Lorraine Torrence & Jean B. Mills have collaborated their design and teaching experiences into Fearless Design for Every Quilter, a book of exercises in design, critique and the creative process. Go on and shake yourself up a bit, be brave, dive into this book and take a journey that will take you leaps and bounds beyond your creative expectations.
The lessons you’ll learn in this inspiring workshop will help you bring new creativity to any style of quilting or fiber arts, whether your tastes are traditional or contemporary. It’s a must for anyone who loves to design with fabric.
Click here to see gallery images from Fearless Design for Every Quilt on Flickr.
For a chance to win, post a comment here before Monday, June 1, 2009 telling us (briefly) about an artistic journey you’ve experienced. We’ll randomly pick one winner to be announced on Monday. Good Luck!
Comments will be closed at 9am PST on Monday, June 1, 2009
28 Comments
I’m doing shadow boxes now, full of nature items picked up on trips, photos, and gorgeous papers. The toughest part is knowing when it’s finished!
Every day is an artistic journey for me! As I move away from project-oriented books and more to books like this one on design, I find my confidence flagging terribly; I know what I like, but how do I know if something is GOOD?
I recently completed a challenge using 8 orange fabrics. It was my first attempt at my own design. I made a big flower and used decorative stitches and some beads. Now I’m anxious to try another.
My most recent artistic journey was to try out thread painting. I went all out and tried it with a face design I drew. I was very pleased with my results.
I try to make everyday an artistic journey!
2009 is my year of Exploration and I have been trying new techniques using some new ideas and also working with old sketches I’ve had in my journals for years.
This book looks amazing. I would love to attend this workshop at home with this guide!
the best artistic journey that I ever did was to start a blog. At first I thought blogging was just for geeks but then I thought why not share some of my art..it has led to so many opportunities and making new friends and so far nearly 15000 visitors so quite an artistic journey
Oh what a fine journey my 3o years of quilting have been – but last year’s ‘ride’ was one of the best! I have become enamored of quilted felts & d have been making bags from that material for several years. Last year’s goal was to have a quilted felt piece accepted into a large juried show. I was so happy when I was notified that my journal piece,’Inflamed’ was juried into the final year’s exhibit of Journal Quilts at the Houston International Quilt Festival in 2008. Since very few pieces were accepted into this final exhibit I was more than thrilled! It was a very joyful year because I had two other pieces accepted this same year. I have always admired Lorraine Torrences work – and I know that her book would be a skills builder !
I tend to follow patterns and love traditional designs, so creative moments are a stretch for me. I find that selecting fabric and colors for each new quilt is the most satisfying and creative part of quiltmaking for me.
I’m still leary about color but I have branched out into designing my own quilts and borders. Nothing too fancy, but I’m confident with my math skills, so that helps.
I’ve been pretty traditional, artistically speaking. I watched my daughter, a recent Fine Arts major college graduate take a standard pattern and totally make it her own thing and it was amazing to see. I need to learn to do some of those things on my own. What a treat the photo gallery is, and I’d bet the book would be a major asset!
I have suddenly rediscovered faces in my art pieces and I am exploring that idea and theme.
I started quilting about 5 years ago and have moved on from traditional quilts to art quilts. I need all the help I can get with design.
I saw this opportunity on Twitter! :)
My most recent artistic journey is venturing into patterns! There is alot to learn and alot of putting yourself out there too! I just recently go the quilting bug and am loving exploring all the fun that brings!
My fabric art has landed me in
Florida from a lifetime in the north-east. My palate is changing daily, and each day makes me see and incorporate my new surroundings in my art.
My most recent artistic journey was to recently prepare a piano program of Spanish and Latin-inspired music of Mompou, Granados, and Piazzolla. Now I plan to make a small quilt to echo the flavor of this wonderful music.
I just finished two crazy quilts for a contest; one of which is heavily embellished. That was a first for me, as I’m only just beginning to experiment with embellishing fabrics and quilts. This book has been on my wish list since before it was even released; it’s supposed to be an excellent resource!
My artistic journey is strengthened through the making of charity quilts. You may say, “Well, that’s a no brainer…just find a simple pattern and go for it!” For me, however, making charity quilts helps me to strengthen my quilting skills and expand my creative horizons. My guild, Friendship Star Quilters in Gaithersburg MD, gives me donated UFOs, fabric scraps, batting strips, and cheater panels. Turning other quilters UFOs into charity quilts is an exercise in color selection and UFO placement in a finished quilt. Small fabric scraps are incorporated into rolls of 2″, 3″, 4″ wide color-coordinated strips joined end-to-end and used to make pieced quilt backs. I’m discovering that the backs of some of my charity quilts may be mistaken for the front. What a way to throw some serendipity into my creative journey! Finally, those cheater panels are wonderful canvases to practice and explore machine quilting patterns. As a bonus, when I’m in the “zone” of mindlessly meandering, my next creative quest usually pops into my mind. While I’ve just begun a foray into art quilting, the possibilities for charity quilts and my own creations are endless.
My ongoing artistic journey, otherwise known as life, is to keep stepping out of my comfort zone and try new things. I’m an absolute technique junkie and have to try them all, generally in the form of wearable art. This book looks like a fabulous guide to stepping out of the box.
Like others, I agree that pushing our creative boundaries is a continuous process. I enjoy postcard swaps that allow for experimentation in new techniques without a huge commitment to a large project. Looking for inspiration and figuring out how to translate something to fiber also helps stretch my limits. This book looks terrific!
artistic journeys – believing that I have something worthwhile to offer, having the guts to take that leap of faith, and starting to teach journaling and watercolor classes. :)
this whole year has been so artistic for me ive started a stitch marker store on etsy i have learned to sew how to spin my own yarn how ot hand dye my own yarn and how to crochet a little bit how to make polymer clay beads vbarton24 at gmail dot com
Learning how to throw on a wheel was definately a great journey!
Thanks
My latest art journey is to incorporate more fabric into my collage pieces – so much so that I’m not sure if I should call it an art quilt or a fabric and paper collage or a fabric/paper collage . . . blurring the boundaries is a journey unto itself.
Now, this is one yummy book!
I started as a traditional artist. Pen, paper, pencil, acrylics were all I needed… that was until my husband bought me a sewing machine. Since I had to justify selling it on ebay (because being a quilter was going to be way too hard…) I used it “just this once” and was hooked! Now I am quilting everything I can. I started with basic piecing, moved on to simple applique, now I am onto complex designs I design myself! I LOVE every process available and am always searching for more!
I’ve been quilting for about 10 years now and mostly follow patterns. With a small group of women from my guild, we have begun trying to design our own small pieces. Most recently, I thread painted a raspberry and am looking forward to incorporating some found objects in my next project. I’d love this book as another inspiration source.
Once I’ve done a pattern like to alternate it the next time someway. Thanks.