30 Days of Quilt Design 21-25

21. Untitled

Numbers 21 and 22 were both inspired by my day 18 design. That one design served as direct inspiration for four others! For 21, I took the center bit and threw it on point. But it looked a bit funky, so I actually recreated it in photoshop to make the proportions happier, and I changed the corners a bit because I love me a good pinwheel.

While this color combination was a stretch for me, I like the way it turned out. I feel like I could make this quilt, and I could make it 'me'.

22. Untitled
This is the same block as 21, but with sashing added, and boy, does that make a difference! I didn't want the sashing to be white, but I'm not in love with the brown. I wonder what this would look like if I sashed it with the same light blue as the block? I really am learning that the options are endless.

If I look at them side by side, I think I prefer the no sashing look, but I think the color palettes are also heavily contributing to that conclusion. I really do need to mock them up in the same colors and verify that! 

23. Hexagon
Yet another example of my totally wicked naming skillz. 

24. Garden Patchwork
I picked up this Cloud 9 fabric ages ago, and I have been saving it for the 'right' project. (Y'all know exactly what I mean, I'm sure!) I wouldn't do it with solids--those would definitely be prints, but I think I've determined that I would love this fabric with just basic patchwork. If I didn't have a kajillion projects currently on my to-do list, I might pull fabric and start cutting now, but I'm going to exercise restraint and behave myself. (Probably.)

25. Graphic
And...back to graph paper, at least for this one. I had fun drawing this one. I think I would FMQ a quote over it in red thread. I'm thinking this one, by Carl Sagan:

"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies, were all made in the interior of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."

I have a thing for stars, and this quilt does nothing to evoke the feeling or appearance of stars, but it does make me feel that things aren't always what they seem, and they don't always go as expected, just like you wouldn't necessarily think of individuals as being composed of 'starstuff'. I like thinking I share the magic of stars.

And that, friends, is another set of designs for #30daysofquiltdesign. I sketched #26 last night, which means only FOUR MORE TO GO.

30 Days of Quilt Design 16-20

Goodness, I've made it more than halfway for #30daysofquiltdesign! For a girl who was hoping to make it to ten designs, I'm thrilled to have finished 20! And knowing that some of those are designs I'd actually seriously consider making--well, that's even more fun. The last couple of designs were actually put together in Photoshop. This girl is branching out! There is still plenty of time to take part in the challenge--it goes until the end of October--so if you've been considering it, I'd recommend you jump right in!

#16 XOXO
I had a really interesting conversation with Yvonne the other day about my weird relationship with blue--it makes me nervous to work with it--and I started thinking I needed to use it very intentionally to squash those nerves. I love blue! It shouldn't make me nervous. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I guess what it comes down to is that I feel like quilts that I've made using blue aren't very 'me'. So I need to find a way to incorporate blue into my work in a manner that still feels characteristic of my style. My aesthetic surely isn't limited by a warm color palette! Making XOXO in a scrappy orange palette would be mucho fun, but what if I made it in blue and white? Or navy and apricot?

#17 Off Topic
I had originally wanted to make this one in scrappy black and white prints or maybe C+S's blue and white collection, but then I saw this quilt on owen's olivia instagram, and OMG. (Also, am I like the last person to start following owen's olivia? Where have I been?) Black and white solids with a black and white stripe border. O.M.G. Can we say yum? So forget the prints! Off Topic would be black and white solids. With a black and white stripe border. Because how can you say no to that kind of genius??? (And then when it was done, I'd give it away because it would stay clean in my house for about thirty seconds before peanut butter hands would find it.)

#18 Tilted Star
Years and years and years ago, I found a super cool triangle image somewhere online. I have no idea where or who deserves the credit. I don't even know that the site I saw it properly credited it. But I stumbled across it the other day and thought it would look super sweet as a quilt. A quick (messy) pen sketch later, and boom. It would. Even if composing this bad boy would be a royal pain in the derriere.

#19 Untitled
I think the most exciting part of #18 came from the center bit. I thought it would look really cool as a quilt block, so I mocked it up in Photoshop and played around with colors. I really really really like this one. Like, next baby quilt I have to make will be using this block (which is probably not original and has a name already) because I'm in love.

#20 Untitled 2
This is the same block as #19, but I rotated some of the blocks and did the center bit a little different. It made me consider what the block would look like doubled in size and at different angles and in a different color palette. I have a feeling there will be at least one or two more quilts using this block in my 30 days. Maybe #21 and #22? We'll see.

30 Days of Quilt Design 11-15

I have made it to the halfway point, and boy, am I surprised! I didn't think I'd get here, and while I've definitely slowed down in the last week or so, I'm chalking that up to life stuff.

#11 Tabled is a design I actually took from a table--better pic of the table below. I would make up this quilt in browns! Totally surprising everyone, including myself!

Honestly, I'd love to have this very table in my own home, but then again, there is something to having a table that is twice as old as I am and well used--I'm not worried when my kids draw on it in crayon.

#12 Hey Y'all. I saw the below pillow, and I loved it. And now I want a mini quilt that says "hey y'all" to hang by my door.

TOO COOL.

#13 is Rhombus. Not my favorite.

I think #14 Interlocked could go somewhere. My vision is a scrappy low volume background with scrappy tan/sand colored diamonds.

#15 Stained Glass. I have no idea how I would even accomplish this. But the idea is fun. I think I'd want to do it with maybe a metallic silver or gold background--C+S Netorious, maybe?--and some jewel colors.

And that's 11 through 15. Let's see if I can put together fifteen more designs before the end of October! Are you participating? I'm really enjoying looking at the other designs. Such fun!

30 Days of Quilt Design 6-10

I'm back with another set of five designs. I'm a third of the way there, woo!

#6 Untitled

 

I would definitely tweak the colors on this one. I like the idea of black and white in this scheme, but I don't know that I would choose the dots. Maybe the HSTs?

#7 Triangle Hit Parade

Of all the designs I've sketched so far, this is by far my favorite. I would totally make this, and in a scrappy fashion. It was inspired by a tissue box.

#8 Drunken Stagger

I'm trying to stick to my resolution to try new things, including at least one design with brown. This is...too much brown? And not very Audrey. But brown is under the belt, so we're all good on that front.

#9 Attack Triangles

Originally titled Attack of the Triangles, I've decided I like the title Attack Triangles better. Because YES. This one I'd do up in blue and white prints. And I don't think I'd lay it out exactly like this. More this sketch is to convey that I'd make a bunch of different size HSTs and HST blocks and throw them all together in a big whirl of awesome traditional quilting color palette fun.

#10 Vanilla's Quilt

This is the design plan I'm operating under for my daughter's quilt. You can see a hint of the navy blues I've picked, plus I'll be supplementing with scraps and other bits. I'm starting with a NY Beauty block in the center, each quadrant being navy, white, and one other color (yellow, orange, red, hot pink). Yellow is up first, and I've already attacked scraps. Now I need to look through stash. And I need to take a look through the other colors too. I'm finding I have little in the way of orange, and I should double-check red and hot pink too!

And those are designs 6-10. I'm still having a ton of fun with this challenge, though it is stretching me.

30 Days of Quilt Design #2-5

I finished my first five quilt designs for #30daysofquiltdesign. Friends, that's 1/6 of the way there. To be honest, I'm pretty impressed I made it this far, but when I got over freaking out and panicking and telling myself that this wasn't my thing and I couldn't do it, ummmm...I did it. I'm not saying these designs are going to win awards or I have it in my mind to start a pattern business, but I am pretty stoked about what came out. Best of all, I could TOTALLY see myself making some of these. Maybe next time I need a baby quilt, instead of strolling around the internet looking for inspiration, I'll *gasp* look in my own idea book.

Fair warning: I love hot pink. You'll see a lot of it. I also apparently like warm colors, though I am going to challenge myself to design at least ten quilts using a cooler palette. Also, at least one quilt with brown. (Bleh.) Also, my naming skillz leave something to be desired. But to be honest, I kinda like my names over a more professional sounding one anyway. Finally, if you follow me on instagram, you've already seen all of this business, but I did include some additional thoughts about each design here if you're so inclined to read on.

#2 Stripey-Stripe

I saw a wonky tumbler quilt somewhere on the internet, and I loved it. The tumblers were really tall and really skinny, which would most likely be a total pain in the tukhus to piece, but it was so dreamy. I don't know how I got from there to here. I also have no idea where the idea for a red strip came into play. I couldn't find a red crayon and wound up using a red-violet, which looks pink, and voila! There's my pink stripe. Which honestly, I like better, surprising no one.

#3 Mismatched Points

I thought I'd give the skinny tumbler idea a go again. But my tumblers looked liked triangles, and then I kinda liked them as triangles, and I was going to start with pink, but then the red fell out of the box--I shamelessly stole my kid's brand new crayons, don't tell him!--and I thought an ombre flame-y thing-y could be fun. I'd use solids on this quilt, though I might go scrappy LV for the white bits. Or maybe a cross ombre with baby yellow at the bottom that shifted to white? So. Many. Possibilities.

#4 Mustard Stain

I've been working on a shawl (you can see a peek at the top of this pic) and I thought it would be fun to make some sort of play on the lace pattern that it uses. For this one, I went so far as to haul out my Kona card and look at colors--I'd work with Kona White plus either Kona Curry or Kona Yarrow. I think I like Curry better, but the Yarrow is such a fun word to say and type.

#5 Highlighting the DP9

And numero five. When I first started quilting, I was in love with the DP9 block. Like, seriously in love. I even went so far as to cut up some fabric and make a test mini quilt to see how I liked it IRL. And friends, the combination of fabrics, the small size, and just something about it totally put me off DP9s, and I don't think I ever did anything else with them. But it's a great little block, and I thought my fifth design could be a super yummy bright scary neon version using Kona Highlight, Kona White, Kona Pomegranate (maybe--more research is needed here) and maybe Kona Coal? Oh, did I mention this would be huge? Like a 45" DP9 block? Because go big or go home, right?

And that's days 2-5, y'all!