Monday, July 14, 2014

Friends

I first saw Emma Jean Jansen's fabric line, Terra Australis, on Instagram -- it was love at first sight!
The dots! The stripes! The eucalyptus! The colo(u)rs! The KANGAROOS!


Then, my friend, QuiltingCyclist, had a 'log' (aka, bundle of 2.5 inch strips) at the HMQG retreat. I was eager to see the line in person. She started something fun with it at retreat & made some sly & oblique comments about how I might get some soon. That weekend, I got on Etsy, found a seller who had a Terra Australis log, put it in my cart, but did not Proceed To Checkout. The following week, a mysterious, squishy package arrived in the mail -- funny, I didn't remember ordering anything. I opened the package & found Terra Australis! *Very* funny -- had I accidentally ordered this? Then I found the note: "Enjoy! From your Friend!"

{Big Hug}, QuiltingCyclist! I *will* enjoy! Thank you so much!!!

So what to do with this fun fabric? In my Idea Book, I have lots of sketches of things to do with 2.5 inch strips. But I wanted to use this line to its fullest advantage, so maybe following a pattern -- something I don't often do, something I'm not very good at -- might be a smart way to go. This way I'll know how much fabric I will use & how big my finished quilt will be. A new book provided the path:  Strip Savvy by Kate Henderson has a simple, strippy block that can set together in a variety of ways.

I chose a pale gray as my background. My choice is, well, interesting -- it is nearly the same value of some of the prints, darker than some, lighter than others. Hmmmmm, I am eager to see how this develops.

6 comments:

Rachaeldaisy said...

What a fun story, 3 cheers for the quilt cyclist who saw you obviously had affinity for these fabrics, I love what you're doing with them!

Rachaeldaisy said...

Ps it's great you liked the coloUrs - LOL :)

O'Quilts said...

U make the best friends!! Great to get a present just what you wanted and to start working on it right away. I have never even heard of this fabric line. Learning a lot following smazoochie!!

Pinkadot Quilts said...

The fabrics are great!

Nifty Quilts said...

I LOVE what you're doing with these!!

QuiltingCyclist said...

Guilty of not being the nosey quilter friend. Love, love, love what you did with these. My start is hanging in the closet waiting for completion...:(