Decisions, Decisions

I've finished the two quilts that I'm making for my niece and nephew for Christmas. They both laid there on my table waiting to be wrapped... except I HAD NOT put the binding on them yet! I hate binding. Probably because I don't really know how to bind a quilt, I just wing it. I'm talking about machine binding. For Jacob's "bring home from the hospital" quilt I hand sewed the binding on this and I just LOVED how it turned out I just don't have the time to do this for every quilt I make.
About six months ago I had finally collected the PERFECT fabrics for my dream quilt... blue and white. Not beige, white. I'll be doing it log cabin queen size. My strips are waiting for me and I really want to start piecing it together because I'm back into quilting again. My absolute favorite one is the one in the center with the paisley design. Love it, love it, love it! The white strip to the left of the paisley strip is a white on white design which I also love, I didn't want just plain white. BUT... because I am who I am I want to try ANOTHER creative endeavor so I'm very conflicted. I have never tried watercolors. I've always used acrylics because that's what my mom paints with so I know the properties of acrylics and what you can and can't do with them. Watercolor is a whole new ballgame. Two weeks ago I found this painting in a thrift store and it inspired me to think about watercolors:


I absolutely LOVE it. This is how I want to paint watercolors. I bought a frame for it today and I'm going to hang it right by my work table as inspiration.

I love free form quilting on my Kenmore sewing machine. I've had this machine close to 10 years now and it's nothing fancy. (In 2000 I decided I wanted to learn how to sew garments so I bought this machine). It wasn't until a few years ago did I realize I could quilt with it too! For Lainey's quilt (my niece) it was free form swirls and for Jack's quilt (my nephew) I decided to do straight lines and angles. You can see the design better on the back of this quilt plus it's a Christmas present so I can't show the front yet.

Painted watercolor at thrift store: 58 cents
Frame from Wal-Mart: $13.00
Inspiration: Priceless
I've always been attracted to crisp lines in paintings. Sharp and precise. The watercolors I've seen tend to be more loose and free flowing... not detailed enough for me... until now!
Quilting, painting, quilting, painting. Decisions, decisions.