A Quilting Design Challenge

Monday is Design Day at the Spinster and, having finished my self-challenge to design 10 quilts using 10" squares, I'm ready for a new design challenge. (If you'd like to see the 10 quilts, visit my Warped Spinster website, particularly the Patterns page.  There are two more waiting to be quilted, so there will be 12, in the end. )  Those designs were primarily for patterns to make available commercially, those in this new challenge may well be just designs for my own fun, in the end--they may or may not result in actual quilts, and they may or may not end up being patterns.  The design is the purpose in itself, to get the juices flowing!

I've been thinking about doing this particular challenge for awhile now, and it's time to get it started.  I invite you to visit each week to see what my weekly challenge is, join me in creating designs, if you wish, or just watch what happens.  If nothing else, it could give you a laugh or two.  And we could all use some more laughter in our lives, right?  

If you're doing some designing with me in the coming weeks, please share what you're doing.  And if you have an idea for a weekly challenge, please let me know--I'm always looking for ideas.

These challenges will be based on things that pop into my head, and I expect some of them to be more of a challenge than others!  The end designs may end up being quite different from the first sketch or idea.  The original challenge topic isn't really important, it's a prompt to get the creative part of the brain working--if the final design has evolved into something that bears little or no resemblance to the original idea.  That's OK.  (It's a good "out," isn't it?)  I'll try to trace the evolution of the designs I do.  You may be interested in that (and please share YOUR processes, too), but I'm doing it as a sort of design journaling exercise for myself.

Week 1
What was the first thing you heard when you woke up this morning?  (If you're joining me in the challenge, you may need to wait until tomorrow morning, unless you remember from this morning.)  The quilt should represent the sound in some way, not the object making the sound.

I woke up to the sound of a train whistle in the distance, and I have an idea or two in my head.  They have evolved a bit already this morning.  Check back in the next day or two (or Follow the blog, under "About Me" on the right-hand sidebar-- to receive an e-mail when there's a new post ) for some sketches and design layouts.


I hope you'll join me for the challenge, as a fellow traveler in design, or as a spectator or commentator.