It Started With a Dish Towel......

As a quilter I find inspiration in many different places. I never know when something will provide me with a good idea for a quilt. I've seen paintings that prompted an idea. Sometimes it is one of Dave's photographs. Sometimes it's a quilt pattern or something in a quilt magazine. Or it's a "copy" of someone else's beautiful quilt at our guild's 'show and tell'. I'll see something and put colors together that I never would have thought of combining.

And then there was that dish towel. My friend and I were exploring shops in The Third Ward down in Milwaukee about a week ago. We weren't really shopping for anything.....just sort of browsing and enjoying each other's company. It was a beautiful November day....perfect for wandering in and out of shops. After going around two blocks we put more money in the meter and kept on walking. We opened the door to Anthropologie......just because I love to see the displays. Whoever is in charge of the wall displays, and imaginative things hanging from the ceiling and decorating the windows has a wonderful imagination.

We slowly walked through the store and I found myself in the housewares section......with some colorful dish towels on display. I took one out, looked at it, re-folded it and put it back. Then another caught my eye. I unfolded it and discovered a beautiful, colorful, rooster-with-an-attitude! And I could not resist.....so off to the cashier I went so I could take the dish towel could home with me.

I wasn't planning to use it to actually dry any dishes! Immediately I could picture this rooster as the basis for a quilt....a wall hanging size quilt. He would give me a chance to experiment with colors I don't usually put into my quilts and use up more of my stash.

I spent a lot of time sitting at my machine this week......and here he is. Since he was sitting in the bottom right corner of the towel I decided to put him at the bottom right corner of the quilt.

Fun....and inspiration from an unexpected source. Keeping my eyes open for the next chance to think outside-the-box!