visually exhausted

I just returned from the Kaffe Fassett workshop today. I decided to use the tulips, and before lunch I was very pleased with the lay-out.



After lunch I wasn't so sure any more.


The workshops ends with KF commenting on everybody's work. He said he would not use the tulips, because they stand out too much. He suggested taking a textile dye pen, and reworking the background of the tulips a bit (polka dots, litlle flecks of color ...). On the other hand, several other ladies in the workshop did like the tulips... I am confused, visually and otherwise exhausted right now. Sorry the picture with Kaffe Fassett in front of the quilts is a bit shaky. Somehow picture taking was just a bit too much today.
I don't feel like finishing this piece at all at the moment. I am a bit discouraged. Probably just fatigue, and maybe a good night sleep will help. Most likely I am not a patchworker at heart. I love playing with the colors, but all the cutting and sewing scares me.
Before I forget : the exhibition in the Modemuseum in Hasselt is very nice. Check it out !

a first try at a lay-out for the Kaffe Fassett quilt

Last saturday I posted about the upcoming Kaffe Fassett patchwork workshop. Nancy commented that the white in the sheet with the big tulips Iwanted to use would be a too big contrast. I have been cutting large blocks this week in the hobby club (every thursday afternoon), and arranged some to see how it looks. Nancy is right.
The tulips won't work for the large blocks. Re-arranging, I wanted to look if they would work for the medium block. This quilt is designed with 3 sizes of blocks, large-medium-small.

I think it might work, if I use fabric around it that has a little bit of white in it.
Or maybe I should reconsider, and not use the tulip sheet at all. Which would be a pity, because I really wanted to build a quilt around the tulips.

kaffe fasset is coming to Belgium

... to the 'Modemuseum'in Hasselt. And he is teaching a patchwork and a knitting workshop. I signed up for both.
First up : the patchwork class. Now, patchwork is fairly new to me, I have only made one quilt before (also a Kaffe Fassett design).
It was the 'Rice bowls' quilt. More experienced quilters will have a lot to say about the finishing, but for me it's all about working with the colors.
This time we will work on the 'tapestry garden' quilt. Kaffe Fassett wants us to combine big bold flower prints. I have an old sheet with big tulips on it, and was looking in my stash what to combine with it.

I could go for pastels... but it is too sweet, not opulent enough;

... or for golden yellows. Maybe a bit to yellow ?


... but I have chosen this. I have bought some extra fabrics of course. I bought some in my local yarn and fabric store (the owner will be attending the workshop too). I bought the fabric with my store credit, build up in the last year, so I got it practically for free. I felt I needed a bit more orange, and to cut down on costs I bought 2 sheets with big flower prints, for a grand total of 20 euro. So I have a lot of fabric for not too much money. I am not sure about the smaller prints though. Probably not bold enough.

Voor yarnlot - ik vond je e-mail adres niet op je blog. Waar woon jij ergens ? Als je wil kan je me mailen - ik vond jouw japanees haakwerk heel erg geslaagd. En wat een werk om in de Noro wol te knippen tot je de juiste kleurcombinatie hebt gevonden. Well done !

kaffe fasset - big diamonds jacket

I am still knitting on the log-cabin blanket, but I won't show you a knitted square every day ... that would get boring. I plan to take a picture when I have finished a batch of those ... Let's talk something else, Kaffe Fassett for instance ...

When I discovered Kaffe Fassett designs I was really drawn to knitting with all the colors. I started collecting yarns then also, for my next Kaffe Fassett I was making up in my mind... I knitted a grand total of 4 KF garments, not that much I know ...
The first book I bought was 'glorious knitting'. When I read it, I felt really encouraged to try out color combinations myself. I have knitted the 'big diamonds jacket' out of this book. As at time (early '90's ?) Rowan yarns were way to expensive, I used my own color scheme. I used lots of Pingouin yarns (my local yarn shop had a big sale). I also used lots of double and triple stranding of yarn, to get different blends of color. As you can see I had a big thing on purple ... I also tried to use different fibers - mohair, wool, silk, chenille, cotton .... you name it, it's there. I had to scale down the jacket a bit - the design uses 4 diamonds, I knitted 3 diamonds. Most KF designs are very oversized, but even though I am a short and round person, this was really hughe ... This jacket is more then 10 years old, and I still like it. I wear it rarely , it's very warm, more a coat then a jacket. There is not much need for a knitted coat here in Belgium, where winters tend to be not too cold, but mostly wet. It took me almost 18 months to knit this. More Kaffe Fassett pictures tomorrow.

Ik ga nu niet elke dag een gebreid vierkantje van mijn deken tonen, dat zou een beetje saai worden ... Laten we het over iets anders hebben, Kaffe Fasset bvb.
Toen ik Kaffe Fasset ontdekte was ik enorm aangetrokken tot het breien met al de kleuren. Ik begon toen ook wol te verzamelen, voor de volgende Kaffe Fasset trui die ik al in mijn hoofd aan het breien was ... In totaal heb ik tot nu toe 4 Kaffe Fassett truien gebreid, dat is dus niet zoveel...
Het eerste boek dat ik kocht was 'glorious knitting'. Toen ik het las voelde ik me aangemoedigd om zelf kleurencombinaties uit te proberen. Ik heb dit 'big diamonds jacket' uit dat boek gebreid. Toendertijd (begin jaren '90 ?) was Rowan wol echt te duur voor mij, en ik gebruikte dus mijn eigen kleurenschema. Ik heb heel veel verschillende Pingouin wol gebruikt (mijn lokale wolwinkel had een grote uitverkoop). Zoals je kan zien was ik toen in mijn 'purper'-fase. Ik probeerde ook zoveel mogelijk verschillende garens te gebruiken : mohair, wol, zijde, chenille, katoen ...Ik heb het model wat kleiner gemaakt - het oorspronkelijk model bestond uit 4 grote ruiten, mijn trui heeft 3 ruiten. Ik weet wel dat deze truien bedoeld zijn om 'oversized' te dragen, maar dit was toch een beetje te...
Deze trui is meer dan 10 jaar oud, en ik vind die nog steeds goed gelukt (vooral als je bedenkt dat ik een veel beperktere breikennis had dan nu). Ik heb echter niet veel gelegenheid om dit te dragen : 't is enorm warm, meer een jas dan een trui eigenlijk. En een gebreide jas in regenweer is niet echt handig ...Ik heb hier ongeveer anderhalf jaar aan gebreid. Morgen nog wat meer Kaffe Fassett foto's.