I have been very quiet on my blog for a few weeks because I have been in the midst of design mania. What exactly is design mania – its when you have so many ideas flowing you work hard to capture them all.
What triggers design mania? For me, it can be a few things – an event, a concept, pretty blocks, or new fabric.
An event is pretty simple to understand. Both COVID-19 and the Racial Protests had my attention – it was hard not to have my attention living so close to Washington, DC. So I designed quilts to commemorate both of those – Justice and Cabin Fever. These generally are my Quilts for a Cause, which I will explain at a later date.
A concept is a little more abstract. I have noticed on many Facebook pages of quilters images of cats. So I researched and found almost a dozen different traditional cat quilt blocks! When I find blocks with similar names or relating to similar themes, I pull them together into one sampler or block of the month style quilt. There are several designed and waiting for me to add the instructions: Kitty in the Middle, Ladies Tea, Victory at Sea, and Morning Dove.
Pretty blocks that can be combined into a quilt with funky secondary patterns is always fun. An example of that is the Wintergreen Dreams, which combines the Wintergreen block. I hope to have that one done this week!
Finally, I have been working with two different fabric manufacturers and presenting potential quilt designs for their new fabrics. That is what has kept me super busy the past two weeks. Of the couple dozen concept designs submitted. One manufacturer requested eight of the designs for publication in my pattern line this fall/winter. I can’t show them to you until the fabrics are formally released. But they are really fun! Most of these, I try to weave the fabric pattern into the quilt design concept.
Regardless of how my creative juices get flowing, it puts me in a mood to create more. With all those creative juices, I might start resembling my big slobbery Newfie!
With all of this design work, I have fallen a bit behind on my communication with my readers and I apologize. But I hope to have more to share really soon, including pictures of the quilt designs!
Happy Quilting:)
Laureen