A Little Mindless Creating...

It's not as though I didn't have enough projects underway. And it's not as if I don't have enough quilt books already. But after paging through, and then giving Bethan Ash's "Vibrant Quilt Collage" as a Christmas gift, I knew I needed to order a copy as a gift for myself! What I like about the book is that it's loaded with page after page of inspiring and innovative collage quilts. Plus it has instructions for fusing, free-cutting, and layering fabric shapes to create spontaneous quilt compositions. And lastly, directions to add stitching for a final layer of texture and embellishment. This piece resulted from "Exercise 1: Using Simple Shapes." Yup- they're simple all right. And they made for a fun afternoon of flexing the creative muscles. Rummaging through my thread collection to see what I might like to use was enjoyable.  The stitching is just soothing. There's just something about the hum of a sewing machine that puts me in "the zone." So I look forward to trying more of the exercises in this book. What to do with the small pieces I finish? I think they'll make useful small bags like the Snap Bags quilting friend Robbie makes. She even sent a link for an instructional video, so when I'm ready to use them, they'll have a home.