Color Selection

I struggle with color choices. I LOVE so many colors. I have a hard time narrowing down my choices and then feel like I'm getting too rainbowy. So then I swing too far in the opposite direction and end up with very little color variation. Take my house, for example. My family room is all beige and brown and blah. I'm afraid to let myself introduce a little bit of color for fear of going too far and getting mis-matchy.


The last two quilts I've made have been very subdued in color. First of all, my snowflake quilt, which I am happy with, is monotone. And before that, I finished a quilt I bought as a kit called Buttercream Frosting. This quilt, which I'm happy with also, has a very warm and snuggley feel about it. Its wonderful to snuggle under on the couch, but its not really very colorful. Well, I guess it has color but they are subdued colors.

[I hate that I'm introducing this quilt in a little bit of a negative way. I really do like this quilt. It has such a warm and comforting feel to it when I snuggle under it. :) I guess that's one of my deciding factors for a quilt's quality. Does it evoke warm feelings? After all, quilts are supposed to be warm. ]

So now, I'm really in the mood to create something bright and bold. I've pulled most of these fabrics from my stash and added a few others from the quilt store down the road. I'm planning on making a little boy or baby boy quilt (either for a friend's baby or if my 3 year old likes it, for him). Its going to be graphic with modern, chunky log cabin type blocks. So what do you think of these colors? Should I limit my selection to just one of each color or go more scrapy with several of each?

What kind of Quilter am I?

So just to be clear, I'm a completely old-fashioned, untrained (or atleast partly trained by friends and family and then self trained), scrapy, not into the latest and greatest tools, unprofessional type quilter. I love to see all the new patterns, fabric and methods for quilting but I don't feel like they are always neccessary to creating beautiful quilts.
I'm not a perfectionist. My points aren't always sharp and my seams sometimes don't match up. But I like it that way. I could either go crazy trying to create a 'perfect in every particular' quilt or I could enjoy the process.
I don't think there is one way to quilt. I like that there are many different ways to get the same thing done. Just look at all the different ways to make half-square triangles! I often laugh to myself when I hear others go on about the only way to do something.
I like to look at lots of other quilt blogs who amaze and inspire me. I'll readily admit that I'm quite inexperienced in comparison. I'm not going to pretend that I have much to add to the quilting world at this point. So this blog is going to be about my journey as a quilter; about me matching fabrics, trying new quilt blocks and enjoying trying my hand at designing a few patterns for myself.
I'm actually feeling a little bit nervous as I start this blog. I don't want the world to think I'm setting myself up as an expert. I'm not. I'm just a regular gal who likes to quilt.
I made the quilt up top a few years ago for a Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum's Aunt Grace contest. It was a fun one to design and make. I love 30s fabric. Its just so light and cheerful.

Antique Beauties

This past week I took a trip out to Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas State Park with my sister and our kids. The little kiddos enjoyed seeing a working historical farm full of chickens, cows, and piglets. The bluebonnets are in bloom and the scenery couldn't have been more beautiful.
I stumbled upon a few beautiful quilts there on the beds in the historical farmhouse. Please excuse the poor photography. But hopefully you can appreciate the beauty of these antique quilts.
The history of quilting is part of the allure for me. I love being involved in a process that has been around for centuries. I love thinking that millions of other women have felt the same joy in creating something beautiful out of simple fabric- mostly scraps. I love that quilts are a lasting functional piece of art that has not only brought warmth and comfort to loved ones for centuries, they have also captured a little bit of their creater amongst their stitches. I feel connected with my own ancestors and culture when I see old quilts and when I work in my own home trying to create something of my own. It's a beautiful thing, don't you think?

Hello

Hello. My name is Erica and I'm a blog-aholic. And also a quilt-aholic. I've been a quilt blog-lurker for several months now and decided it was about time to start one of my own.
I am a stay at home mom with a three year old and a 14 month old. I love it. But when they get too crazy and I think I'm about to completely lose it, I pull out my fabric stash. As a good quilting friend once put it, I 'quilt for my sanity.'

So maybe this blog will just be another outlet for me to express my quilt obession and no one else in the world will care to read it.

Or maybe I'll make a few blog friends and can get some input and inspiration via the world wide web.

Or maybe one day I'll be a rich and famous quilter who inspires other quilt-aholics, Oprah will call me up and want to do a special on me and my quilts, my quilts will hang in national museums, I'll author several quilt books and will be featured on the cover of Vogue, wrapped in quilts of my creation.

Um, I'm partly dreaming, mostly just being ridiculous. I have no desire to ever go on Oprah. Or apear on Vogue.

So here goes. My very own quilt blog.

And the name? Well, I didn't know what to put. But I like polka dots. Polka Dots on anything. But most especially polka dot fabric and quilts. So Polka Dot Quilts it is.