Friday, June 23, 2017

Inspirational Design for the Quilter


Wynn Las Vegas

There is no greater place under one roof than Wynn Las Vegas if you are a quilter looking for design inspiration. Of course, this is my humble opinion, but allow me to show you just one small part. 

The arrangement above was in the middle of a long promenade. Notice how it was tilted slightly off center. I thought to myself, 'It eliminated that centering issue we often have with a motif, and the eye naturally adjust to saying it's skewed on purpose rather than off. I can use that.'

Another quick lesson in breaking up negative space is the ceiling: outlining, cutaways, use of color to recede and pop alternating sections, layering, and lastly illumination. All are things we think about in quilt design. 



The carpet pattern fascinates me because of the massive scale. The use of hot pink, cool lavender, and the wonderful black to anchor it. The curtains used the same golden yellow, but alternating bands of sienna brown. How did that work? Beautifully! I would never have guessed that. The design was deep and rich because it did not match exactly. We quilters tend to be matchy-matchy people.


The chair back was an obvious border or filler design waiting to happen.


Once again, an ingenious division of negative space. This was also a curved ceiling so I would not have wanted to form the molding! Note the fleur de lis on the left hand alternating with half circles and triangles. An edgy border combination, for sure.



 Art in the Restroom

Of course, I had to check out the ladies' room, but when I came back to the table to grab my phone my husband never blinked. He's used to it by now. The above row hung in the entrance way, and all were stunning examples of hand and reverse applique.








More pieces lined the inside walls. 
The tiny bit of yellow was perfect.


Itty bitty notches or zig zag. Unbelievable!



Your Personal Stash of Great Ideas

Design ideas are everywhere. We see things in nature, in architecture, and sometimes just by closing our eyes. The important part is to take a picture, write it down, or sketch it out. As much as we'd like to believe we'll remember that amazing idea, we won't. It will blow away with our 99 other things we need to remember for the day. So stash it somewhere--anywhere that helps you remember it, and you will never have a lack of fresh ideas.

And off we headed for the southern part of Nevada for The Great Eldorado 2017 Blues, Brews, and BBQ. A wild ride circling down, down, down made me airsick, and my husband suggested we stop at a quilt shop to help. Oh, he does know me! More next time, and it was a darling shop. 

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.


6 comments:

Linda Swanekamp said...

I am not sure I could handle all that ornateness in one place. I get overwhelmed by so much at once. The appliqués are called molas made by the Kuna Indians, from the San Blas Islands of Panama. I used to teach my elementary students about it and we would use paper or bright paints to create animals in that style. I had great reference books back then for them to see and learn.

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Glad to see you are making good use of your time . I find myself looking at prospective quilt patterns too on holidays

Tish Stemple said...

That large rug SCREAMS Kaffe Fassett :)

Angie in SoCal said...

LOL - that's my DH reaction, too. He says my favorite saying now is "now that would make a great quilt". Love those molas!

Rebecca Grace said...

Yes, we need to record those inspirations where we can find them again... For me, that's on Pinterest where I have 12,500 other ideas waiting for me!

PaulaB quilts said...

Those ceilings are phenomenal. I collect a lot of cathedral views, especially on Pinterest. I love architecture and all of these designs there have a really new twist on traditional motifs and structures, like the coffered ceilings in serpentine shapes. Thanks for the photos.