Thursdays Creative Eye Review- A Flair for Fabric

The first book I chose to review for my Creative Eye series is, A Flair for Fabric, Creative Sewing Projects from the Designers at Henry Glass, Compiled by Linda Lum Debono.  It's always fun to look through compilation books, because the styles are so different, and it gives a lot of opportunities to try a variety of new projects.

Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

I scrolled through a number of projects, and a few of them really stood out to me as something I could work on, something I could change to my own style.   I was drawn to all these projects, I'll let you scroll through, just like I did.

Delightful by Jacquelynne Steves, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

I really liked this one.  I love how the colors in this quilt could easily be changed, everything could change, and it would represent the color scheme in your own home.  I particularly enjoy the creativity of the border.  I'm a big fan.

 Funky Flowers by Heather Mulder Peterson, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

 Blueberries and Bananas Place Mats by Vicki Oehlke, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

I really considered this pillow as well.  It's super cute.  And yet,....well, I don't make pillows.  My kids are delightful, they are wonderful, and guess what, they destroy things.  Like pillows.  But, if you have a non-destructive home environment, this is a delightful project to make.

 Close to My Heart by Linda Lum Debono, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

Then I saw this baby.  Why was I drawn to this?  Where are the bright colors I usually use?  Not present, but the design, well, that totally calls my name.  I have often used Buggy Barn patterns, so I knew this could be fun.  But I knew I wanted to shake it up.  Change things to my unique style.

Starburst Maple Delight by Janet Nesbitt and Pam Soliday, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved

Then I started pulling some fun pieces from my collection of fabric.  These fabrics just make me happy.

Little Note:  This block has about three million pieces (exaggeration?).  And quite a few fabrics.  Well, let's be honest.  Completely changing where each value is, and all the colors, etc.  It made it confusing.  So I organized.  And organized.  I tried hard to make sure I had all my ducks in a row before I started sewing.

One big tip I have, is to prepare.  I got each of the piece of the block prepped and ready to go.  Placing them on the ruler, to keep them all organized and at my finger tips for easy piecing.

Love seeing all the pieces coming together.  Seeing the fabrics actually combined, makes my heart do a little happy dance.

Chain piecing is my favorite.  I think this is one of the reasons I chose quilting as my art of choice, I get to be organized and mathy (it's a word, for sure, it's a word), and yet it is pretty at the same time.

And sometimes at the end of the chain, you might be tempted to cut the thread.    But not me.... I just pulled out another (yes, yet another) unfinished project, and I started piecing that....in between the parts of the chain that needed to be separated. 

 (Luckily, I have a whole box of unfinished sewing projects...I'm a pretty big deal).

And after all that organizing  and all that sewing....I got, THIS.  

What do you think?  What's your style? Do you prefer the designers take, with fall colors, or are you drawn to bright?  Would you rather pinks?  Or black and whites?  

The real thing I wanted to get quilters to do, is look at a block with their own creative eye.  What do you think of the difference?  What might you do differently?

Does this make you want to try the book?  

You can get it here or here.