Eileen, somewhere Alex said that it's most difficult to find truly light or truly dark fabrics. I hadn't noticed that before, but since then I must admit that Alex is absolutely right. I wonder why that is, when a lot of projects need a really light or very dark fabric to make the other colours 'sing'. Maybe we are all using too much plain white or black, and so the demand for other extreme colours is not so great. Anybody here has a contact with a fabric manufacturer and could find out the answer??

Lorchen

LadyRags wrote: Anna,
I go to an art quilt critique group once a month. We were looking at a magazine this past Monday. The quilter who chairs the group said to just page through every magazine. The fabrics are beautiful but they're almost all in the medium color range and there's not a lot of variety in the designs.

Like Barbara said, try something new. Perhaps a different technique. Look into photo's or hand instead of machine. Try dyeing, something that you never thought about doing. How about clothes purses ect.. For me I was hired to make a memory quilt out of ties based on a stained glass window. Quite challenging, and now she want's three of them. I also have to (well not "have to") make a baby quilt for my SIL for September.

Taking a lot of ideas to heart...

Playing TQS DVDs starting with series one and working one block with all the techniques... then I will sew it together using FUN AND DONE method after I quilted the block...

Should make some interesting sofa throws for next winter.... At least I will get some practice with my machine quilting.

ANNA

I hit a dry spell that lasted two years! Sometimes you just need to pick up something different to do. Don't worry about it. Lots of good books out there waiting to be read. How about a former hobby you haven't picked up in ages?

The quilting bug will return. Mine did. Stronger than ever too I might add. Actually TQS keeps the fire burning. It helps to get pointed in a different direction. I use to think small quilts and art quilts were not something I would ever do. I have done a complete flip. I am tired of traditional and want to experiment with things I never thought I would be interested in. Some examples.......

English paper piecing. Applique by machine. My newest interest is the products on Shades website. http://www.shadestextiles.com/ I of course get the pre-cuts. I'm not nuts! I am in 3 BOM's. Sampler quilts I would never choose to do on my own. Once or two blocks a month is something I can swing and keep up with. At the end of the year I will have 3 beautiful quilts.

Making this post is going to bring you a ton of ideas. Be open to new ideas. You will be back to quilting in no time.

Barbara

I am with Jill. I like to have multiple projects to work on at one time. However, I have a really large collection of photography books & take lots of pictures for inspiration. When I need inspiration an hour or two looking at them or stroking my fabric always does the trick.

I pull out a graph pad and start drawing squares and triangles and rectangles to get out of a slump.

I have so many quilt ideas in my head and not enough time to make them.

I also have about 12 to 15 quilts going at any one time, that way I can swap what I am working on all the time, or if something is not going to well I can put it down and go onto something else, I find having so many UFO's certainly keeps me from be bored.

Ciao for now Jill

They sound perfect to play "What if...?" with. What if I did this in a different color scheme? What if I made portions of it larger or smaller? What if I replace all the lights with darks and the darks with lights? What if I replace some of the piecing with applique? What if I tweak it like this so it suits me better? Sometimes amazing inspiration comes from stuff that doesn't even catch my eye at first...

Similar to "What if ...?", trying to figure out specifically why I like something and specifically why I don't like something else is fun too and leads to ideas...

At one time I did sometime ago, but I decided to just plow through and get some things made. Then I started looking at all the quilt shows and galleries and online fabric catalogs and photos and Border coloring books I could find, I soon was swamped with ideas and it became hard to choose, so I started making a list. Then my list got so long I transferred it to a journal. Now I get flooded with ideas every day. I'm sure you'll find it the same if you just keep on hunting for that idea that grabs you. I also find playing with design in Electric Quilt is a fun way to break out of the quilting block (it's probably like a writer's block..every artist goes through it from time to time). EQ also helps me unload ideas when they get too many. I save them in files for "sometime in the future." Cheers, BJ

I continue to explore quilting websites and quilters' websites for ideas and inspirations.....art magazines....interior design and graphic design mags also provide me with too many ideas.... and I file them all in binders....

I love gaining inspiration from antique quilts - so I collect as many books as i can on this topic

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of course with fabulous photography ---- ebay is also a wealth of inspiration with antique quilts - just look up antique quilts

Haven't had that problem yet, Anna. I have more ideas and projects in my head than their are grains of sand on a beach.

But I have to admit that I always have a mixture of projects on the go. Some are quilts, some hand-embroidery, some are a mixture. So there is enough variety never to get bored.

This following idea has nothing to do with quilting, but I bet it could be used. I have two colleagues at work who are very keen cooks. Every other week they challenge eachother. They write three ingredients on a piece of paper and hand it to the other one who then tries to turn it into an exciting recipe. From what I hear they both have a lot of fun with this sort of exchange.

Also, Anna: Have you done your summer tablemat yet for the TQS challenge? Deadline is 1st of July.

Lorchen

What do you do when you run out of ideas and nothing seems to inspire you?

Lately I am bored with most of the quilt magazines I read... they seem to show the same quilts in the same fabrics ( NOT QUILT LIFE)

I have been trying to go through my books but nothing is striking my fancy....

I am sitting at the machine finishing previous UFO projects..AND PRACTICING SKILLS..... but I have no ideas on what I want to do next. I THINK I should make a doctors appointment...

What do you do to get inspired??



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