Variations on a Theme

I have such a good time teaching a tile block workshop.  It never fails--there are always interesting people in a workshop who quickly absorb the simple, direct construction of a tile block and then make it a means to express themselves.  
To illustrate the point, here are just a few photos of blocks-in-progress from a workshop yesterday afternoon in North Kansas City. 

An adoring grandmother featured her granddaughter.  The quilter admired a simple circle/semi-circle block from Bobbi Finley's Lotus tile quilt, and she wanted to incorporate her granddaughter's picture in a block.  To satisfy that combination, the quilter adjusted the center tile of the block to fit the oval format of the little girl's photo and built out from the oval with petals upon petals, as in Bobbi's block.  Simple, effective, delightful.
Another quilter used floral prints in an unexpected and wonderful way--as the tail of a shooting star.

She was very pleased with the look of this violet block and was contemplating other blocks in other color schemes.
Several quilters worked with Oriental-theme fabrics.  Both chose dark background fabrics; one, in fact, chose black, but that black was patterned with gold and will add a rich dimension to the block once she has revealed it by stitching  the tiles down.

Another quilter chose black-and-white fabrics for her tiles and a vivid turquoise for the background--brilliant!