Simple Appeal By Kim Diehl
Martingale, 2015; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved
For this weeks Creative Eye Thursday, I got to work with Kim Diehl's new book, Simple Appeal. I really enjoyed looking through each page, and seeing the new patterns. I love that some of her quilts have a little brighter take than her quilts from the past, yet they still have that Kim Diehl feel and look.
As I was thinking about which quilt or quilt block to make, I was drawn to a few. I absolutely love all the wool projects. I am such a fan of working with wool. Every time I get to touch wool, its like a little piece of peace comes to my heart. I love the quilt on the right below. I think its the symmetry, to order, the clean lines. This definitely is a quilt I would like to work on, when I have a little more time than a few days.
Martingale, 2015; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved
I decided on this tiny little quilt below. Quite honestly, I didn't realize how small things actually were. If I were to go back, I might make my quilt a little different. When you make a quilt with such small pieces. Large scale fabrics are out of the question. But, even medium scale fabrics don't work particularly well either.
Here's my take on her quilt. The goal was a red, aqua, and gray thing. Clearly, the wool work hasn't happened yet. I look forward to that part. Finding fabric for this was hard for me. For such a small quilt I hated cutting into my fabric (yes...I struggle with that too). So, I searched my scraps, and used what I could find. These are super small pieces. 1", 1 1/2" that's as big as it gets here. If I could go back in time, and stitching (and I guess I could), but I would use smaller scale, and deeper colors of blue. When I put them against each other, there was enough variation in the fabric when they were 5", but at 1" it lost some of it's strength.
Honestly, this is what I love about quilting. This is what I love about art. The learning process. I have always known that I need a small scale fabric in small quilts, but until I really go to work, I didn't realize how vital that is. And small scale is relative, depending on the work that is being done.
What I am really looking forward to, spending a little time with a needle and embroidery floss, and working with that wool. (Dear WOOL...I LOVE YOU).
Go get some wool and this book today, you won't be sad you did.
No comments:
Post a Comment