Loved it. Aren't men wonderful. None of my kids wanted quilts so I just make wall hangings for myself. I visited a wonderful shop in Denver and was showing my son pictures and he said "why have you never made me one?" I guess we are supposed to churn them out even to the kids that said no.

I find myself collecting sketches of things and flip through this sketch book from time to time. I also take pictures at the quilt shows to keep for ideas and love flipping through those photos for ideas. I often capture only a color combination in a quilt or combine two different blocks of quilts for ideas. I never run out of ideas - just time.

I've sketched patterns from carpets & upholstery in fast food joints.

And just recently we took a weekend trip and the center tile medallion in the hotel lobby floor was a fabulous compass!! My wonderful DH has designed it in his CAD program so that I can paper piece it... Now, just need to figure out what quilt it's going to be highlighted in!

I've also tried to re-design quilts from magazines...not always successfully!

Well, it's not so unusual, but definitely something I don't normally do...

I have a quilt in progress that is going to hang on my living room wall above the slider doors, kind of like a giant valance (10 ft X 5 ft). The center is a mariner's compass block, then around that is a large area of appliqued plants & flowers that are native to Florida. I designed and drew it all myself, using pictures from library books. I am definitely NOT an artist, and can't draw worth much, but I'm pleased with the way it came out. It's all hand appliqued, and in a lot of places I made little folds, tucks and gathers to give the flowers and leaves a 3D look.

That section has a pieced border around it, and now I'm working on piecing a whole bunch of pineapple blocks to go on the ends, then the whole thing will get a braid border.

Donna

I like to think the men in ours lives (and some others) just don't realize how they sound when they make comments like that LOL!!!!
I sketched and applique pattern from a tile table when we were in Arizona.
Once in a restaurant restroom I loved the design the tiles on the floor made so I sketched it on TP!!!!
Now I always carry a small notebook in my purse.
Rosa

The oddest one for me was a combination of two things happening. I bought a paper cutter AND I read about how some quilters in the past had used news paper for foundation when making a scrap quilt.
The two ideas together resulted in a quilt whose foundation was 8x8 newspaper squares cut by my new paper cutter. I used only scrap fabrics on it and the solid rule was whatever scrap came out of the bag had to be used. Fearing I'd never really finish the quilt because at the time I had three toddlers in the house I made the rule I had to piece together two squares EVERY night.
The resulting quilt top is one of my favorites.

I'd sure like to see that quilt when it's done, Donna. It sounds lovely. And I'm with Rosa. I have snapshots of restroom walls with an unusual tile. We are design gatherers, no matter where we find them.

I guess one of MWIP would be it. Someone on the forum brought up crumb quilts so I thought I would play with the idea. Then though it would make a great back for one of my scrap quilts, then because I was having issues with how to quilt it and I decided I liked it too much for a back, I am now turning it into a quilt. But because I was going to use it for a back and it has wider boarders then I normally use, I have decided to try some applique on them. Waiting for an inspiration. Jayne

"said "it doesn't look anything like it." and yet he lives!"

That is so funny, Karpet! I am thinking of not giving people a choice, because they usually pick out the pattern that will give me the most trouble / require the purchase of the most new fabric instead of helping use up my stash / or that I have already made several of and am sick of doing it.

I'd love to see pictures of some of these quilts! With the quilt for my DH, I did use only from my stash - I didn't think he'd want me to go spend money on the same fabric as the picture!

One of my very first quilts came about the same way Karpet! My son saw a picture in Quilter's Newsletter and said that was what he wanted ... so from a 2x2 picture of a SQUARE wall hanging I needed to produce a Hollywood twin size quilt! It turned out great ... and after purchasing 20+ colors of Kona cotton plus black & yellow ... and a year of hand-quilting with black thread, he had one of my favorite quilts I've made! He loves it but now has a queen-size bed (and I am still using strips from the stash!)... OH WELL.
Sue