Hot Town, Summer in the City

Hot Town, Summer in the City

No! You have not accidently opened a page from last summer! Nope, it is snowing yet again tonight and I am fighting the winter blahs and cabin fever by planning a new quilt. THREE current quilts are in the final binding stages, so I feel justified. And I was so lucky, for Christmas, I received a fabulous group of NYC-inspired fabrics from a dear friend, a kindred spirit, fellow-quilter who is sadly too far away. One of my almost-done quilts is a story quilt, all about life here at the beach, my town, my shore, my ocean; the sun and moon and stars---

...and on the reverse is a primitive story of dream beach village, somewhere gloriously warm and tropical, perhaps the Cayman Islands.

I like to fantasize that I live on a sugar white beach in a pink Cape Cod-goes-Caribbean cottage (they have them there! so cute!) and that I sell my quilts and paintings to the tourists and live a perfect life. Hey, I said it is a DREAM!

So it makes sense to follow that scenario up with a quilt about my city, New York, New York! So urban!

This is a card from another friend. I love it, so imaginative, great city inspiration too.

These are the NYC prints! From City Quilter  http://www.cityquilter.com/ ........

Isn't the batik Statue of Liberty amazing!
Of course, I needed more fabrics because the gift fabs are "only" fat quarters and also, well, one always needs more fabric, right? So---off to eQuilter for ideas.
Here is my public wish list [disregard any beachy batiks that creep in, of course]
http://www.equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_wishlist.html?sid=31U9Hz2Sb7hCEVH-51110364690.ff
Some ideas.....

backgrounds neutrals [to rest one's eyes]

summer in city/ bright ideas ~~~~~~~~

bright accents/ borders? hearts / hugs and kisses = I Love NY!

This batik will be the backgrounds-a unifier print.

The others will be used---somehow, to showcase the main event fabrics,the NYC group.


And one perhaps that Leroy Neiman-esque print [above, top left] will be the backing fabric.....

Or is it too gaudy? Maybe this very evocative cityscape in 'ashcan" grey, how appropriate, no?

And, then---as I played and shopped---I was considering what the blocks should look like??? In my most recent quilts I've been exploring freestyle designs, less rigid, an important lesson learned from the magnificent quilts of Gee's Bend http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/. So---I decided: a star, a free-form star, maybe from Australian quilter Jan Mullen?  This is her book, I hope I can find it in my mounds of favorite books!

And here is a quote from her website http://www.stargazey.com/ :
"Stargazey Quilt Patternz offer patchwork freedom - freedom to cut and stitch ‘roughly’ – allowing you to concentrate on creative fabric usage rather than slavishly following my sample. They offer freedom to break rules and challenge tradition - injecting quilts with contemporary vibrancy. Use them as your starting point."

Sounds---and is---so fun!

...here are some Jan-inspired stars from my almost-done Tropical Dreams quilt!

I don't follow the mainstream quilting scene and I have no idea if such blocks are IN or OUT, as Heidi Klum says. I just know what appeals to my eyes and my imagination.

Someday---far far in the future---I'll update and show you how this design is working. I hope you'll stick around to see.....

Remember~ it's always Summer here at the Beach!

Happy Un-Fourth of July!

love~

lizzy 

yesterday: snow storm coming......