Outside inspiration

Wow - thanks for all the quilt love!  I am super excited about how it came out.  Now I just need to work up the courage to actually quilt it!  All in good time, I am sure.

One of the things that was so satisfying about making that quilt top was being inspired to just do it.  I think I am most creative when my brain is working over-time, analyzing color and pattern, thinking about scale, wondering what I can make out of a particular material.  Sarah's gocco swap is a perfect example of that.  I had to think outside of my comfort zone to come up with something mid-winter.  But you know what?  I love how it all came together.  Finding the inspiration to go with the theme, pondering the possibilities, planning, mixing ink and printing those note cards was actually fun.  I was inspired and in the end, I think it showed.

So to keep myself creating outside of my comfort zone, I asked Tracy if she would give me a word or phrase or image to use as a jump start for a new gocco project.  She readily agreed and asked me to do the same.  We gave ourselves a month to complete this project.  The month is almost up.

This is what she gave me:  tea.

I am not doing a gocco print because pushing down to print hurts my wrist (which is slowly getting better).   Instead I am working with fabric.  I am excited about this collaboration and about what I am making.  Thinking it through has been fun - I have come up with all sorts of scenarios, but finally settled on one.  I am inspired again.

In the end, I just hope it shows.

And I am dying to see what Tracy has done with the word I gave her: piece.

Comments

[Sarah Jackson]

what a fantastic idea! I can't wait to see what both of your creative minds have come up with.

[Rachel]

This looks promising! I agree working with something unfamiliar definitely helps in the creative process.

[molly]

That's funny - you are "dying" to see what Tracy comes up with. I love tea dying - the red tea looks like kool-aid. Can't wait to see more of the collaboration.

[Tracy]

ha! I wondered if you had done some tea dying!!! I can't wait to see more!

[emily]

brilliant collaboration.

[Mariss]

What a great idea! I agree, sometimes having no boundaries can be harder than having a theme or concept to work with. It really gets the brain synapses working or something ;)

[kirsten]

very intriguing, erin! that sounds like fun.

[leslie]

such a fantastic idea to make the brain think outside of the box.
can't wait to see how this unfolds!

[Mintyfresh]

I love one-word challenges. My high school art teacher, who was a true inspiration for me art-wise, gave us all our homework assignments this way. And it's also probably why my favorite challenge of all time on Project Runway is Season 1's "Jealousy." Tea is brilliant. "Piece" is so wonderfully abstract, lending itself to so much!

[amandajean]

isn't the virtual quilting bee challenge enough? ;)

no, really, I am excited to see what you come up with for the one word challenge. how fun.

[Tonya]

I love the border of your quilt, and am intrigued by your tea project!

[patricia]

This sounds like such an interesting project! I can't wait to see the results.

[leslie]

this is great. words. inspiration. creativity. i am excited to see the end results. for sure.