“Who knows what happens if…?”

This question, about technique,  materials or equipment often comes up on the several fibre or art quilt chat lists I subscribe to.  It’s asked by people who consider themselves to be creative or even innovative. The obvious  answer is “Why not just make a sample and see for yourself?”  In the time it takes to post the question and wait for any replies, often the matter could easily be settled to the questioner’s satisfaction. Learning by doing is one of my mantras. (Sometimes someone wants an answer to a question before they invest in some expensive art supplies, equipment or sewing materials, and I do get that)

I wanted to know the potential of some things I’m thinking about at the moment, so here are a couple of samples from this morning.  First, a scrap of bronze leather on a piece of scrap fabric told me what I wanted to know about sewing into it (must look for that leather needle)  and attaching the leather onto scrap fabric with the threads I had in mind.  Hmmm…. that leather is nice, and there’s a lot of potential there for I have in mind.

This next one came to me in the wee small hours of the night, and I was not sure I’d remember it the next day, so put my watch onto the other arm to remind me 🙂    The scrap of tan was cut to no particular shape before hand, but before gathering around the edge, it was sewn to the background cream. Satisfying, a lot of potential there, too suggested by the jottings I typically put on a sample.