Friday, January 28, 2011

I'm in the Fat Quarterly e-zine!


I felt overwhelmingly compelled to 'give it a go' for this Fat Quarterly Design Challenge. The brief was to design a 'cross' block using solids. I had so many idea's swarming around in my head I had to check myself. Lynne over at 'Lily's Quilts' explained K. I. S. S. a short while ago, Keep It Simple Stupid!!! That's exactly what I did when I designed this block.


So.....how can you make a simple cross block look new?





How about this!



My main thought was how the block would look multiplied in a quilt, and how could I make more crosses when they were! There still had to be a recognisable cross in the block, that didn't get lost, so I used a different colour palette for it. And I wanted to have as many colours as I could without it looking too busy, and to illustrate how solids can be dramatic, but subtle also. I have Aqua's galore so this seemed the obvious choice. The four corner squares make a whole jewelled tone square when the blocks are complied and the repeated longer aqua strips make the additional cross arms.


Like this...






I also put together a tutorial for the e-zine, which was also amazingly used. Hope I wrote it okay, I'm a little worried it doesn't read correctly, or I missed out a step, or the measurements are wrong. I hope it was checked. If anyone has any questions about the tutorial, please just ask!!

Goodness, what an exciting day that was!

Cheerio for now,
x Mandy

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Issue 4 available soon

See that Cross block top left, that's mine!!! I'm oh so chuffed!



If you'd like a little peek before buying, check it out here.


I bought a subscription for Fat Quarterly, instantly at the beginning for Issue 1. I just knew with the likes of Katy, Tacha, Kate, John, Nova and Brioni running the show, it would be my kind of read, full of my kind of projects. It hasn't disappointed, every issue has been packed with fabulous, must do projects, big and small. I'll be renewing my subscription, it's cheaper and I'll never forget to go on-line and buy it!

So, you wanna know a bit more about the block, well I've got another post lined up for after the release date, which is the 27th January. Not a how to, but a how it came about!

Go take a look at the Fat Quarterly blog and flickr pages in the mean time.


Right, I really should go off to the land of nod.
Cheerio for now,
x Mandy

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Fresh Modern Bee


Fresh Modern Bee
Originally uploaded by mandalin18
This is a wonderful Bee, full of very creative people. I feel the need to produce something fabulous every month. I was a tad apprehensive to begin with, but that's gone now, I'm beginning to trust my instincts. Now I relish the challenge of creating something from my head, rather than scouring on-line quilting sites. Nothing wrong with that of course, I still go in that direction when looking for a particular block. For me, this bee demands I look outside the square. Lovin' that challenge!

Another post coming on the 'Cross' block!!!

Cheerio for now,
x Mandy