Zoo-I was thrilled to go. Because she volunteers at the zoo, she knows every animal, their story and odd little tidbits about each one of the animals. It was a delightful day spent in good company and gave me an intimate view of the zoo.
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I couldn’t help but see texture and quilting motifs everywhere I looked: look at the beautiful, graceful pattern of the feathers on the flamingo. And the gnarled hide of the elephant. Is it just me or do YOU see potential quilting motifs?
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Isnt’ the giraffe pattern fabulous? Don’t you wish you had some fabric that looked like that?
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And what about these colors and how they blend and mix? Who’d a thunk to put those colors together?
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In the back of my mind, I am preparing for IQF-Long Beach on July 30.  I will do demos for the Saturday Night Sampler: “Creating Your Own Free Motion Fillers“. The whole premise is that there are quilting motifs, fills and meanders all around you. They’re everywhere in your daily life: fabric designs, upholstery, logos, nature, etc.-you just need to know where to look.

So I was excited to get home and turn some of what I saw into quilting fills or motifs. We spent a lot of time on the grass at graduation which got me to thinking hmmmm, how could I turn that into a motif? The top row is just my first stab at it-it’s looking like a border to me. I used 3 different colors of variegated King Tut to create the grass.

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The middle motif is a simple meander using a flower motif. I used big ole fat 12 wt Sulky to work that and I kind of like the bold statement it makes. I probably could not use that thick thread in many situations, but I sure like its strong statement.

The lower motif I love! Do you see the flamingo pattern in that? Wouldn’t that be a fabulous fill somewhere in a quilt or wall hanging? That piece is the first try at that also and I see that I can definitely refine it further.

What quilting motifs do you see in  YOUR world?

Comments

  2. Your comments about the color of the bird is a hoot. I’m working on color theory right now and the red/yellow/blue is the classic triad color harmony. Your trip sounds great.

  3. Some famous quilter (forgot who) says you need “mud” in every quilt to make the feature colors shine. I look at the “mud” colors on the parrot-those gray/purply/blue parts and where the green and gold smudge, and I think it’s the “mud” to makes the rest stand out. That’s where the “”who’d a thunk it” comes in for me-without the mud it would be garish.

  4. Congrats to #2!! That’s an awesome accomplishment!
    Agreed there are fillers everywhere.. we just need to stop and look! Too many times I miss the forest for the trees!

    Welcome back!! You were missed!!!!!!!

  6. Mega congrats for your son. I know that you are very proud of him. Love the grass. I’ve used a very simplified version of that as a sorta border in the past. I really like the way you have layered in on. I’m inspired!

    • Oh I’d love to see what you’ve done. I haven’t actually put it in a border yet but I think it could be lovely.