Month: March 2009

Inspiration Wednesday

Creativity has been on my mind. It seems to get that way in a different, more insistent way, after I have been drawing and looking at drawing blogs.

Elizabeth Gilbert: a different way to think about creative genius – From TED

A couple of people posted this video to their blogs a few weeks ago, including Linda Poole. I went back to this video to hear what she has to say again and I thought it would be good to post it here so you can revisit it. One thing she talks about is managing the emotional risk of creativity. She talks about the change from “having a genius” to “being a genius,” which I think is interesting to think about.

Amy Tan on Creativity – From TED

In this video, Amy Tan talks about the writing as the artful arrangement of words. She also talks about influences, such as help from the universe and inspiration from travel and different experiences.

Sketching #4

Creative Prompt Drawing: Kindness
Creative Prompt Drawing: Kindness

When I think of kindness, I think of the thoughtful things that people do for each other for no particular reason, except that they want to. This is another drawing in my story of moving the blog. This is the first one inside the studio and shows the welcoming nature of the neighborhood.

This drawing is in response to the creative prompt from March 13 for kindness. Feel free to join in.

Drawing, 3D Illustration and More

Mostly I was attracted to this blog because Seattle Sketcher has his Seattle Post-Intelligencer featured in today’s post. I really like Gabi’s work. In looking through the blog, I found I liked some of the other drawings artworks shown as well. Some I didn’t like, but I can’t like everything.

I also thought the look of the blog was great.

clipped from www.linesandcolors.com

Monday, March 16, 2009

Urban Sketchers
  blog it

Thinking about Drawing

This is, apparently, a blog that a professor is using for a class. What a cool idea! I like the text that the blog writer cites about drawing being a way to externalize ideas.
clipped from blogs.lib.ncsu.edu
clipped from blogs.lib.ncsu.edu
In the March 11 lecture, Marvin spoke about drawing as a node in the design process and as a way to externalize ideas and potential design solutions for both the fantastic imagined things that will never come to be and those that are possible to realize.
  blog it

Notebookism Inspiration and Prompts

Notebookism has two things that are useful in terms of inspiration today. One is a kit for getting over writer’s block. I like the format. It reminds me of the Dodecahedron in The Phantom Tollbooth. I think it could modified for fiber blocks. Also, if you look at the top photo on the right, there is a notebook with some words surrounded by bubbles. From what I can see, the design looks really interesting. Perhaps I will try it.

The lower photo is just downright hilarious. I’ll have to get out my Chanel No.5 (assuming Eau de Toilette works as well as cologne) just so I can be cool.

clipped from www.notebookism.com

Wb2
clipped from www.notebookism.com

B9vfl4b63kcgka34mKNF1qYDo1_500
  blog it

Tarts Progress

Sugar & Creamer
Sugar & Creamer

I finally had a brainwave for the spot in the upper lefthand corner – a sugar and creamer! I worked on it for about a week and am pleased with the results. The lid of the sugar bowl doesn’t quite show up as much as I wanted, so I may add a little line of embroidery under the lip of the lid. We’ll see.

Tarts Full - Frothy Drink Left
Tarts Full - Frothy Drink Left

The two pictures (above and below) look the same, but I have moved the frothy drink and am trying to decide where to put it. I am redoing that particular block as we speak, so the plaid will not be part of the final work.

Tarts Full - Frothy Drink Right
Tarts Full - Frothy Drink Right

Sketching #3

Creative Prompt Drawing: Bubbles
Creative Prompt Drawing: Bubbles

This drawing is in response to the Creative Prompt #3: Bubbles, posted on March 6, 2009. I thought of bubbly drinks and continued with my little story. I did buy and try a Sharpie, but I didn’t like the way it blobbed at the end of lines, so I am back to the Uniball Vision Exact. Gabi Campanario over at Seattle Sketcher is now using a Pigma Micron pen. I have one of those, so I may try that.

Proximidade Award Received

Proximidade Award
Proximidade Award

I was pleased that Artquiltmaker Blog received an award this week from Friend Julie! Hooray. It comes at a fortuitous time, though, because I have been wondering if I should open a Cafe’ Press or Etsy shop and sell cards with my quilts on them! I hope I still qualify. 😉

“This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award.”

Julie searched for more information and so did I, but neither of us found any origins for this award, so it may be some kind of chain letter award. The sentiment is good and it means a lot to me that Julie would choose me to receive one of her awards. She is a discriminating reader. I do try just to post what I enjoy writing about and what I think will interest you, dear readers. I would love prizes, wealth, fame and fortune, but that isn’t why I do this. I do it for fun, writing practice and to chronicle my quilt adventures.

I would give the award straight back to Julie. In order to spread the wealth a bit, though, here are the awardees to whom I am passing this award:

  1. Kristen from Ardent Peace: I love hearing about her daily goings on illustrated with photos
  2. Jan at Be*Mused: Fabulous photos and colors in her quilts
  3. Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber: I love the way she scours the web for people’s accomplishments and posts them. I also like the dyed fabrics she shows.
  4. Gabi at Seattle Sketcher: He is inspiring me to sketch more.
  5. Urban Sketchers: I really enjoy their drawings and am thrilled that they are willing to share. The idea of a joint blog where people post their work in a cooperative manner is so wonderful to me.
  6. Quilting Adventures Blog: Yes, this is a shop blog, but one of my favorite shops and I enjoy seeing what is going on at that shop. I also like it that they highlight the work of their customers. Nice work, Joyce and Phoebe!
  7. The Creative Mom Podcast & Blog: Amy has slowed down on her posting quite a bit, but she works very hard at putting out a professional product. I enjoy the creative prompts, which inspired me, and the music she finds to compliment the podcast.
  8. CraftSanity: It wouldn’t be right to leave out Jennifer Ackerman-Heywood. She does so much work promoting crafts and we all benefit.

Thanks for reading!

Thinking about UFOs

Facebook had a new look yesterday and instead of updating what you are doing, they want you to say what you are thinking about. I have to say that I am thinking about UFOs today. I am thinking about UFOs for a number of reasons:

  1. The Tarts is a UFO and I am slowly plowing my way through that project. I made a bit of progress over the past few nights and will give you an update on that soon.
  2. I have been catching up with Annie Smith’s podcast and she has one about UFOs. Her 2/11/2008 podcast (I know I am really behind!) gives some good ideas about identifying your UFOs and getting them done. She was inspired by Nadine Ruggles’ podcast episode on her short lived (but still available on iTunes) podcast, Driven to Quilt.
  3. Nadine Ruggles podcast episode #7 from 9/4/2006. Nadine comes across as a really smart person; her podcast was professionally done. I liked the high level how-to aspect of her podcast. I respect her decision not to continue, but it is a huge loss for those of us who listened to it. Sadly, her Driven to Quilt website is no longer available, even using my secret librarian tricks, but you can still find Nadine online at Dreamweaver’s Quilts. She has a totally cool website and blog. Very innovative layout. One thing I really like about the site is the Daily Stitch. It is like a daily calendar for quiltmaking. Update 3/15/2009:  The Driven to Quilt website is back in operation

I am pretty upfront about my UFOs with myself. I find that knowing what I need to finish is much better than hiding them away. It also helps me keep track of my frustrations with projects, so I can work through them and not relive them when I go back to the project. You can read about last year’s progress and non-progress in the 2008 UFO Report. Annie created a spreadsheet with over 60 UFOs on it. I am pleased to say that I don’t have that many.

The biggest problem I found with not finishing a project right away is that I lose my train of thought, or my style changes enough where I am no longer enthused about the colors or fabrics. That was a big lesson that I learned in pulling the Tarts out again.

I am goal oriented and really do want to finish my projects. As I have mentioned, I am trying to be more process oriented. I am getting better, but I still want to finish my projects or get rid of them. I did abandon some last year and am ok with that. They will be loved by someone else. I am thrilled that one of my UFOs is off the UFO list (Nosegay). I am also on the homestretch of sewing on the Eye Spy binding. I have to do the handstitching on the Crazy Test binding and I have the directions ready to go for facing the Pamela Allen House and Garden quilt-let. I’d like to get that one done before I take yet another workshop with her next month. If I can truly stay focused, including the Tarts, I will have four projects that I can say are done at the end of the year. That means four projects off my UFO list! Time will tell.

I know that finishing a bunch of UFOs, one after another, is not for me. I think that I need to intersperse the work with new projects. You saw my idea list in the 2008 Roundup!

I found a list of ideas/plan for getting your UFOs done at Suite 101. The article, from January 1, 2009, is by Christine Mann and called 6 Steps to Finishing your UFOs. It sounds a lot like the way I plan my projects at work and I don’t bring work home! However, you may be able to use the ideas.

One thing I think is important is to be at peace with your quilt work. If you don’t have UFOs, fine.  If you have UFOs, fine. If you never finish them, fine. If you finish them, fine. Do what works for you.   For me, I think it is important for me  to take something away from finished and unfinished works – a lesson or experience of some kind. I can’t tell you what your lesson is. I will, however, think about (and probably report back on) the lessons from my own UFOs.

I had a tough week. If Daylight Savings Time wasn’t bad enough, I also injured my shoulder on Wednesday. This means MUCH less computing. Computing is also taking me longer, because I am mousing with my left hand. I’ll do my best to keep up! This is a short post, but, hopefully, interesting. I would love to hear your comments about your UFOs, especially what you think about Yoda’s comment to Luke from The Empire Strikes Back “Do, or do not. There is no try”.

Creative Prompt #4: Kindness

Where does kindness come from? Does is spread? Is there a limit to how much one has?

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

Post the URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted in the comments area of this post. It is a good way to keep all the artwork together.

There is more information on the Creative Prompt Page.

Various and Sundry Monday

If you didn’t see the Cost Plus ad in the Sunday newspaper yesterday, go take a look. They are getting ready for spring and it is a very cheerful ad. They even have a grouping of Adirondack chairs that looks like my banner. Guess they’ve been trawling the web for ideas. 😉

Journal from Annie Smith
Journal from Annie Smith

Recently, I received an email from Annie Smith, yes, podcasting Annie Smith. In better times, I left a few comments on her website and also gave a donation. She contacted me, because she felt bad for not responding to my comments. I try to respond to comments on my blog, but it isn’t always possible and I certainly don’t expect any other blog authors to respond to my prattling. Still, she contacted me and wanted to send me something, because she hadn’t responded. I told her it wasn’t necessary, but she sent me the journal above anyway. As I have mentioned, I write in a journal nearly every day. While this is not the style of journal I normally use, it might be nice to try something different. Regardless it was very thoughtful.

Failure!
Failure!

I wanted a sturdier tote bag to carry around. I decided to try to make a bag out of the clear tablecloth covering type fabric (is it really fabric??). I thought it would also be cool to have a clear plastic bag even though I would have to be careful what I put in it! I felt justified on this thought during the past week when I was carrying about my soaked flower bag. As you can see from above, I haven’t, yet, been very successful completing the clear plastic tote. The problem is that I cannot sew this tablecloth fabric on my machine 🙁  . I tried it normally, but the feed dogs wouldn’t feed. I tried backing it with some slightly heavy tissue paper, figuring I could rip it off later and he machine still wouldn’t feed. I even asked at the store where I bought the fabric and they said it should be no problem. Above is a picture of me failing at sewing the clear plastic bag. Unless any of you have any brilliant ideas, I am going to buy some colorful staples and staple it together. Not sure how sturdy it will be, though, and I am concerned that the backs of staples  catching on things.

I realized that I hadn’t posted or written about the Flower tote. At least I couldn’t find any reference to it.

Flower Tote
Flower Tote

I finished this tote at the beginning of January. It is the first tote that I have made using one different fabric for the side so the pocket fabric stands out. I am pleased with that way of highlighting the ‘main’ fabric. It is a pretty easy way to do so. Basically, I cut the same numbers of fabrics out of two different fabrics as normal. Then I used one side piece in the flower print for an inside piece and one blue side piece for the outside side piece that gets the pocket attached to it.

Flower Tote detail
Flower Tote detail

From the City Quilter Newsletter: “If you or any friends will be in New York City the weekend of March 21/22, I thought you’d like to know of a wonderful quilt show put on by the major Manhattan guild, Empire Quilters. It is entitled Urban Inspirations, and takes place at the the Fashion Institute of Technology, a major teaching institution, which is just around the corner from us.” If you would like to subscribe to the City Quilter newsletter, email them at: info@cityquilter.com I can’t attend this year, but would love to see photos you take from the show.