There are a series of interviews about Quilt Design a Day (Qdad) on the Sew Mama Sew blog: Amy Gunson of Badskirt, Anne Sullivan of Play-Crafts, Michelle Wilkie from Factotum of Arts and Stacey Day of Stacey in Stitches.  Amy is featuring her first pattern and a giveaway.  I really enjoy designing for Qdad, it is daily practice for my creative ‘muscle’ and a wonderful, supportive community.

When I first started designing daily I was not sure that I would be able to keep it up, and I was afraid that my designs would not be ‘good enough.’  Now with a portfolio of more than 120 designs behind me, I still feel that fear, but now I know that I can use it to design and quilt.  There are stages we all go through as we design daily:

Fear–Can I do it?  Will it be good enough?  Will others like my designs?

Boredom–What, didn’t I see that rock/door/ice cream before????  We joke about seeing the rock/door/ice cream before, yet we still design.  Purple again?!?!?!  We don’t always like the palettes, but that is part of the challenge.  It has helped me to design in spite of my color ‘allergies.’

Search for additional challenge–trying new software (purchasing new hardware just to try out new software, lol.), learning new functions in our design software, designing in a series, designing on a theme and designing with a particular block.  For example Anne Sullivan’s Alien Flora, and Amy Gunson’s Woven Slashes series.  Recently a longarming friend challenged me to design several designs using the same block.  I’m now halfway through my week of designing  with the same block.  Come back on Friday to see a slideshow of my designs with the Santa Fe block  and for my first giveaway.

Linking up with Anything Goes Monday and Patchwork Times’ Design Wall Monday

Have a quilty day!