Sunday, January 3, 2010

You CAN Teach An Old Dog . . .



Obviously, I’m learning many new things as I travel through my corporate commission experience.  Here’s a picture of one of the color boards that was given to me so I could coordinate the quilt colors with the furnishings of the nursing home.  As many of you most likely already know, colors of home decorating fabrics are difficult to find in the quilting world.  Even when I had decided to use Kaufman’s Kona cotton, with over 250 colors available, I found I couldn’t match some of the shades in the upholstery fabrics or in the Formica© countertops as well as I had hoped.  I did my best, and the directors were pleased with the choices I made, but it was time-consuming and more difficult than I had imagined, especially since I was working with those itty bitty squares of color in the catalogs.
And then, because of the long period of time between my presentation and my receipt of the check for the second installment, I discovered that Kaufman had discontinued one of the colors (your groan goes here).  A bit of scrambling ensued, and I located it through eQuilter, bless them. 

So here are the fabrics, all washed and ironed; I plan to starch them as I use them to make the cutting and piecing process more accurate (I've read that, if you starch fabric and then store it for too long, you run the risk of the fabric attracting silverfish – has anyone had that problem?  Please let me know!). 
As always, thanks for taking this journey along with me – it’s a lot more fun with company.

Diane

14 comments:

Leah said...

i love the colors you've chosen. I look forward to seeing how the quilts turn out.

thanks for joining my challenge!!

hAPPy new year!

Unknown said...

Glad we could help you out Diane!
- Luana Rubin

Calicojoan said...

Interesting, I never thought about color boards before. What a challange you had. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your project. It will be spectacular I know that for sure! Happy New Year!

Unknown said...

Sometimes certain jobs can be more challenging than others. Glad that you were able to find what you needed. I also had never heard about silverfish and starch. If you find out anything more about that, I would love to know. Thanks!

Terri Stegmiller said...

Looks like an interesting undertaking you have there. I'm glad you were able to find the fabric you needed. I look forward to seeing what you create.

Quilt Rat said...

If I am starching, I always do it as I am working with the fabric..don't really know about the bug problem although, I too, have heard this.

You did a fantastic job gathering colours .....that could Not have been easy!

Mary-Kay said...

Great job gathering up all those colours. It takes a lot of time to get the right combinations. If you think silverfish might be a problem, I heard that if you sprinkle epson salt around the baseboards, it keeps them away. I've never tried it but then I've never seen any silver fish. Centipedes but no other creepy crawlies.

Tracey said...

It must be a nice nursing home - lovely furniture and lovely quilts to boot!

I am really looking forward to seeing the commission develope.

The colour pallet you have is very modern and different from a lot I've seen recently. They are going to be stunning in the traditional Amish design.

Diane Wright said...

I'm trying to remember where I learned about silverfish. Hmmm. Anyway, treat the info as truth. I only have anecdotal reference, but my memory of the little critters is vivid. They like starch.

Good luck...it sounds challenging.

Victoria said...

Looks like you did a wonderful job with the color matching... never and easy task. I am sure the finished results will be stunning!

Tangled Stitch said...

I love the colors and can't wait to see the finished project.

Deborah said...

Looking forward to seeing what this looks like when it's finished!

LuAnn Kessi said...

I have heard of the silverfish theory.....
Some of my fabrics are 20 years and more with some starched.......and no evidence of silverfish...yet.
LuAnn in ORegon
http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/

Lynne Brotman said...

I approach my art quilts as healing and spiritual so I can imagine that your commissioned work for a nursing home will be very satisfying for the people there. Best of luck. Your work is lovely.

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