Color Wednesday

3 Watering cans
3 Watering cans

Yes, this photo is a little bleary, as SherriD says. I took it with my phone, which creates bleary pictures unless the picture is of a water bottle or something I want to remember at the grocery store.

Fortunately, I want you to look at the color.

What do you think of the color combination?

What does this color combo bring to mind?

What would you do with fabrics in these colors?

Serendipity Puzzle

Serendipity Puzzle-full
Serendipity Puzzle-full

I went to visit with my friend, Kathy, and her 2YO daughter, Jessie, on Friday afternoon. We had tea.

I made Serendipity Puzzle using a Dutchman’s Puzzle block in 2008.

I finally was able to take a picture at their house at the end of our visit. The image is a bit trapezoidal, but the reality is that I am just not tall enough to get it nice and square.

Jessie uses this quilt as a ‘wallow’ for her stuffed hippo.

Happy Birthday, TFQ!!!

Nota bene: TFQ: if you have not opened all of your gifts, stop reading now!!! Go open them and come back.

Yes, my good friend TFQ is 39 again today…with some years experience. 😉

In addition to the gifts I have been collecting for her, I also made her a couple of things. Did you guess journal cover and pencil roll? I am so predictable, I know.

Journal Cover
Journal Cover

The black and white fabrics, from Lonni Rossi‘s Paint Box collection, are the fabrics I used to make Marilyn’s Multi-tasker while I was visiting TFQ in November. She admired those fabrics and that stuck in my mind.

TFQ is an excellent colorist. She can put fabrics together in the most amazing ways. I strive to be like her, which requires cultivating more patience and determination in my quiltmaking process. If I want to make something for her, I feel like I need to really do an excellent job of picking colors, thus the clue that she liked these fabrics gave me confidence.

Using only those black and white fabrics together was too depressing, especially in winter. I had to add the dots. They cheered it up quite a bit.

Journal Cover- front
Journal Cover- front

One of the things I like about some of the prints in the this [relatively] new Lonni Rossi line is the screen printed look. Note the black circle on the white fabric. It really looks like a screen print when you see it up close. It doesn’t have that icky, plasticy sticker feel, though, you find with some screen printed-like fabric.

Journal Cover - back
Journal Cover - back

The small rows of lines under the circle also have that screen printed look. It is much more subtle in the white/grey on black colorway.

I didn’t want a repeat of the size problem I had with my mom’s journal cover, so I ripped out the bottom stitching three times until I was satisfied with the fit. I don’t know if I got it to fit perfectly, but I didn’t have to cut the journal’s plastic cover to get the journal cover on it, so I was satisfied.

Journal Cover - piecing
Journal Cover - piecing

Lately, when I have started a journal cover I just start piecing until I get a piece big enough for the outside. I use this type of piecing for a warm-up or when I only have a few minutes to sew or when I need a little bit of thinking time. Usually I want to achieve a certain look. With my blue journal cover, I wanted to use a variety of blue fabrics because I liked them and wanted to see them all the time. I also wanted a calming effect.

In this case, I only had scraps of the Lonni Rossi fabrics left and needed to make the best use of them. I wanted it to have a somewhat cohesive design and, finally, but most importantly I wanted it to appeal to TFQ.

Pencil roll - closed
Pencil roll - closed

I have started to think of pencil rolls and journal covers as sets. I also love this pencil roll pattern so much that I am looking for excuses to make it. Of course, time is the issue on that front.

Pencil roll - open
Pencil roll - open

This is a rather large pencil roll – 18 slots, I think. When I use my pencil roll, I prefer to put pens in every other slot rather than each slot. I find it easier to get the pens out.

For the moment, this is the last gift to which I have committed to make. When I say committed I mean to myself. There is one I am thinking about making, but I need to finish the FOTY 2009 blocks first. Look for a post on that project later this week.

Sketching #49

Opportunity #49
Opportunity #49

I really felt a lot of hope for 2010. I can’t say that it has dissipated, but this past week was difficult on a lot of levels, so I don’t feel quite as jubilant as I did as the New Year turned. STILL, I am not going to let one week kick that great, jubilant frame of mind into the garbage.

Fortunately, I couldn’t get away from Opportunity knocks, so here is opportunity knocking!

This isn’t one of my best drawings, but I feel good about having a bit of confidnece to put a figure in. Fortunately cold weather makes a ginormous coat seem somewhat normal.

Various and Sundry Saturday

I have to admit that this week has been a challenge and I am pretty exhausted. I felt this way on Wednesday and just had to power through the rest of the week. It was tough! Boys are gone and I am supposed to go to a party. I am tempted to blow it off, but I have gotten a lot of emails asking me if I will be there. I also really like the people who are giving it. We’ll see.

I’d like to get some sewing done as my brain is starting to wonder what that is. I feel like it has been an eternity since I have been at the machine.

I went to the Timberlake Quilters Guild Blog, which is called Fiber Whimsy and saw some lovely photos from their string piecing workshop. One of the photos was a Spiderweb! They seem to be popping up all over. I guess this is message to get back to mine. I think it is one of the projects I want to work on in 2010. Stay tuned to see. Love the red background on the one pictured in the photo.

Tagging this Blog

As a librarian, you’d think I would have all the answers about tagging, but I don’t. I have been thinking about whether or not I should add a tag for the name of each project so you (and I!) can click on the name of a project and see all the posts about that project. I am not sure I could back and tag all the old posts unless I was laid up in bed for a period of time, but I could do it going forward. Let me know if you think that would help you. I would also like to k now what you do in your blog, if you have one.

I helped my mom download iTunes and subscribe to some podcasts. We listened to a little of the Cast-on podcast and she loved it. I can’t wait to hear whether the whole premise works for her or not. She has really gotten into Cat Bordhi, a knitter, lately so I downloaded some interviews to which she could listen as well.

Laura Wasilowski class "Flower Garden"
Laura Wasilowski class "Flower Garden"

Laura Wasilowski left a comment encouraging me to finish the piece that I started in her class. I took a look at it again and realized that the handstitching makes the piece look really spiky and unfriendly. I think I need to add some petals to the flowers and see if that makes it look more friendly.

You can see a watercolor painting that usually hangs in my dining room. I love this painting. It makes me feel calm. I just generally love beach and water scenes. That thought makes me wonder if that is why I like turquoise so much? After the painting project, the art is not back up yet. We may rearrange the art. However, as I seem to never be home, we haven’t discussed it yet.

Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! blog has a laptop sleeve tutorial on Sew, Mama Sew! While I am not fond of beige, I do like the swirly motifs on the fabric. This would make a nice gift. Yes, I am thinking ahead! I would probably add a strap or a handle, however. I have to admit that I find it hard to navigate that site, but sometimes the effort pays off and here is a list of a year’s worth of Elizabeth’s projects just for you.

Oregon Fabric
Oregon Fabric

My sister received Lakers v. Trailblazer tickets for Christmas from her boyfriend. Our dad lives near Portland, so I think they went together. While she was there she took the opportunity to raid and scan our childhood photos. In the course of that project she went to a craft warehouse to get supplies. While she was there, she found some fabric that she said was for me. YAY! I haven’t received it yet, but presume I will soon.

She has sent me some scans of my 5 year old self, which are not new, but still entertaining.

I saw a post on Twitter to a Detroit artist who is doing interesting things with blue. Steven Magsig has a blog called Postcards from Detroit where he posts paintings of little areas of the city and buildings in the city

I seem to remember mentioning that I spent an hour and half last Saturday talking to the CQFAers about developing a creative habit. I got lots of good feedback. Here are some tips from my talk:

  • Use what you have at hand
  • Use materials you feel comfortable using
  • Tools (KISS)
    • paper
    • pen
  • Start small
  • Acknowledge your distractions
  • Be process oriented not goal oriented. The goal will be achieved if you engage in the process
  • Develop a daily practice that works for you
  • Surround yourself with inspiration

I am thinking about something bigger with more detail on this subject, so am just giving you an overview.

Have an inspirational and creative weekend!!!!

Creative Prompt #50

We are doing something different today for the 50th Creative Prompt.

I was driving down the freeway on Monday and saw some graffiti painted on the freeway wall. I am not getting into a discussion about graffiti. I am sure there are lists for the “is graffiti art?” discussion. They are not here, though you are free to weigh in in the comments if you feel the desire.

Normally, I ignore graffiti, but happened to notice the shape of the bottom of the piece, which I thought was interesting. I am still in a different frame of mind after my talk last week, which made me think of this special Creative Prompt.

I would like you to find something that has inspired you – a magazine ad, a piece of poetry, something you photographed, something you saw on the web, etc. – and create a doodle or piece of art from that inspiration.

For example, if you took a photograph of a tree, you could put a piece of tracing paper over the tree shape and outline it and then create a doodle from that shape. It does not have to be drawn. Your piece can be any kind of art including poetry or painting or short stories or collage or…..

If possible, post your inspiration along with your response. Let me know if you have any questions.

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

New Row Quilt Thought

Pavement to Row Quilt
Pavement to Row Quilt

I have been thinking of row quilts on and off for a long time. I wrote about a row quilt idea back in April of 2007. I have seen a number of them that I really like. One I remember was from a Sue Nickels machine quilting class I took a number of years ago at an EBHQ workshop. The quilt was called Blue Tulips on Pink Skies and you can see it in her gallery. She is a great teacher, by the way. I would highly recommend one of her classes.

I haven’t actually made one as I have plenty of other UFOs! Still, I cannot help being inspired when I see patterns and motifs that might work.

As I was walking to the Courthouse from the parking lot on Tuesday for jury duty, I noticed that the walkway would make a great pattern for a row quilt, especially if you wanted a simple one.

I took this with my phone so there isn’t much that you can see. The basic idea of the paving was that they had laid three rows of 4patches (right of photo) by the width of the sidewalk. I was late so I didn’t count. Those four patches were interspersed with many, many (perhaps 20?) of rail fence blocks by the width of the sidewalk.

I would have to figure out how to make the proportions look like the sidewalk without making a quilt that was 1/8th of a mile long! Perhaps really small blocks? This particular idea might also be a good idea for a monochromatic quilt. Hhhhm lots of food for thought.

Inspiration everywhere!

Back Porch Redux

I meant to write about this sooner, but it just didn’t happen. I saw this Flowering Snowball quilt when I went to Back Porch in October.

Back Porch Flowering Snowball
Back Porch Flowering Snowball

I have to admit that I was shocked, because I thought that nobody was making that pattern except for me and here was a semi-local quilt shop teaching a class. I have to admit that I was disappointed, because I thought I was doing something unique. Call Back Porch if you want to sign up for the class.

When I went to the Kaffe Fassett lecture, we also went to the shop, where we bought a few things.

Back Porch Fabrics
Back Porch Fabrics

I wanted to restock up on the Lonni Rossi fabrics. The line was long and as we stood in line, I saw this quilt on the wall.

Back Porch Log Cabin
Back Porch Log Cabin

I know TFQ will like it, but I also like the cheerfulness of it. I think the background is dots.

Inspiration Tuesday

Crate & Barrel dishes
Crate & Barrel dishes

I am on jury duty and that is all I can say about that right now. This affects you, because it completely screws my already packed schedule.

I saw this set of dishes in Crate and Barrel on Friday when I was out with my mom. the Turquoise definitely called my name. I already have 2.5 sets of china so I won’t be buying this one, but I still love it. I’ll get it for my studio when I buy that loft downtown.

One of the things I like about it is the presentation. If you were to trace the lines of the whole group, I think it would look really cool. I just might do that.

Knitting

Knitted scarf
Knitted scarf

Just to be clear I do not consider myself to be a knitter. I know how to knit, as long as someone can help me. I have knit a hat, a vest, a sweater and am now working on a scarf, but I do not knit often or well. I do not have a knit stash.

I started a knitting project last year and it has been sitting in a drawer. A confluence of things came together to get me to pull it out.

First, I have been listening to the CastOn podcast lately, which I spoke about in a previous post. Second, all of my quilt projects which require hand work are in transition.

  1. Kissy Fish needs more machine quilting and then I have to prepare the facing before I can hand sew it. I am happy with the beading I have done on it.
  2. Beach Town is essentially done in terms of beading and hand embroidery. I steamed the living daylights out of it last weekend and now need to trim it and prepare the facing.
  3. Moon and Stars is a project I started a looooong time ago and don’t believe I have ever discussed here. I have to get it out and photo graph it and see what it really wants and needs.
  4. Flowering Snowball/Cross Blocks is embarrassing. OK, the project itself is not embarrassing. I am embarrassed to tell you what my problem is with it.
  5. Laura Wasilowski Garden piece need some petals. I think it is too spiky for me. She recently commented on my blog and got me to look at that piece again. I am going to put it up on my design wall and see what I see. Any comments you have would be appreciated.

As a result of all of the above, I had no handwork to bring over to my SIL’s house on Saturday for dinner and hanging out. Since I am physically incapable of just sitting and watching TV, I dragged out the knitting. My SIL got me back in the groove and I was off and running. I was really pleased with how much I got done.

Knitted scarf - detail
Knitted scarf - detail

Sorry the above photo is dark. I was trying to get the detail for you. I am doing the same stitch over and over. I don’t remember if it is knit or purl. I just know how to do it. 😉

Part of the reason I got this project out was hearing about Orphan.org on CastOn. They collect various things for care packages for foster kids who are at college. I have wanted to do something fiber related for charity and this might be the thing. I’ll see how this scarf goes and then decide.

Gift Post #8: Journal Cover #2

Full cover, open
Full cover, open

This is the journal cover I made for my mom for Christmas. It goes with the pencil roll and bag I also made. She really liked it, which is nice.

I might make it a little bigger for her, because the journal didn’t quite fit. I have to ask her about that. I don’t know if she will use up the journal the way I do, so it may not be necessary.

I am working on another journal now and I ripped it out twice to make sure it fit properly.

Creative Prompt #49: Opportunity

Opportunity of a lifetime

Take advantage of a new opportunity

Federal Business Opportunities

Opportunistic

Definition: 1 : a favorable juncture of circumstances <the halt provided an opportunity for rest and refreshment> 2 : a good chance for advancement or progress

Mars Rover, Opportunity

It is a good opportunity, mom

I never had the opportunity

opportunity knocks

Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC)

photo opportunity

equal opportunity employer

Two cool pictures:


See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

Inspiration from Vintage Ads

ResearchBuzz pointed me to this site, which has collected lots of vintage ads and put them up in categories. I checked out the Christmas ads and it was interesting to see that photography seemed to be the unifying theme through the decades. Kodak had quite a lot of ads

I think this site could provide a lot of inspiration for visual journal and collage.

Tara at ResearchBuzz passed on this warning: “One warning: the ads here do reflect the outlooks and prejudices of their times, and as such some of them are offensive. Pay attention to what categories you decide to browse. I wouldn’t let a kid go through this site on their own.”

clipped from www.vintageadbrowser.com

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