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I recently came across the blog called "What if?...exploring a relationship with cloth" by Jude Hill. Currently she is exploring the mirade different design opportunities one can discover with a nine patch. If you want to follow her whole experimental journey, you can start with the first post over a year ago. http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/what_if/2007/03/textile_journal.html

Jude has 2 other blogs Threadcrumbs and Spirit Cloth. Both are equally interesting.

The "What if?" concept really struck a cord with me as I use that all the time to get to the next point in my work, my ideas, my dicoveries. I also try to get my students to think "What if?" so as to develop their designs further.

Here is some of what I said in a recent handout of idea prompts for the students...

"Because you aren’t copying an idea, whether it be from nature or someone else, you are using the idea as inspiration; you are faced with the concept of “making it your own”…coming up with original ideas. If it still looks like the original, then it is still derivative and not your original design."...

"One of the biggest things that will help you with developing ideas is to ask, “What if?” The more you ask “What if?”, the more the design becomes informed by your thought processes and so is unique. It may seem similar to other work, as in made up using similar techniques, but the design is yours."

It's what makes me look inside fallen logs like this to discover interesting mosses and things and think "What if?" and even "Why?"