College Quilt Inspirations

If you read my last post, you know my daughter and I were on what I called our tour of East Coast colleges.  We left on Sunday, June 20 and got home last night, Friday, June 25.  We had four solid (and I mean solid) days of college visits and driving.

I had hoped to do more posts from the road but hotel WiFi is too slow.  In addition, I did not bring my add on mouse for my laptop and rediscovered how much I dislike trying to do much more than e-mail with the touchpad.

 

Anyway, as I looked over all the photos I took, I noticed that I had taken at least one potential quilt inspiration shot at each college.  My daughter was somewhat chagrined that I was the only parent on the tours snapping photos.  With so many amazing buildings, I couldn't help it.

Having recently read Cherri House's "City Quilts" in which all the quilts were inspired by photos taken in the city, I had the funny thought that I could do a series of quilts inspired by colleges!  Of course, I don't really have time to do this, but the idea amuses me no end.  (BTW, LOVED Cherri's book and the quilts).

These are the inspiration photos and the colleges where I took them in the order we visited them:

#1:  Amherst (MA).  This is the central atrium of one of the dorms.  It was the school's original gymnasium (notice the beams on the ceiling).

#2:  Boston University (MA).  A ceiling in the entry atrium of one of the buildings.

#3:  Barnard College (NY)

#4:  Columbia University (NY)  This is a very new building.

#5:  Columbia University again.  I loved the contrast on these pillars of the smooth and rough stone sections.

#6:  Swarthmore College (PA)

I apologize for the quality of the photos and the fact that I don't know the names of each of the buildings, but the tour guides go very fast and I could not listen, snap pictures and remember each building.

Amherst College

As I mentioned earlier, my older daughter and I are on college visits this week.  Yesterday we visited Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.  My daughter is the dark-haired one in the middle wearing the white top.

It sounds like an amazing place.  It has all the wonderful advantages of a small school but, due to what they call the "five college consortium" it has all the advantages of a large school too.  The five college consortium consists of Amherst, UMass at Amherst, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College and Hampshire College.  Any student at any of these schools can take classes at any of the other schools.  I think this is such a terrific idea. 

Amherst also offers great study abroad opportunities and many other exciting programs.  In addition, it is located in a lovely spot.  Look at the view from Memorial Hill! (first picture)  Here are a few other shots of the campus.  This is the inside of one of the dorms.

These are two of the buildings  (sorry - don't remember which ones they are). 

Bee's Knees VQB

Most of this weekend's sewing was putting together my blocks from the Bee's Knees VQB.  This shot is a partial view.  I actually have the whole top together, but I'll wait until the quilting is complete before I show the whole thing.  I really like the way it is turning out!

My hope is to get the back made and the pin basting done before this weekend so I can take it with me next week.  My daughter and I are going on a trip to the east coast to look at colleges.  Our budget is pretty tight, so we'll be spending most evenings in the hotel room.  I am sure I won't get the quilting finished on the trip, but I hope to make some good progress.

Authentic WIP

Ever since I first saw the Authentic line of fabric by Sweetwater/Moda I have loved it!  Specifically, I love fabric with words/text/handwriting on it.  Some time ago I bought a half yard of each of the pieces with words and some of the light green striped background.   These lovelies have been sitting in a pile patiently waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.

I designed a quilt with some stylized "wildflowers".  The green background was obvious, but which fabric to use for the leaves?  I ruled out the green with black words since it blended into the background too much.  The cream with beige writing and the cream with black writing didn't seem quite right either.  That brought me to either the black with cream writing or the cream with green writing.  So I did a test (above).

I am often too lazy to do a test block.  Once I have a quilt designed I get excited to get going and sew, sew, sew.  It is hard for me to take the time to slow down and look at options.

I like the way both these fabrics made up into the block.  However, when I visualized the whole quilt, I decided on the cream with green writing as I liked the more serene and restful look it gave the quilt.

I do also like the black block and it may appear at some point in a smaller project.  Do you ever make test blocks?

Sneak Peak

I decided to use the bright red as the accent color for the quilt I am working on  (See this post).  This picture is a sneak peak of part of the quilt.  The top bird is the accent fabric.  It is subtle, but easier to spot in person.

I absolutely LOVE this background fabric.  It is called Through The Woods by Kris Lammers and Maywood Studio.  I first saw it quite a while ago and bought a small piece. 

When I went looking for a suitable background fabric for this quilt, I really didn't have anything specific in mind.  I had thought that I might like the quilt to have a winter theme, but didn't have a clear idea about how to get there.  I decided to just look at fabric and see what spoke to me.  Well, this fabric spoke loud and clear!

After the background fabric, it was just a simple matter of finding the right red to use for the birds.  About ten options later, I decided on this one.  This fabric (Blank Quilting Illusions Fusion Cherry) is actually an 108" wide fabric.  I haven't got around to searching to see if they also sell it in regular width.  It was the perfect color and amount of pattern, so home it went with me.