saturday morning (approx 13" x 10") whenever i want inspiration for a new quilt and to get myself into a mindset of a 'quilter' i often steal my mum's copy of 'nancy crow transitions. it's a big hardbacked whopper of a book, and it's full of nancy's thoughts, notes, sketchbook pages and of course, amazing photographs of her work. it's hugely inspirational and i love to get lost in her quilts. for a while now i've wanted to make a purely quilt made from plains, but i've put it off because i'm such a fan of pattern. i design patterns for a (sort of) living, so surely it's 'wrong' to want to do this? so i struggled with starting. i ummed and ahhed over my fabric stash. i couldn't cut into anything, couldn't turn on my sewing machine. i had a plan, an idea for my quilt but i just couldn't start. then quickly, on thursday night, something began to happen...i managed to sew a tiny part of my design (click here)...but then i decided it might be that i was bored of my fabrics. so i went to mum's and went through her stash and stole all her solids. suddenly, my palette had grown 75%. i had options. so i cut and i sewed last night, and this is the result. this morning, i couldn't wait to get up and carry on. this quilt might drive me nuts in the days and weeks to come, but for now, my tummy is fizzy. that means something is working. and no, i don't suffer from irritable bowel.