Wednesday, April 6, 2011

What's Your Style?

While I am fairly diverse in my taste there are some quilting destinations to where I just won't buy a ticket.   Crazy Patchwork is given plenty of space in the historical quilt books but it is a design that doesn't seem to feature much in the modern day quilter's vernacular.



Flannel hasn't made it into my stash...yet.  Never say never when it comes to fabric.  Thirties fabric was not on my radar until I discovered that it makes a quilt with a bright and sunny demeanour.  I still won't use it willy nilly but it well may make an appearance into a cross period scrap quilt.

I'm a big fan of reproduction fabric, but not all of it.  Toiles don't feature heavily in my stash.  Neither do conversational prints.

I will have to confess to many of my  friends that batiks make my eyes roll.  I am at a loss to understand their appeal but obviously many people love them.  I am open to being persuaded to look at them again, so if you're a batik fan, please educate me!

I've just made a foray into African fabric.


  The quality of the basecloth is unreliable but the colours, patterns and textures are interesting.  Just as an aside,  it seems that some fabric manufacturers are using a cheaper, thinner basecloth and I don't like it!

Over time my taste for patterns has altered too.  For instance,  once I would have been dreaming of making a "wedding ring" pattern.


Now my dream has altered slightly to the "pickle dish".


 If that doesn't satisfy your desire for beautiful quilts, go and visit a few of the  sites that I regularly pop in  to see fascinating and thoughtful and downright beautiful quilts in progress:
and here is an interesting, useful and timely series of posts regarding blog etiquette.

Thanks to all of the above for investing so much time into entertaining and thought provoking blogposts.  I'd love to hear about your likes and dislikes, what fabrics feature most heavily in your stash, what you avoid  and how your  quilt taste has altered.

    14 comments:

    Julie Fukuda said...

    Hmmmm, I'll have to give that some thought. I do want to make that pickle dish some day. I wore enough feed sacks that I don't desire them. Probably anything that looks good with scraps would be for me as I never get fabric in big pieces and I have enough scraps to last for the next 200 years.

    Kat said...

    I can't make my quilt taste really tight.
    When I see some fabrics, I think 'yuck'!
    But in a specific context and patterns that fit together. For me, the general impression is the most important - the harmony. I think I'm more the classic type, but I am still learning it.
    And sometimes I'm sad that I have not started much earlier with the quilting. And I think my time is no longer enough to rework all the beautiful patterns.

    best wishes
    kat

    Mayleen said...

    Hmmm, I think my quilt fabric style must be the opposite of yours! I have made a modern "traditional crazy quilt", flannel makes an appearance every now and then, most batiks are beautiful (to me) but probably wouldn't be attracted to African fabric (yet). However, I'm right with you on the patterns and the websites! I think its all a matter of evolving taste. I'd still love to have a wedding ring quilt but that pickle dish is calling me!

    Carol G said...

    I find myself mostly drawn to color when shopping for fabric. Then I try to mix in some larger prints to augment the smaller prints I'm usually drawn to. I like to have a rough vision for a project to guide me. Lately I am noticing mirror-image prints in hopes of someday making something a la Paula Nadelstern. No flannel for me and I have successfully avoided plaids although I'm not ruling that out for a future project. Thanks for honoring me with a link in this interesting and thought-provoking post.

    Crispy said...

    Hmmmm, I guess the only thing I can say about my style is I love anything with teeny tiny pieces and doesn't require me to make the same block twice.....I'm easily bored if I have to repeat something LOL.

    As for fabric, the only ones that I don't like are 30's, civil war reproductions and anything flannel. Right now I'm in love with anything that is bright but I'm sure some day I'll get tired of those and then who knows what I'll get hooked on :0)

    Crispy

    Sujata Shah said...

    I am not a fan of batiks. I love prints,stripes plaids.. Does not matter what fabric, era etc..
    I shy away from trendy lines just so that the design of the quilt and work itself gets the center stage.. Not the labels.
    Love your African stash. Solids are my best friends. They let the prints shine..and love stitching raw quilting on them..
    Purple is my least favorite color..
    This is for now. It may change in future.. I have certainly changed as a quilter.

    Jodi said...

    I'm pretty versatile as long as it's not dark and drab. To me, many of the traditional quilts are just that, but every once in a while I see a traditional that I love! I Love your profile pic of that log cabin (variation?) very pretty. Love modern, 30s, some novelty. I made a flannel quilt for my son and it was a bit difficult and very linty for my sewing machine, so I don't think I'll work with flannel again, at least not a whole quilt. I do like Batik and have some in my stash but haven't made anything with it yet. Thanks for asking!

    yelena said...

    My tastes have changed so much since i started fabric collecting. My early choices now make me cringe. I also dont understand other quilters love for batiks , but I have seen some amazing quilts made from them. I just dont know how to work with them. Reproductions are my fabrics of choice. Thanks also for linking to my blog .

    Kate said...

    I am not a fan of batiks or Japanese fabrics and up until Tuesday, when I took a class with a new teacher, I wasn't drawn to bright/modern fabrics either. I was shown that there is a way to combine some wilder fabrics with my mainly reproduction stash and still end up with a vintage look so I guess I'll be adding a few more zanier fabrics to my stash! I am always happy to play with my 30's fabrics because they are cheerful and the quilts made in this era are particular favourites of mine. I've dabbled in crazy patchwork but would never attempt a large quilt. I love the pickle dish pattern and think it's a pattern that would work in just about any fabric range.

    Kate said...

    In my previous comment I forgot to thank you for the links to the other blogs! it's always great fun to see what other people are working on. So ... Thank You Liz!

    Joan said...

    Well I wish I had more time to get more actual blocks done so I can quilt more! My style has also changed over the years...I do love your blog - its so interesting :)

    Taryn said...

    Wow, I am you when it comes to my stash! I did make some flannel quilts once and they are wonderful to cuddle in but no flannel is in the stash. Several years ago I purged everything but my repros. Brights are making a comeback now that I am working on one of Kim McLean's patterns.

    Una said...

    Liz! Isn't it nice to see that one's tastes change - shows we evolve and learn all the time. I have had my country quilt style, and in-love-with-the 30's-fabrics-period and a few batiks snuck in as well. But my longest and prevailing love are the reproductions (1790ish-1900ish:)) In the later years I have been fascinated by the use of white in the old quilts. When trying to analyze WHAT attracted me so to the vintage quilts, I often had to name white as a strong factor. Before I somehow tried to avoid pure white, I almost considered it cowardly to use it - I thought I had to be able to find a contrasting color that was not plain white... I recently read a post (sadly I forgot where) that adressed the use of white in modern quilts. The blogger drew the line back to our quilting forbears' use of white, and said we have come full circle. I like that idea. When I read your post I kept nodding my head to your likes and dislikes - but what - you don't fancy toiles? I think they are lovely - for borders and for interesting details combined with less busy prints. I could probably go on for a very long time about this subject. Thank you for posting about such an interesting theme, and for letting me be a part of it. Also thank you for the other beautiful links. All the best:)

    Ann Marie said...

    I haven't met a fabric I didn't like! Of course I love some of them more, especially the ones in weird colors or with interesting patterns. Like you, there's not a lot of '30s, batiks or flannels in my stash, but I do have a healthy collection of toiles. You just never know when a particular fabric will be the perfect thing for your quilt.

    Someday maybe for the pickle dish. I do like that pattern.

    Thanks for the blog links. I've whiled away too much time tonight reading them. Now to sew!