Fibermania

Home At Last!

I have heard that you learn as much from your students as they do from you. I am here to tell you that I learned MORE from my students than they did from me. Patti Boston took my words and turned them into a real example of what working in a series can be.

This is her original block and following that are her variations which can all become fabu quilts, if you ask me.

Note: This block is NOT square which is what leads to these wonderful settings.

Other options of course include other values or color schemes, repeated elements in different sizes, adding a second supporting block etc etc etc. The individual shapes could be modified, such as narrower strips or wider + narrow strips. It could go on forever. The negative spaces could be filled with solid color or repeated versions in a smaller size of the same design.

Easy for me to say. Ha! But easy for her to accomplish too, since it is all fused. She made a pattern and used the same pieces to make her blocks. Smart girl.

I'll be using her work and the work of the other gals in this class for slide presentations in my future workshops. Pictures speak louder than words.

I also learned (about my own work) that all these years I have been using too many colors in every piece.

Don't laugh.

They were all so bright and spoke so loud that it may have been difficult to see the design with all that shouting. Once I was convinced to limit my palette, the design became easier and more pleasant to read and provided more options for other work within that format. Instead of using a block I went instead for a layout concept. This means, I used a format that was to be the repeated constant. Then each piece in the series was about the same design but different color schemes or value schemes. I varied the pieces slightly because I never measured the individual segments and just winged it. Still you get the idea that they are all part of a larger set.