I've spent some time this weekend putting together the cream/beige-background leaf blocks...
This is a tentative layout, minus the sashing and border.
The border will probably take a while to pull together. I believe I have enough HSTs ready, but I need to arrange them pleasingly and join them.
We've been having unpleasantly warm and humid weather lately, but this afternoon a cool front blew through. We took a walk, and the air was so cool and fresh! Okay, the temperature is still 70℉, but with lower humidity, that passes for "cool" here, in late March. Perfect weather for putting together this quilt. I can pretend it's the beginning of our cool season instead of the tail end! 😭😂 (I know a lot of people are looking forward to summer. I'm not one of those people.)
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I'm still using the red/neutral bonus HSTs as my leaders and enders, and the stacks are growing ever taller. There are enough to see me through this project, I think, but it won't be long before I'll need to find a new leader/ender source! Maybe sewing these HSTs together into pairs and rows can fill in the gap for a while.
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I intended to start playing with watercolors more, this year. Follow some tutorials from YouTube, see if I could learn some of the basics beyond the little I've figured out on my own. Just have some fun. I painted the first page of my notebook, and that was it! I kept finding excuses to put it off.
But last week I saw something on Lori Kennedy's FMQ (free-motion quilting) blog that sparked some inspiration, so yesterday I pulled out the supplies and gave it a try. I liked it so much that I tried it again today, and I'll probably return to the technique, in the near future.
The idea (see this post) is pretty simple. Paint some splotches. You can have an idea in mind (flowers, butterflies, waves, etc.) or you could go more abstract and free-flowing. Let the paint dry, then go back over the page with doodles, bringing your watercolor splotches to life.
But last week I saw something on Lori Kennedy's FMQ (free-motion quilting) blog that sparked some inspiration, so yesterday I pulled out the supplies and gave it a try. I liked it so much that I tried it again today, and I'll probably return to the technique, in the near future.
The idea (see this post) is pretty simple. Paint some splotches. You can have an idea in mind (flowers, butterflies, waves, etc.) or you could go more abstract and free-flowing. Let the paint dry, then go back over the page with doodles, bringing your watercolor splotches to life.
I guess in the strictest sense, if you want your doodling to work toward FMQ design ideas and muscle memory, it should be continuous line (i.e. the pen doesn't leave the paper), but I allowed some stopping and starting in parts of my doodles.
It's been a fun way to test the waters. Or maybe I should say "test the watercolors". 😁