Craftsy Class--My First Explorations!

I think I mentioned that I am taking some online classes at Craftsy.  I have finished watching and am now rewatching Weeks Ringles' "Designing Modern Quilts" and loving it.  She is a great speaker and shares her process and tons of her and her hubby's quilts.  It is so very cool to get a one on one class (with lots of others in the Craftsy forum) from her!

 Spent some time today doing my Craftsy homework...Weeks calls them explorations, and they are but they are also homework.  This first block is fabrics and colors that I use all the time, that I like.

 This second picture is of colors or fabrics I don't care for.  I thought this block was harder to put together because if I don't like something I don't buy it.  However some of my fabric was given to me and some of these were leftovers in charm square packs that I didn't care for so I didn't use them.  Glad they came in handy.

 So in looking at my two blocks together I can see that I like darks!  I like fabric that reads as solid or is solid.  I knew already I liked argyle, and polka dots (though none made it in, I have lots) and modern fabrics.  Not sure that there are enough mediums though.  My second block is really muddy and the only two or three fabrics I like are the reds and the chrome yellow (in the right quilt--Hawaii Sunset for example).  The rest are really not ones I care for.  Weeks challenges us to add something to this challenging palette and see if it is workable.

 I added a few cherry colored fabrics and an aqua and decided I might be able to do something with it, but I don't know!

 After doing this exercise I remembered I had a bag of "ugly" fabrics that were given to me for a challenge by two different people.  I never did this challenge because I really didn't like my first fabrics at all (my partner did good on picking out the uglies!) and I wasn't sure about the stack on the right Ros gave me.  I just reread the directions and they can go in the back of a quilt, so I am thinking these ones from Ros will go in the back of the Cheddar Challenge.  They will always be a conversation piece and I can cross that challenge off my list!

Exploration # 2 was matching up fabrics to a painting of one of the masters (they gave us several to choose from) and though mine is not done, here is what I have so far.  The painting is "La Grade Odalisque" and has really warm tones for the skin and the complimentary cool colors of the silk drapery and bedding.  

I had a dream the other night with my first quilt designing idea--it was no good, but I thought it was interesting that Weeks has my mind thinking of these things even as I sleep!