Field Trips in Fiber - Adventures in quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art.

2012 Color Palette Challenge

Did you follow the color palette challenge at 3 Creative Studios or maybe the Monochromatic Challenge at Patchwork Times? As you know, we are closing 3 Creative Studios but there are some things there that I wanted to continue doing. The Color Palette Challenge is one of them. So I've joined up with Judy at Patchwork Times for the 2012 Color Palette Challenge! 

For our color challenge in 2012, each month we are going to use a palette that I will create from a photo.....just like I always do.  Some of the palettes will also be my monthly fabric palette but you are not required to use the fabrics. You may use one or all of the colors in the palette. Let it be a
jumping off point for your own creativity. You may create a small art piece (postcard, wall hanging), a bag, a quilt of any size -- most anything you want just so it's finished by the end of the month, photographed and a link to your photo is added to the link box. You will post the link on Judy's blog.

A winner each month will be chosen and that winner will receive a fat quarter pack of hand dyed fabric of your choice from my shop.

On January 1, 2012, both Judy and I will post the photo of the January challenge palette will be posted.  Be thinking about projects you can start and finish in one month and be ready to push your limits as far as using colors together that you may not have used together before. The color palette challenge is a great way to extend your personal color library. Some of the palettes will not be to your liking. We hope you will work with them anyway, even in a small project, to expand your horizons. Concurrent with the Color Palette Challenge, Iwill be running a series of color theory articles on here throughout the year. 

Please plan to join us in 2012 for our color challenge!  Please go to Judy's blog for the details and to get the badge to post to your own blog.

 

Blogger's BOM

It's time for the 3rd block of the Blogger's Block of the Month series. If you are not familiar with the Blogger's BOM it is sponsored by Jackie at Canton Village Quiltworks and you can read all about it here.

Block #1 was done by Sherri at A Quilting Life

I did block #2

The new block, #3, is by Stephanie at Loft Creations.  I love this positive/negative star block! I am doing my quilt using vintage feedsack fabrics and I'm making 2 of each block. 

If you are thinking of participating you might want to check out the Flickr Group for some great color inspiration.

Here are all 6 of my blocks together and I am caught up for the time being!

 

 

Design Wall Monday

I hope my American friends had as nice a holiday weekend as I did. We went to the Rappahannock River again this year with my friend Anne and had Thanksgiving dinner with her family. That's always a nice time. Chris also got some duck hunting in and Anne and I did some craft shopping. We always do some sewing at the river. I took Christmas gifts to make and made good progress until I ran out of batting. After that I worked on my applique flower blocks and I got 3 more done before I ran out of floss. These blocks take a lot of floss even though I'm only using 2 strands. I will remember to have more than one skein with me from now on.

Don't they all look cute together? Only 46 more to go!

They do use a lot of floss but I was also wasting quite a bit by cutting my strands too long. I wanted to figure out how much I needed for one petal so I could be a little less wasteful. Here's how I did it.

I cut a length to floss that I knew would be long enough and cut a  piece of this ribbon the same length. I separated the strands into 3 sets of 2 and appliqued 3 petals. I marked (in red) the length of the leftover pieces. I figure that I want about 1.5" of floss left over at the end of each petal so I will cut off the ribbon 1.5" to the right of mark for the shortest bit. Now my ribbon is my marker for cutting all future lengths of floss to applique the petals. I'm doing the same thing for the centers. I'll just keep these ribbons in my kit and they will be my measuring tools for the floss.

Don't forget to enter the drawing to win a copy of Candy Glendening's new DVD, Dyeing to Stitch! The winner will be announced Thursday!

Head on over to Patchwork Times and see what everyone else is up to this week. I've got loads to do but two of my priorities are working on Christmas gifts and Christmas postcards. Hopefully I will make some progress!

Coming Home Fabric Palette Projects

This week I am continuing on my theme of easy quilts but I've added some borders.

If you are interested in the fabrics, you can find all of the information here.

How about a simple rail fence with the gradient as the border? I am dyeing the fabric to make this one for myself very soon!

Or how about a patriotic version as a Quilt of Valor? I may have to make thsi one too!

This is a block called Plaid Fab on EQ. It's set plain with no sashing and a simple 4-patch border. This is the masculine version.

This one is more feminine.

How about a simple crazy block layout with straight borders?

Or, if you have scraps left just make a crazy patch border too. 

Another November Sunset

I had not intended to post sunset photos again this week but then we had this one.