need ideas

Could you use the background of the 'bear' pictures as your starting point? You could easily sketch out a mountainous scene. However, you do need a lot of different fabrics for colourwash - and, if it is mountains and skiing you want to represent, there would be a lot of white! and no flowers, which are the traditional fabrics for colourwash. I did have a flash of an idea just as I wrote that: could you call it 'Apres Ski' and use flowers and green at the base of the mountains with just a little snow on the top (as the bear pictures have almost)? You could use 'skis' in a border - something like a picket fence border, but with longer, thinner 'posts'? Just some thoughts to get you started - even if you dislike ideas, they are often good to get your own ideas going >g< . In message , Irrational Number writes

I love the Whims site! Thanks for the link. I enjoy watercolor quilts. I don't know why I didn't already know about this site.

You could always do a colorwash mountain with applique skiing, like they did with the bears and trees....

Dannielle

When you need something like those bears (maybe not on this particular quilt???) just go to some online fabric shops and use their search for "bear" to find fabric with bears on it. I usually start at

since they have a really good search and great fabric selection. You can use an iron-on fusible, cut out the bears and fuse them in place. It's much easier than doing an applique and trying to get the shadings right, etc. It looks like what they have done for their bears, too! Trees and mountains are easy! Just a rough sketch of the outline shape- you only need to give the impression of a tree, it needn't be a correct botanical drawing. Then fuse the trees, mountains, whatever in place. With most fusibles you'll need to stitch them down after fusing with a buttonhole stitch, satin stitch or even a simple straight stitch.

Have fun and good luck!

Leslie & The Furbabies > DH's cousin, whom I love dearly, has been

I love the skis in the border idea!!!

-- Anita --

I love this site and I also have their paper catalogue. It's my read-anytime thing.

-- Anita --

Thanks, I have the Slusser/Magaret book and they have a great Alaskan bear quilt in there. I just have to figure out mountains and skis.

-- Anita --

I got some Steam-blah-Seam fusibles already. I like the idea of getting bears and trees!

-- Anita --

I'd applique a snow capped mountain horizon to a colourwash background

- making a colourwashed sky! 'course, I don't, or at least haven't, appliqued, but hey, it's not one of my pebbles.

Musicmaker