My brother, a physicist, proposed this week's challenge topic: Feynman diagrams. It's not a challenge unless it's a challenge, right?
Naturally, I had to consult the web because, while I'm familiar with Dr. Feynman, his diagrams are something else again. Time to brush up on electrons and positrons and muons and gluons and quarks and.....There may be some serious "approximations" and stylizing going on this week, but I'm up for it!
Send good and creative thoughts, please!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Design Challenge: Week #7 Results
The challenge this week: design a quilt around your favorite dessert. There was never any question that, for me, it would revolve around chocolate. I explored three different chocolate desserts.
Chocolate cream pie is a favorite of several in my family. First was a single slice of pie, with a crimped crust. Now that I think more about it, I might put a thin line of crust around the two plain edges of the pie but, for now, here's my concept of a slices of chocolate pie--sans meringue or whipped cream. I suppose you could consider the white triangles between to be the whipped cream.
Chocolate cream pie is a favorite of several in my family. First was a single slice of pie, with a crimped crust. Now that I think more about it, I might put a thin line of crust around the two plain edges of the pie but, for now, here's my concept of a slices of chocolate pie--sans meringue or whipped cream. I suppose you could consider the white triangles between to be the whipped cream.
Then I tried a few more arrangements, including one with alternating slices that have whipped cream.
If there's anything better than a slice of chocolate cream pie, it's an entire pie. So, on to arrangements of entire pies.
And, to be fair, I do like just about any kind of pie.
Chocolate pie is a favorite but, harking back to my childhood and girl Scout camp, S'mores rank pretty high on the favorites list.
I rather like design motifs that are vertically placed, especially along the 1/3 vertical division.
Finally, there is nothing at all wrong with just pieces of chocolate. Belgian chocolate is fabulous but I don't scoff at just about any piece of chocolate.
I wanted to like the chocolate pie designs best, but I confess that I think the vertical S'mores design and the box of chocolates are my favorites. What's your favorite?
Monday, June 9, 2014
Design Challenge: The votes are in!
The votes are in on your choice for the challenge design that I should make first. I'm often surprised by which designs others like most. I first discovered it when designing quilts for patterns; once in awhile I can guess which will be most popular, but often I can't. in fact, a couple of my favorite patterns are not the most popular ones. Isn't it grand that there are so many different ideas and tastes in the quilting world? There are always new things to discover and learn.
Back to the design. For awhile it looked as if the voting wouldn't be much help, as it was evenly divided but, in the end (you did vote, didn't you??) the design with the most votes was "Different Paths."
I'm starting to work through my stash to select the fabrics. As this design turned out to be about Iowa, with its green fields and its two boundary rivers, I'm giving some consideration to adding some deep, rich brown to the "fields." Iowa has rich soil underneath all those green crops, so I might insert a few narrow strips of brown into the greens, for the soil (admittedly, at this point, it is mostly mud) peeking out between the rows. The background fabric is still in question; originally, I had thought it would be a creamy white but perhaps it should be a little more beige or light gray, for those gravel roads cutting through the fields. So many choices!
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There is also a possibility that the fields will move through the seasons, with some different colorings. We'll see. It may turn out that the simpler design is the better design.
Construction won't be too much of a problem; I'll have to work through sizes and proportions, but the primary technique on my mind is the introduction of the river strips. They'll be bias, but this morning I was pondering the quilting and it occurred to me that I might want to do the quilting BEFORE I applique the river strips. I suppose the quilt will tell me what it wants as I get closer to that point.
So, though I wouldn't have predicted that this would be your choice, you have spoken and it's on its way!
This week's challenge, btw, is to design a quilt around your favorite dessert. I fear that it is going to make me hungry for all my favorites. The sacrifices we make for our art, right?
Back to the design. For awhile it looked as if the voting wouldn't be much help, as it was evenly divided but, in the end (you did vote, didn't you??) the design with the most votes was "Different Paths."
I'm starting to work through my stash to select the fabrics. As this design turned out to be about Iowa, with its green fields and its two boundary rivers, I'm giving some consideration to adding some deep, rich brown to the "fields." Iowa has rich soil underneath all those green crops, so I might insert a few narrow strips of brown into the greens, for the soil (admittedly, at this point, it is mostly mud) peeking out between the rows. The background fabric is still in question; originally, I had thought it would be a creamy white but perhaps it should be a little more beige or light gray, for those gravel roads cutting through the fields. So many choices!
There is also a possibility that the fields will move through the seasons, with some different colorings. We'll see. It may turn out that the simpler design is the better design.
Construction won't be too much of a problem; I'll have to work through sizes and proportions, but the primary technique on my mind is the introduction of the river strips. They'll be bias, but this morning I was pondering the quilting and it occurred to me that I might want to do the quilting BEFORE I applique the river strips. I suppose the quilt will tell me what it wants as I get closer to that point.
So, though I wouldn't have predicted that this would be your choice, you have spoken and it's on its way!
This week's challenge, btw, is to design a quilt around your favorite dessert. I fear that it is going to make me hungry for all my favorites. The sacrifices we make for our art, right?
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Getting to Work! Design Challenge Survey
We're six weeks into the challenge and it's time to get to work on a quilt! Please vote, on this survey on your choice of six designs. The designs are on the survey form, but I've also included them below. Thanks for your input!
Boxed Cereal
Rain, Rain Go Away
Friends, Far and Near
Company's Coming!
Different Paths
Lonesome Whistle
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Design Challenge #6 Results
This week Ann presented the challenge around the theme of "Different Paths." Ann is a fellow quilter, but also an avid gardener so I suspect that she intended it to be paths in a garden or in nature. I broadened the idea, though I included some that are organic.
The first idea uses stepping stones of various sizes and shapes. (You should be proud of me--no circles!) The paths wind in and out, and I thought that I could do some sort of transparency effect where they intersect. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
The next idea was a much more structured and regular, with paths working their way around walls. Originally I thought about doing the walls as a sort of maze, and I suppose these are a very simple, stylized sort of maze. Of course, there always has to be a smart-aleck that cuts through the maze instead of following the rules. I don't know anyone like that, though.
In the shower yesterday the idea of bands of color pieced next to other, with paths running across them popped into my head. At that point I thought I wanted some bright, modern prints for the bands but as I started putting it on "paper" it felt more like a landscape of fields and when I opted for curved lines instead of straight, it began to look like a stylized Iowa landscape. My subconscious must have registered that because, without even having that in mind, I put in two blue curved lines. "Iowa" means "land between two rivers." Voila.
Then I tried the crazy, chaotic curved lines again. Ugh. I keep thinking that someday that will look right to me but, apparently, not yet.
So, on to straight lines. I started paths of different colors, that diverged at the end. It looks a lot like the Amtrak symbol, doesn't it? I like overlaying them, however, and I might do a transparency thing here, too, where they overlap.
While I like the Amtrak symbol, it's Amtrak's symbol. I experimented with the forked path shape rotated around and stacked on each other. I think I like it. John thinks it could be "woven" where the paths overlap and I think that's a good possibility. (He also thinks I could make this into a block that is repeated, with the lines meeting/intersecting when the blocks are put together. It's an interesting idea, and I might play with that another day, in EQ.)
What if the paths had curves, instead of all straight lines? Again, rotating the same path in several different directions made for a pleasing sort of pattern. A transparency or woven effect could come into play here, too.
When I first thought of the concept, in my mind the curves were wrapping around each other, which necessitated some more fiddling.
Which one do you like best? Later this week I hope to post a survey, asking which of my choices from each of the 6 weeks (so far) everyone would like to see me work on first. That means I have to choose my favorite from each of the 6 weeks. I like several this time, so help me out and share your favorite. :-)
The first idea uses stepping stones of various sizes and shapes. (You should be proud of me--no circles!) The paths wind in and out, and I thought that I could do some sort of transparency effect where they intersect. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
The next idea was a much more structured and regular, with paths working their way around walls. Originally I thought about doing the walls as a sort of maze, and I suppose these are a very simple, stylized sort of maze. Of course, there always has to be a smart-aleck that cuts through the maze instead of following the rules. I don't know anyone like that, though.
Then I tried the crazy, chaotic curved lines again. Ugh. I keep thinking that someday that will look right to me but, apparently, not yet.
So, on to straight lines. I started paths of different colors, that diverged at the end. It looks a lot like the Amtrak symbol, doesn't it? I like overlaying them, however, and I might do a transparency thing here, too, where they overlap.
While I like the Amtrak symbol, it's Amtrak's symbol. I experimented with the forked path shape rotated around and stacked on each other. I think I like it. John thinks it could be "woven" where the paths overlap and I think that's a good possibility. (He also thinks I could make this into a block that is repeated, with the lines meeting/intersecting when the blocks are put together. It's an interesting idea, and I might play with that another day, in EQ.)
What if the paths had curves, instead of all straight lines? Again, rotating the same path in several different directions made for a pleasing sort of pattern. A transparency or woven effect could come into play here, too.
When I first thought of the concept, in my mind the curves were wrapping around each other, which necessitated some more fiddling.
In the end I decided it needed a straight line, to better balance it. Actually, I thought perhaps two or three but I was satisfied after one, and more than that would make it too cluttered.
Which one do you like best? Later this week I hope to post a survey, asking which of my choices from each of the 6 weeks (so far) everyone would like to see me work on first. That means I have to choose my favorite from each of the 6 weeks. I like several this time, so help me out and share your favorite. :-)
Monday, June 2, 2014
Design Challenge Week #6
This week's challenge topic comes from my quilting friend, Ann. She suggested "Different Paths," and that works for me! Some ideas are churning around in my mind--we'll see what come out. In the meantime, think about (and sketch) your own ideas for "different paths."
See you back here soon for my own ideas and, hopefully, yours as well.
See you back here soon for my own ideas and, hopefully, yours as well.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Design Challenge; Week #5 Results
This week's challenge was to design a quilt that illustrates company coming to visit, in honor of an upcoming visit from a friend whom I don't get to see very often.
I skipped the sketch book this week, and went straight to Word to "sketch." Several ideas emerged, and some are more promising than others, as always. More might come to mind in the future, but here's what has come forth so far.
The first is more a statement about my housekeeping skills that about the company, but it is honest that my house tends be a bit...shall we say, not quite kempt, unless company is coming, at which point I straighten things up and make them more orderly. Not perfectly orderly, because I couldn't be a perfect, or even really good, housekeeper no matter how hard I try. Then, when the company leaves, the house adjusts to its normal state of pleasant disarray.
I skipped the sketch book this week, and went straight to Word to "sketch." Several ideas emerged, and some are more promising than others, as always. More might come to mind in the future, but here's what has come forth so far.
The first is more a statement about my housekeeping skills that about the company, but it is honest that my house tends be a bit...shall we say, not quite kempt, unless company is coming, at which point I straighten things up and make them more orderly. Not perfectly orderly, because I couldn't be a perfect, or even really good, housekeeper no matter how hard I try. Then, when the company leaves, the house adjusts to its normal state of pleasant disarray.
That is kind of fun and might make a quilt that is not half bad, at least in its meaning to me. The next idea has the company coming into the house, mingling and conversing, then leaving again at the end of the stay. They are each a little different, some know each other and others do not. . It is more of a party sort of atmosphere and the design is appropriately busy. In fact, it may be a bit chaotic. :-)
So, more in the spirit of one friend coming to visit for a few days, the design is modified. The spiral in the house represents the fun and joy of friends visiting and talking. I like this one very much, though I think I might make some changes in color scheme.
I gave some thought to using flowers to represent the flowering of friendship, using petals joining in the home to flower.
I didn't like that very much and switched to my every-favorite circles to represent the friends as they come into flower. I like this better but I think if I were to make a quilt it would be more traditional, with a pieced pattern of solid or prints that read solid, on either side of the "house," which would be a large floral fabric that included all the colors of the solid pieces.
I know which is my favorite; which one do you like best? How might you change any of the designs?
One more week of the challenge, I think, and then I'll take a survey to see which of the six you think I should work on first, to make an actual quilt. (The challenge will probably continue but I'd like to make a start on some of these designs this summer.)
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