In One Hour

With peach and blackberry on my mind, as promised I allotted one hour to come up with a base for a fabric collage.  First, I made a very quick selection of fabrics and ironed them:

Next, I cut several sized of strips, and started sewing them together:

Moving on, I kept trimming where needed and sewing pieces to create not one, but two sections of pieced fabric, until they were big enough to be able to get 8 X 10" pieces out of them.

Here's the final result, two collage bases, each 8 1/2 X 10 1/2, in less than one hour. 

All images and designs copyright RPS

Yes, the size is small, but think about finishing things quickly.  If you are pressed for time, look for small projects.  You won't get overwhelmed, and your confidence will grow as you get satisfaction in finishing something in days or a week or two.

Next week, find out how I embellish the two pieces.  I honestly have no finished image in mind right now for these.  I am simply playing with a color palette.

Getting Ideas

Another quilt show vending stint in the books, and though sales were abysmal, I received some good comments, most of all about my color combinations in my Creative Kits of mixed fabrics and embellishments.  The most frequently asked question I get at any show is, "where do you get your ideas?"  The short answer is, anywhere and everywhere.  I have more ideas than I have lifetime to make them. 

I'll address the color combination ideas today.  I have made it a priority to study the color wheel and know the various ways to combine colors (complements).  There are some excellent books out there on the subject of color.  Aside from studying color from books, take a look around you.  Make a note of the colors that someone wears that catches your eye.  Look for color combinations in advertising, on buildings, in store displays.  Nature is a constant source of ideas for me.  Take a look at this quick bouquet I picked from my garden (day lilies and Joe-Pye-Weed):

The maroon and peach of the day lilies are really speaking to me, and I am envisioning an abstract fabric composition with pink stitching added.  I suppose the real inspiration in this color combination comes from what was waiting for me in my kitchen:

Mmmm, fresh peaches and blackberries!  Yes, I get artistically inspired by my food sometimes.  So, tomorrow, I am going to set aside one hour to create a base composition of peach and maroon fabric and maybe start embellishing it.  There is a method to my limit of one hour, I like to challenge the notion that I encounter of "oh, I don't have time."  Check back on Thursday to see what I did with my one hour.