Missing Quilting

I've spent a lot of time in the studio this week getting ready to do other things ~ bubble jet setting more fabric for another round of suminagashi, mixing thickened dyes for more deconstructed screen printing, making up and spreading potato dextrin on fabric, which is now completely dry and waiting to be dyed or painted.

And I realized this morning that I've been missing quilting. My 10x10" weekly quilts aren't enough, and I haven't had any other immediate quilting projects. True, I have a couple of possibilities on my design wall awaiting further inspiration. But nothing right at hand.

So I grabbed this photo which has been hanging on my bulletin board, and it inspired me to create the quilt top in the first image. I thought it was pretty much done when I completed it this morning, but I see now that I'll probably go back in and do a bit more before I actually quilt it.

It's exciting because this is something I've wanted to do ~ find quilt inspiration in unusual photographs. And speaking of that, I've been thinking more about my personal quilting challenge for 2010, and at this point I've decided to do two quilts each month, one inspired by my paper collages, and one inspired by my textural photographic images.

And speaking of quilting challenges, I'm looking for a small group of art quilters to join to do periodic challenges, something similar to the Twelve By Twelve group. So if any of my readers are in a group like this and looking for another partner, or want to start something like this, please let me know!

And off the subject entirely, take a good look at the word "twelve" for a few moments, and it looks very strange, indeed!