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Quilty-colored glasses

karpet
12 years ago

I'm finding more and more that I look at things through my quilty-colored glasses (as opposed to rose-colored glasses!) Like the colors in the sky this morning - I was trying to note all the colors and hues and think about how to incorporate that into a quilt. Or over the last few weeks I keep noticing when the President speaks the colors on the wall behind him (there is the White House symbol in an oval that is more of a teal blue with the shades of white for the building and the background behind the oval is two shades of more purple-blue) - I would not have thought to put those colors together, but I really like them! What about you?

Karlene

Comments (15)

  • cindykg23
    12 years ago

    Too funny! I tend to look at fabrics more than color. I see a fabric in a store - even something someone in a store or at church is wearing! - & I immediately think about what it would look like in a quilt! I start mentally selecting a pattern for it, thinking about coordinating fabrics, :)...it gets a little crazy when DH asks me why I'm staring at drapes in a restaurant!

  • karpet
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Ha! Or carpet! I even sketched out a pattern that was in the wall while a t.v. news interview was going on!

  • K8Orlando
    12 years ago

    For me, it's patterns. EVERYTHING I look at becomes a quilt pattern. I watched an old episode of Project Runway where they had to take pictures of street scenes in New York and come up with an outfit that evoked the scene: every single picture they took looked like the start of a quilt to me! No wonder my quilting To Do list is so long...

    Kate

  • jennifer_in_va
    12 years ago

    Upholstery! That's where I see it. And usually it's in a fastfood restaurant. Chick-fil-a has ovals/circles centered on rectangles! lol

  • nannykins
    12 years ago

    The tile pattern on the bathroom floor gets my attention. Now how can I make that into a quilt.

  • msmeow
    12 years ago

    LOL, we were looking at tile for our bathroom remodel and the store had some round tile mosaics and I said, "Honey, it looks like a quilt! Can we get one?"

    I also notice tile floors...they all look like quilts. I have a book called Bella, Bella Quilts that are all based on ancient tile floors in Europe.

    Donna

  • grammyp
    12 years ago

    I'm always finding quilt inspiration when I travel. There is a lot in restroom tiles believe it or not.

    beverly

  • karpet
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    There is a snowman decoration at work that comes out every winter. It is a mix of neutral background fabric with some very bold colors on top - when I look at it I never notice that the background and foreground don't 'match', I just notice how good they look together so I try to keep that in mind when putting fabrics together. My natural tendency is to be too coordinated which makes for a very blah quilt - all the colors fade together from a distance.

  • K8Orlando
    12 years ago

    Bella, Bella Quilts - yes, I've seen that book and the designs are amazing!

  • magothyrivergirl
    12 years ago

    I took a short 45 min workshop/lecture at our local quilt show given by one of the venders who was a former fabric designer for housewares & home furnishings-she showed us some very memorable items from the 70's & 80's she designed. Her entire talk was about finding inspiration for our colorways from nature. Her portfolio had old photos from a simple flower in her neighbor's yard, and how it evolved into a beautiful piece of fabric from breaking it down in sections and reproducing the shades. She uses nature for most of her designs - the veining in leaves, the feathers in birds. It was a very interesting lecture.

  • karpet
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Okay, this is how bad I am. There was a stupid commercial on about respecting your t.p. by covering it up and I'm noticing the design on the cover up and plotting it out in my head for quilt blocks!!!

  • teresa_nc7
    12 years ago

    Guess I always have my "quilty" glasses on! I have found design inspiration in billboards, a Kleenex tissue box (still have it), fabrics that we make here where I work, and even in a magazine from Subaru that I get. Ideas for quilts are all around us!

    Teresa

  • toolgranny
    12 years ago

    For me it's mostly geometry. Anything with lines and angles. I see patterns everywhere. My family laughs at me because I'm always saying "I could make a quilt out of that" as I drive by something. I watch a TV show and see colors in the background that inspire quilt ideas. Wait till you see what I make for this year's quilt show and you'll understand. It's still top secret.

  • benken
    12 years ago

    Last fall my husband & I went to D.C. We were at the Library of Congress and I was standing there pointing my camera at the floor. It had the neatest design in the tile and I'm still mulling it over.

    Linda

  • quiltingfox
    12 years ago

    I find a lot of great pattern ideas from bathroom and kitchen tile adds. I look at it and think I could applique that. A bathroom tile add was where I got inspiration for the latest baby quilt I made and of course the add was in the back of a gardening magazine. I find myself observing patterns all around me and thinking of how I can duplicate them and put them in a quilt. :-)

    Best to you,
    Sandra

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