Love the Pretty Colors

Sometimes I think the greatest distinction amongst quilters isn’t between contemporary and traditional quilters, it’s between those who love hand work and those who don’t.  I’m in the “don’t” category.  It took me a while not only to figure this out (therefore the two bed size quilts I hand quilted because I thought plowing through the parts I didn’t much care for just came with the territory) but to accept it was okay to not like handwork. 

Which is to say, one of the capabilities in EQ that I never mastered is the drawing features.  I just don’t do enough applique to have really felt the need.  But every once in a while I do get  an itch.  Today would be one of those days.  So, I appreciate how easy the program makes it for me to work a little something up.

I started with the Four Corners block from the “Classic Applique: Folk Art” add-on library.

I wanted a block that would finish at four inches and this has too much going on for that size.  I removed the loopy leaves at the top part of the stems  and moved the lower leaves up.  I wasn’t in love with the sharp points on the inner flower so I deleted it.  Then I stole a center that I did like from another block, Rose and Leaves (also from the Folk Art collection).

 

A little cut and paste and I had a new block. 

Granted, this wouldn’t be a hard block to design on my own, and it would be easy enough to draw.  But, for me, anyway, the point is that I wouldn’t draw and design it on my own.  What I like about EQ is that I can browse existing blocks, think about how I might change this or that, and then create a block that I can use in an original quilt design I build in EQ.  As always, EQ is there to provide the jump start for my creative process.

I have really come to love the look of traditional patterns done up in bright contemporary fabrics (just a little more Kaffe love here).  This will be the center block for  a mini medallion. Love the pretty colors.

More tomorrow on the first pieced border.