Pin It Weekly #105

I've developed a few cyber friendships with quilters in Australia. Apparently quilting has really taken there and blogging is part of the deal.  I thought I'd honor them this week with a few pins of places, people and things from Down Under.  Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Although these beautiful pictures all say they were taken in Australia, there's no way I can guarantee that.  I simply searched Australia (plus --outback, --cities, --animals) on Pinterest to find them, but they may be labeled incorrectly.  In that case I apologize.

Kind regards to my Aussie friends!  Thanks for visiting so often.

Modern Monday Finish! Louisiana Traveling Quilt

Here they are--the promised photos of the latest quilt!  This one is the Louisiana Traveling Quilt.  For several months (10 maybe?) the quilt top traveled around the state (and to D.C) from studio to studio.  Once it arrived, the caretaker of the month took a good look at what had been done before and then made a block to add to the top.  

It began with a simple concept....to create squares in neutral colors and arrange them in a circular shape.  Beyond that, the block designer could have fun.  I even created a block to give them some idea of what was in my head--it's the one encircled in red in this first photo.

Someone decided that I didn't know what I wanted and played with the idea of a circle in a square....

Others decided that circles and squares are more fun if they are released from....well, everything!

Here's where the communication began breaking down.  A square in a round or a round in a square?  Hmm, I know a square in a round in a square in a round in a....

This one!  Oh, yeah, I had fun with this. I extended the stripes into the background; then rather than quilt the stripes like a normal person, I quilted the background in stripes.  You know, when it's your quilt you can do the  most abnormal things.

Someone else was confused by the rules...so she tossed them all!

And then there are these quirky circles. Pancakes, I called them.  So like I do with pancakes, I split them up into bite size pieces and ate them.  They were pretty good.

 But there were more.  And donuts.  Ha!  They thought they'd fill me with carbs and then I'd crash.  Not this chick!  I eat carbs like I'm going to run or yoga or lift weights.  Nope, I'll just eat more carbs.  Pass the syrup!

Really, though, this is just weird.  What do we call this? My sister is a math teacher and she doesn't have a name for this.  Well, she is also a 60's hippie child (born in 1967) so she might just call it groovy.  Regardless, I stepped up to the challenge and quilted it with circles.  Check out the circles....imagine being on LSD and looking at these babies!  And because I can, I feathered the weird circles.  Who doesn't like a good challenge?  Those feathers just kiss the edges of the weirdness.   Ha!  Take that your royal strangeness!

I really had fun with this whole idea.  From working on blocks for other quilts to keeping track of the quilts on Pinterest to receiving and quilting my own top. Every part was fun. But perhaps the most fun has been showing the quilt, explaining the idea and, of course, getting all the compliments!  

Now it's your turn: what are your favorite things about this quilt?  Leave a comment!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Sun and Sky

In gratitude for the beautiful, sunny days we've had (despite the ice storm), I thought I'd share some gorgeous photos of sunrises and sunsets and let those be inspiration for the week.  Prepare for some miracles in the sky!

Know how to tell whether the photo is of a sunset or a sunrise?  It's actually relatively easy: look at the sky around the sun.  If the sky is mostly blue, you're looking a sunrise; if it is mostly in other colors

--reds, purples, oranges, pinks--then you're looking at a sunset.  

This is because when the sun rises the sky are relatively clear...the pollution has cleared overnight.  By the time the sun sets, the skies are polluted and hazy from dust and dirt, and this causes the light rays to refract.  At both times of day sunlight has to travel a longer path to get to us. 

All of those conditions affect how we see the light. The sky doesn't actually change, what changes is how we see it.  Which, of course, implies that when you look at a sunset say 500 miles away from me, we see the same sunset but the colors can be different depending on the conditions.

Of course, clouds come in to play with the sun.  They can change everything about our view of sunrise and, especially, sunset.

With such beauty always available to us, humans are surely to be inspired to create art based on the beauty create by our view of the sun. Here is a sampling of the quilts I found on Pinterest in only a few moments. 

Another piece of art based on the rays of the sun.  I'm not certain, but I think it's polymer clay.

Here's hoping you see many beautiful sunrises and sunsets this week.

Eclectic Quilt Guild

You remember how I often read other blogs (this in lieu of buying

quilting magazines) and try to recommend a few on occasion? Well, 

do I have one for you!  Actually, I have two blogs to recommend.  

The first is Molly Flanders...Maker.

Photo courtesy of Molly Flanders...Maker

Her Wordless Wednesday post got me thinking, "Loving it all...the 

bright and bold as well as the subtle and restrained...."

Then S.O.T.A.K. Handmade added to Mary's thought and my own. Firstly, her "loving it all" post expresses much of my own feelings about quilting--I love all of it!  Secondly, she linked back to Molly Flanders but I didn't make the connection~~my brain is not that bright.  

Photo courtesy of S.O.T.A.K. Handmade

Here's my comment to Svetlana explaining my thinking and, I hope, my appreciation for all things quilty:

When I read this, "And then I came across Mary's beautiful picture of two very different quilts she made and loved," I honestly thought you were talking about me!  Because this is my life: "I finally realized it's ok to be pulled in many different directions as long as my projects make me happy."  Really, does it matter if we have a different style?  I like modern, traditional, and everything in-between.  I take classes on one, then make the other, or (more often) design my own work.  I have books on every type, technique, block and border. I have a stash to die for, but you should see the mess--fabric from the 60's, reproductions, solids, bold modern prints....everything!  
I haven't a clue what kind of quilter I am or what kind I want to be (and I'm 55!).  Lately I've been saying eclectic because when I first heard the word I thought it meant crazy and, let's face it, that's not far from the truth.  How about we start an Eclectic Quilt Guild!  We could have our own QuiltCon-like show and encourage a few love-everything quilters to join.

What do you think?  Eclectic Quilt Guild or not?