We finished up today. This morning I finished sewing each of the major pieces. All that remains is to sew those pieces together. Here I've got it pinned together for presentation. 

The afternoon was spent reviewing everyone's work. We each had a chance to display the two pieces we made, answer questions and receive comments. Nancy (Crow) had high praise for this piece. I'm tickled pink. Looking forward to getting home and finishing it.

It's been a great two weeks. Best class I've taken here. Lots to think about and carry me forward. I'm grateful for the opportunity.

 I added colors for the figures in the piece. I didn't really have the colors I wanted so I just did the best I could. I liked it in black better. When I get home I'm going to make one with black. I started sewing and got the bottom left side done. 

Nancy (Crow) told us with this new project that she wanted us to show her what we learned last week. So although it wasn't required, I decided to go with the monochromatic background again. I spent the day cutting out the pieces. Tomorrow I'll substitute colors for the black figures. For me this is really hard. She came around during the day and said my design was "fresh." So I'm beaming. At another point she said I was a "wild woman." I guess that refers to the exuberant design I created, but I don't know for sure. 

I came home early, about 7:30. I find I do better when I get some rest and a good night's sleep.

 We got our new assignment today. Here are the instructions: 

Divide the design wall into three columns. 

Choose 6 of our homework configurations.

Arrange the configurations two per column. Elongate the configurations to fit the columns. Carry elements over the column lines to obliterate the sense that you are working with 6 blocks. We're to design our quilt in black and white, but we don't have to sew it together. We move from the black and white straight into the color. I finished the first step last night and will start on the color today.

I don't know how I'm going to sew this together. I'll just take it slow. The final version does not have to be an exact replica of this black and white one.

Not much to report today. I took all the turquoise out of the design. Also took out most of the dark teal. Substituted in gray and an odd celery color. Then I sewed up the 4 blocks in the bottom row. Then it was time to pack it up and get ready for the week two exercise. 

In the afternoon we had presentations of our work brought from home. Some of the show and tell quilts were incredibly good, others not so  much. I didn't have anything that would have gone over well, so I didn't bring any at all.

 She came around and said that my orange and black composition was so good I could sew it up without adding any more color and it would be great. Then she said I should do that at home, and use class time to fill in the black with color. I had no good idea how to proceed, so I started out by adding all the shapes in shades of teal. Then she came around again and said that was too safe and to try harder. So I substituted in more colors and went to work sewing it together.

I think it is absolutely ruined. I got three of the bottom row sewn together. I've been studying this photo since yesterday and have decided that the turquoise blue is too strong. It just screams "look at me," and I think we're going for something more subtle, so I'm going to redo those squares and see if that improves things. One thing -- I was worried about reproducing the shapes accurately. Remember, this is all done without rulers, templates or patterns -- just free hand cutting. But they're coming together well.

I include now some pictures of other students work. (In past years they've made a big deal about not posting other people's work on the internet, but this year no one's mentioned it, so here I go). I think the purple one is exquisite.

Today we got instructions on how to start working color into our composition. We were to choose one color only, all the same value  with differing aspects, such as bright or flat, vibrant or dull. Then we started placing those colors on the background (white) parts. The only color in which I had the necessary aspects was deep orange, so I went with that.  Took me all day long to begin the process. Later we'll be replacing the black with colors as well.

The oranges are so similar that they all look the same in this picture, except the flat which stands out pretty well. But in person the different hues are evident.

We're supposed to be finished by tomorrow at 5, but that's not going to happen. She'll either extend the deadline into next week, or we'll have to pack it up and finish it at home.

I also include here some of the other students' work.

I didn't sleep well last night so I was tired today. Nevertheless, I finished the bottom row. The challenge here was to take a small section of the original block and blow it up big.  

Here are some of the other students work: 

The next step of the assignment was to rearrange the 12 blocks into some kind of dynamic whole. This was pretty baffling for me. From what I've been able to figure out this assignment is all about negative space. Forget the black figures and concentrate on the shapes that make up the background. Using this principle I moved some blocks around, rotated a few and came up with this. 

Nancy (Crow) said it was exciting which is high praise. I felt relief. I can see a few places where the white makes satisfying shapes, but there are a lot that seem clumsy to me. 

Tomorrow I'll start over remaking this quilt in color. At 7 o'clock I just couldn't wrap my head around that challenge, so I came home to the hotel. I'll tackle it in the morning when I'm fresh.

 Day two was all work. I took me the whole day to get the 3/4 of the third row done. The fourth figure isn't complete yet. In this variation we were supposed redraw the figure and then divide it either horizontally or vertically and reverse the colors on one half. So white became black, and black became white on opposing sides. There's a fourth row yet to come which I hope to finish today because it's time to start on the color version.

 Here I am in Ohio ready to tackle the next two week's work. The drive up was uneventful. I arrived mid day Sunday. I got the hotel room I asked for, which means it overlooks a wooded area in the back. Day one of the workshop went well. Here is a picture of my workspace. I got lucky and got a corner space which means I have two walls, two tables and a window.

The first assignment is so complex I won't even try to explain it. I'll just say that the top row is homework. The blocks in the second row are variations on the first. There'll be two more rows with a total size of approximately  72" x 72". The challenge is all about creating interesting and beautiful negative spaces. Then there will be a color version. We have all week to get it done.