I mentioned in my previous post that I was lucky enough to see, and have Susan's permission to take lots of photos of the original Stonefields quilt.
The photos don't do it justice, the quilt is stunning in real life! on first glance it has a lovely muted pink and blue feel, I recognised quite a few French General fabrics, the background is a very pale cream the colour of milk; but once you look closer you can see that the reason this quilt sparkles and glows, is that amongst the muted palette there are exciting touches of pea green, pale yellow, dark brown, grey and black, and even a tiny bit of orange.
The other thing that you notice on close inspection, is that not every circle is perfectly round and not every point perfect! Susan does not unpick and correct anything, she asked us the question "Why do you quilt?" It made me stop and consider my answer, if you are entering shows and hoping to win first prize at Houston then things are a bit different, but I don't enter shows or competitions. I quilt because I love buying fabrics! I find the stitching relaxing, my quilts are given away, used and loved. I think one of the reasons I have been in a quilting slump lately, is that I have forgotten the basic fact, I quilt because it's fun!
Susan has used lots and lots of different fabrics, 200-300 at a guess and this is what makes her quilts so beautiful.
I came home energised and inspired, I raided my stash and pulled some fabrics that I would like to mix in with the BOM selections, I also like the idea of using a few different backgrounds.
I will also rummage in my overflowing scrap basket for tiny bits
I did zero sewing on Friday! I had a fantastic day, met some lovely people, and came back with a new enthusiasm for quilts and quilting. Thank you Susan for being such an inspiration!
I will leave you with a couple more photos of Stonefields because I can!
EDITED: Sorry! I forgot to mention, the event on Friday and the fabulous lunch! was organised by Karen and her husband of The Running Chicken' they are also running the Stonefields BOM, you can find all the details on their website
HERE