Happy Dance with Watercolor Quilt
epa...@vnet.ibm.com
It's my turn to happy dance now! I spent a weekend at a friend's house to
learn how to do watercolor quilts. She owns a quilt store and has precut
2-inch stripes for sale. Literally bazillions of 'em. Three girl-friends and I
oohhhed and aaahhhed over the color-sorted boxes of stripes and then dove
in and each did a watercolor quilt, lap-size.
We'd never done one before, and found the color-coordinating and color value
stuff really hard to do. Here's our beginners-for-beginners tips:
1.Start with a really small piece. She had us do a 12 over 12 2-inch-squares
practice block (each square HAD TO BE of a different fabric). Order them in
lights, mediums, and darks.
2. Pick a pattern that's easy to do - a square that is dark in the bottom left
corner and becomes lighter in all directions going to the top right corner.
3. When you've got it all laid out, look through the Ruby-red glass (I think this
is what this red piece of plastic was called) and find out you've laid half
of the pieces in the wrong place (wrong color value). Rearrange.
4. Go have a beer.
5. Look at the square again. Rearrange.
6. Go have another beer, then go look at the others' squares. Rearrange theirs...
7. Sew yours together. She taught us a neat technique by which you continuously
sew all squares together without ironing or cutting threads once, but it's too
difficult to explain.
8. Don't fret if it comes out real "busy" and you can only see the light-to-dark
effect if you squint real hard. Select a dark border and sew it on - and, by
magic, you can see the watercolor effect. (If not, have another beer. It saves
you from having to squint so much).
Then, we plunged into the adventure of a laptop size watercolor quilt. I can't
begin to list all the things I did wrong and learned there, but I came out of it
with a beautiful lap-size watercolor quilt in blues and light pinks. I was totally
pooped after 20 hours of sewing like a madwoman, but I have a quilt ready
for basting. And hubby says it's way too beautiful to be sat on. It's to go on a
wall!
So, here goes for me:
tippitytippityboingboingplunkgetuptippityjumpplunk!
Elke
from Southern Germany
Janis Maria C. C. Cortese
Sorry, but this is the first thing that came to mind when I saw this --
In article <5vjecn$fts$1...@watnews1.watson.ibm.com> epainke@vnet dot ibm dot com writes:
>
>We'd never done one before, and found the color-coordinating and color value
>stuff really hard to do. Here's our beginners-for-beginners tips:
[...]
>4. Go have a beer.
[...]
>6. Go have another beer, then go look at the others' squares. Rearrange
>theirs...
[...]
Hell, you do that enough times, and ANYTHING'll start looking blurry.
:-),
Janis
cor...@netcom.com http://www.io.com/~cortese/
=====================================================================
There was an old man Said with a laugh, "I
From Peru, whose lim'ricks all Cut them in half, the pay is
Look'd like haiku. He Much better for two."
Emmet O'Brien
Kate Baldwin
Janis Maria C. C. Cortese wrote:
>
> epainke@vnet dot ibm dot com writes:
> >
> >We'd never done one before, and found the color-coordinating and color value
> >stuff really hard to do. Here's our beginners-for-beginners tips:
> [...]
> >4. Go have a beer.
> [...]
> >6. Go have another beer, then go look at the others' squares. Rearrange
> >theirs...
> [...]
>
> Hell, you do that enough times, and ANYTHING'll start looking blurry.
>
Kate in Chicago
Sandy Foster
epa...@vnet.ibm.com wrote:
>
> It's my turn to happy dance now! I spent a weekend at a friend's house to
> learn how to do watercolor quilts.
Way to go, Elke! What a wonderful weekend you've had! And I love your
instructions--especially the parts "in between" the arranging. <g>
--
Sandy in sunny SE Arizona
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/8256
Sandy Foster
Ric & Susie
Happy Dance Congratulations to you! I want to make a watercolor quilt, too.
Wish I could have been there....especially after I saw where you're from!
I've always wanted to go to Europe. Think of it, (now, dream with me
ladies!). Quilting our way through Europe!!
Back on topic. Loved your idea of how to have a watercolor quilt class!!!!
Personally , you would have found me UNDER the table after the second round
of beer!!! I'm still in the collecting stage since everyone tells me I'll
need (and I quote) "a bazillon different fabrics". I only wanted to make a
little wall hanging for a priest friend of mine. (Oh, and maybe a little
one for myself.) Wish me luck ! I may be able to get all my fabric in time
to start this project in this century!! HA!
Susie
Happy Dancing in PHX, AZ!
epa...@vnet.ibm.com wrote in article
<5vjecn$fts$1...@watnews1.watson.ibm.com>... Condensed Version:
> It's my turn to happy dance now! I spent a weekend at a friend's house to
> learn how to do watercolor quilts.
> 1.Start with a really small piece. Go have a beer.
> 5. Look at the square again. Rearrange.
> 6. Go have another beer, then go look at the others' squares. Rearrange
theirs...
> 7. Sew yours together. I was totally
epa...@vnet.ibm.com
Hi Susie,
Come on over! I'm having Jean Sands and husband visiting next week, but the
quilt stash/guest room is available the week after. Quilters get free dinners,
free overnight stays, free champaign/beer/sprudel(figure that one out) and
tours of the area. Are you packing yet??
You know, after I read my own post, I thought we sounded like a bunch of
alcoholics anonymous that were having a quilt meeting. It really wasn't as bad
as it sounded. Actually, I was drinking champaign while some of the others
had beer, and I was so busy sewing, designing, etc. that I forgot to drink most
of the time. BUT: getting just a liiiiittle tipsy really helps to get the color
shading trick of watercolor quilts. And taking off your glasses does, too.
The more unfocused you look at a watercolor quilt, the easier you find the
color value errors. Honestly!
So, pack your things, come on over, and don't forget to bring your fabric -
you do need a bazillion different fabric pieces for a quilt. But - my friend
on the Lake of Constance sells 2 inch strips at 80 cents a strip, hint, hint:-)).
Tempted yet, hmmm????
Grinning evilly in Southern Germany,
Elke
sarah curry smith
> epa...@vnet.ibm.com wrote in article
> <5vjecn$fts$1...@watnews1.watson.ibm.com>... Condensed Version:
> > It's my turn to happy dance now! I spent a weekend at a friend's house to
> > learn how to do watercolor quilts.
> > 1.Start with a really small piece. Go have a beer.
A woman after my own heart!
> > 5. Look at the square again. Rearrange.
> > 6. Go have another beer, then go look at the others' squares.
Rearrange
> theirs...
And have another beer!
> > 7. Sew yours together. I was totally
> > pooped after 20 hours of sewing like a madwoman, but I have a quilt
> ready
> > for basting. And hubby says it's way too beautiful to be sat on. It's to
> go on a
> > wall!
> > So, here goes for me:
> >
> > tippitytippityboingboingplunkgetuptippityjumpplunk!
> >
> > Elke
> > from Southern Germany
> >
> >And so, Jean, I'm jealous, jealous, GREEN with envy, you're gonna get to
MEET Elke! Have a stein for me!
Happy Trails,
Sarah in Las Cruces, NM