Making Parts

As promised, here are the pictures of the nearly completed compositions from the Design and Improvisation fusing class. I am so proud!
To begin, I had them choose a colorway and begin to make strip sets and log cabin blocks, with no design ideas (or my short lecture about design) to inform them. Just make parts. Then we examined some design concepts which focused on organizing principles. Luckily we had been furnished with an exhibition catalog with pictures of art quilts and we took advantage of them to discuss layout. And because we  had wi-fi in the hotel I showed some of my quilts which employed parts and how I arranged them into a pleasing composition. They jumped right in and made more parts, experimented with arrangements and here are the results. 

This was the easiest design class I have ever taught and I wish I had been able to offer this last exercise to my previous classes. But alas, I had not 'discovered' it until I had retired and started fooling around with parts myself.
YOU can do this. It helps to have a piece of fabric with three analogous colors, like yellow orange and red, or blue magenta and purple. Or one great rainbow piece! Each of these were made with a half yard hand dyed piece, with the exception of Kate's piece with the leaf, and right next to it,  Sarah's piece which was made from several pieces of closely related crackle dyed fabrics.
I have a few leftover pieces in yellow, lime and green, blue purple magenta, as well as pink red and orange. A half yard does the trick, and the cost is $10. Email me.
Whoa!!! I am all sold out. What a response! Perhaps I will offer these as a set later after I dye more of them. Stay tuned.
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I had a wonderful time with my students, loved the food at the hotel and the relaxed atmosphere at the workshop was perfect. For me it was a test to see if I wanted to return to teaching again. But it was an unfair test. Not all experiences will be like this, and the part that remains difficult is getting there and back. I had forgotten how often I got sick on trips and this one was no different. Sore throat and a throbbing fever blister on my lip, while mild is a great reminder. At the end of each day I flopped into bed and did nothing but change the remote and snooze through tv shows.
Well almost nothing. On Wednesday night I gave a slide lecture which was so much fun, hearing the audience laugh, and I loved that part. But as you know I worked on those slides for weeks and then rushed through them so quickly once I saw a few heads nodding. That always happens but being out of practice, this time I took it personally even tho I know a dark room and a full tummy are like a drug. Silly me.

So in the end, while driving home, I made the decision to really stay retired. I like the pace and freedom of  having plenty of time to experiment and not feel that whatever it is has to be finished in a hurry. And I do have the opportunity to teach knitting, which will be that kind of fun interaction that is so fulfilling.
And of course the blog offers me the space to explain and show techniques of all kinds. Thank heaven for the blog.