Good Advice

I just visited a blog I follow & found some very good advice for quiltmaking. Please take time to read it, you may learn something. I did.  Rule 2 spoke to me big time.

http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/

Rule 1 ‘Make quilts that you love.’
This was one I’d really tried to get across to my students, back when I taught.

There’s absolutely no point spending a lot of money, and much more importantly, a lot of time, working on a quilt you don’t love. I specialized in teaching beginners so they were often choosing the fabrics for their first quilt. It can be very daunting!!! In the first lesson I’d go out into the shop with the students while they chose their fabrics. They’d bring a few fabrics back to me to see if I liked them. First up, I had to get across to them, it didn’t really matter if I liked them, did they like them?
Well…… it will match my bedroom.
Do you love the colours in your bedroom?
No, but…….
Lol.
Put those fabrics back & go & choose one fabric that you just love.

Off they’d go & back they’d come hugging that one fabric & grinning. Now I knew we were on the right track. Then we’d work on choosing fabrics to go with the ‘chosen’ one. Suddenly it would all become easy to them & you could feel their energy & impatience as they were busting to get stuck into their quilt.

So don’t ever make a quilt to match a room you don’t love!!! Make the quilt you love, then choose a colour that will make a great background for your quilt & paint the room!!!

Remember that quilt is with you for life, you will repaint, you will move, it’s constant, a room often isn’t.

My Dear Jane hasn’t progressed much. I’m flat out with my year of making gifts so maybe next year. I know I’ll never go off it as it’s made in 30’s prints, which I love.

Choose fabrics that make you smile.

This was a very fun project for ds Simon. He has a Hawaiian shirt collection so I simply picked my brightest fabrics for the shirts. The Canadian prints were sent to me by generous quilters.

It can be a challenge making something for someone else but it’s fun working out their fave colours & finding fabrics that are just right.