Creative Prompt #98: Party

party supplies

party preparation

party invitation

birthday party

A gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. (Wikipedia)

party planner

political parties

Democratic Party

Republican National Party

Tea Party or tea party (depending!)

Libertarian Party

Green Party

party theme

crash a party

Tupperware party (or Avon or Mary Kay or Creative Memories or….)

Communist party

party with us!

join the party.

hold a party

party caucus

party favors

bridal shower

dinner party

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago

cocktail party

house party

party rentals

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. Are you already a member? I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted. Post yours and get kudos!

Possibility?

Free Fabric
Free Fabric

This fabric was included free when I ordered the Mexican food pillowcase fabric from Whichway Quilting. It is beige/taupe/tan (no info on the selvedge on my piece) so I wasn’t very excited about it. However, when I washed and pressed it, I noticed the incredible dimensionality. It made me think that this fabric would make a really cool journal cover or pencil roll. I only have a FQ, so the project would have to be small. Also, it isn’t as if I don’t already have a thousand projects on my to do list. We’ll see.

More Stars for San Bruno

Bron's Stars
Bron's Stars

I mentioned that I went to a party on Sunday. Bron, a CQFAer was kind enough to give me two star blocks for the project. Bron is originally from New Zealand and is the leader of our little band. She keeps us on track at meetings. I was fortunate enough to see some of her work last Sunday. She does beautiful NZ imagery.

If you would like to make a block (or blocks), here are the parameters. All blocks are welcome!

Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8? or less (we will work with any size)
remember to sign your block!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Gift Bags So Far

Gift Bags 1&2
Gift Bags 1&2

One of my medium nephews was over while his parents were gone and he decided he wanted to make a pillowcase.

The first step was to select fabrics. In the course of doing that, we pawed through my Christmas bag fabrics. I was reminded that I needed to get busy on some bags for 2010.

I have two gifts for two different people at work who have been especially helpful to me this year, so I decided to make bags for them. I don’t normally spread bags outside of the family, but the alternative would be to actually wrap the gifts with PAPER. Ugh! So, above are the bags. I used the French Seam method that I learned from the Twiddletails pillowcase pattern. I am not at all near making very many bags this year so far. That can always change, though, right?

Gift Post #1

Bron's Little Wallet
Bron's Little Wallet

This is the first of a few gifts that I made this season. I really missed making the quantity of gifts I made last year. It was fun, but I was way too busy this year. I’ll have to think about it and plan better for next year.

I made this Little Wallet as a hostess gift for a friend who hosted a CQFA meeting on Sunday. We went to her house and just did handwork and chatted. It was very pleasant and relaxing. She has some beautiful trees in her backyard that were sending showers of leaves down as I looked out the window. Gorgeous.

The afternoon made me think that I need to spend more time just sitting and stitching. Anyone need right of first refusal for artworks in exchange for a salary each year?

Bron's Little Wallet-closed
Bron's Little Wallet-closed

Early Mid December Diamonds

Early Mid December Diamonds
Early Mid December Diamonds

These diamonds could also be called Late Early December Diamonds. You pick and I’ll go along with it. I am nearing the end of my pressing and cutting. I don’t think I have anymore fabric enroute and I plan on keeping it that way. Famous last words, right?

That stripe at the top is my committment to making another Interlocking Triangles quilt. I have the Mixmasters Fizz and the P&B Fizz which are destined for that type of quilt as well. I worked on a design, but am thinking I may just use the same design I used for Spiky Stars. It is a good design and will look different with different fabrics. We’ll see.

Shall I make a New Year’s Resolution to that effect? I never make New Year’s Resolutions, so that would be new. We’ll see.

Stars for San Bruno

On September 10, 2010 a gas line exploded and leveled a neighborhood near where we live. It was big news at the time, but the world has moved on. In that neighborhood lived our cousin. His house was not destroyed, but was severely damaged. Also, the Young Man’s school friend lived there. His house was destroyed and he and his father ran for their lives.

Barsha's Star
Barsha's Star

My mom put out a call for blocks that we can make into quilts for these families and we received our first block today. One is promised and one is in the mail.

Barsha taught sewing in a local county for years before she retired. She is a gifted seamstress and I go to her when I need new pants. 😉 I first met her through a local guild. She is also a gifted quiltmaker, teacher and wearables artist. She has a wonderful, light studio and knows how to use a serger.

Thanks, Barsha!

Would you like to help? The parameters are:

Block backround: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern)
block size: 8″ or less (we will work with any size)
remember to sign your block!

Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Creative Prompt #97: Sky

Skyee vodka (perhaps they don’t pronounce it the same way)

Sky.com

they sky opened

skydiving

light up the night sky

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. Are you already a member? I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted. Post yours and get kudos!

The sky is the part of the atmosphere or of outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely. (Wikipedia)

a kind of blue

Pie in the sky

a kind of content management system

1980s band

software

Vanilla Sky

Skycoaster

Sky commander

night sky

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. Buddha quotes (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

Various & Sundry Wednesday

As I mentioned, I opened a Cafe Press store around Thanksgiving (http://www.cafepress.com/Artquiltmaker). I was thrilled to check on the sales and had two sales after only two days. AWESOME! if you are reading this and you bought something, thanks! I know it doesn’t sound like a lot to you big time retail executives, but I am excited. Don’t worry! I am not going to harangue you with sales pitches all the time, but won’t you go take a look and buy?

American Patchwork & Quilting Winter 2010
American Patchwork & Quilting Winter 2010

The Henry Glass Designer Holiday showcase of Project Goodness (or whatever it is called) just ended or is about to end. Linda Lum DeBono (Mark Lipinski’s friend) started out the first day with her blog post. She showed the picture above and I thought it was very like It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap, but much cuter. Is there another Christmas quilt in my future? I don’t know. I’ll buy the magazine, though. In general I found this blog hop confusing and gave up after a day or two. I did enjoy seeing the artists’ work.

Heather Muldur Peterson is also on the Project Hit Parade (or whatever it is called) and she has a great project in her blog post using her new fabric line called Artful Home. I like the way the stripes work in the piece. The colors are very vivid. She must have great light (or a special secret) for photographing. Her project is a dish passer, which I needed the other night. Perhaps I will make one. I assume I will have to make one for each of my baking dishes, so perhaps not.

I joined Creating the Hive when Lisa F of C&T Publishing invited me. I don’t do much there except repost my blog post and respond to comments. I was thrilled when my Red Journal post was featured last week! It makes me feel like all this writing is valuable! If you want an invitation, leave a comment and I will invite you. I think you can join without an invitation as well.

Last week I talked about the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting I attended. At that meeting, Adrianne brought a bag she had made. I really liked the bag and was thinking that I should buy the pattern. I thought I might have bought it already as the Grand Revival name rang a bell. I did a search in my blog to see if I had bought it and found that I had THOUGHT about buying that exact same bag pattern, but apparently didn’t. I wrote a blog post about it back in September. Perhaps that is a sign that I should actually buy the pattern, which I didn’t. Yes, I am still lamenting hte fact that I have so many bag patterns and haven’t made many fo them.

I did see a free bag pattern from Rebeka Lambert of Artsy Craft Babe, which might satisfy my urge for a new bag pattern. I really want to make some gifts for the holidays, but time is slipping and I am only wishing. We’ll see. Not having to wait for a pattern to arrive buys me time.

Somehow, in clicking around, I ended up at Kathy Loomis’ blog. She didn’t have a lot of pictures and sometimes I am too pressed for time to read a lot of words (I should remember that when I am going on and on, right?), but her post about taking a leap in art quilt imagery was interesting. I don’t know if I agree with her completely, but it was interesting to read some writing about going beyond the “bad, citing “clunky, obvious images” and “sappy, crappy ugly quilts or embroideries or puff-painted sweatshirts.” I think I got a glimpse of reaching beyond during the fabric exercise at the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I have been struggling with putting fabrics together and that exercise (which I am more and more in awe of as time goes by) really helped me. I don’t want to make representational quilts or quilts about AIDS or depression or the impending train wreck that is environmental disaster. I do want to reach beyond what I am doing now. I am not sure what that means quite yet, but since this quilt adventure is a process for me, I am sure I will reach and find it.

REACH BEYOND

I saw a feature story on the web about a grave in Massachusetts on Andi Stern’s blog with a really interesting carving of a cephalopod on it. Cthulhu was in the title of the story and I didn’t know what what it meant so I looked it up on Wikipedia and found some clarification on some other aspects of the story. Regardless, the image looks like a cheerful beast and I thought some child might like it on a quilt some day, so I saved the photo to my inspiration file.

Finally, support some artists at USA Projects. See information about the project in the Next Web Social Media blog post.

I Do Not Like the Crocus

3 Purple Possibilities
3 Purple Possibilities

I am working on a, as yet unnamed, purple project using the fabrics on the bottom of the photo to the left. Those fabrics are from a Birch Bundle I bought at the end of the summer. The project is based on a picture I saw on Flickr and posted here in September.

I was cutting the rectangular patches for the piece in a random manner as I pressed fabrics, but wasn’t really ready to get busy until this week. I ordered some possible fabrics and got busy sewing yesterday.

I thought the Crocus (on the right, above) would be perfect. I picked it out using a color card that TFQ brought with her when we went to PIQF. I finally got around to ordering it. When it arrived, I looked at it in various lights around my house. Then I laid it out with the other two solids: Violet (left) and Deep Violet (middle). the two additional purples are from Free Spirit.

The Crocus is too grey/dusky for my project. That was clear from looking at it. That left me to decide from the two other choices. I think this experience is a good reminder for me to remember that a piece of fabric that looks good in a small piece may not be as perfect when I see it in a larger piece.

Violet as Piecing Possibility
Violet as Piecing Possibility

In order to make the choice, I laid out some of the pieced rectangles on the Violet. The photo above looks a lot more red than the real thing. Still, I should consider that the red may show up more in certain lights. The quilt will be going to live in a much different lighting situation.

Deep Violet as Piecing Possibility
Deep Violet as Piecing Possibility

I am liking the Deep Violet. There is a lot more pink in the above piecing that I intend in the overall quilt. I need to stop the random cutting and be more organized about my cutting now that I am serious about piecing this.

Creative Prompt #96: New

New shoes

fresh

Newness

New Horizons

untainted

new ideas

NYSE

newish

Newton

New Orleans

New England

New Age

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. Are you already a member? I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted. Post yours and get kudos!

New York Times

New Haven

New Hampshire

New Balance

what’s new

New Mexico

new releases

The New Republic

New Jersey

The New Yorker

Handkerchief Inspiration

Butterfly Handkerchief
Butterfly Handkerchief

As my mom moves into her new house, she is unearthing all sorts of interesting things. She brought this handkerchief with her when she came to help me on Saturday. The butterfly is crocheted and we think there is a bit of tatting around the edge. This was made by either my godmother or my great grandmother. We both have significant amounts of similar needlework from both women. I want to find a project where these bits of needlework can be showcased.

Scraps

Cheerful Baskets
Cheerful Baskets

Recently, I was thinking about scraps. Part of my thought process stemmed from a discussion I had with a New Zealand quilt friend, another part had to do with the completion of the Cheerful Baskets quilt and, finally, looking and thinking about some of TFQ’s quilts and process.

For me, a scrap quilt is a quilt made from many, many different fabrics. The fabrics do not have to all come from my scrap basket. Cheerful Baskets is a scrap quilt, because many fabrics were used. Most of the triangles are different. The triangles, for the most part, did come out of my scrap basket. The baskets did not, but are mostly different. We purchased a small piece of many of the yellows based on the exact shade of the yellow. There are many different prints used as the background.

Cheerful Baskets is a thoughtfully made quilt, not just in the piecing, but also in the color selection and placement. I do not think that any old scrap should be placed next to any other scrap. Scrap quilts, for me, are not a jumbled mess.

I don’t have a large scrap pile, because I either toss the scraps or use them up. I don’t like to waste, though, so periodically my scrap basket overflows.

Four patches
Four patches

One thing that I do is plan a bit ahead for my projects. I have list of pieces I need to cut for scrap quilts. One shape I am cutting now is 2×2″ squares in turquoise and purple. I am making some four patches from these pieces. I put these through the machine in between other chain piecing, so they act as leaders and enders a la Bonnie Hunt (she mentions this technique in a recent post, but I think she goes into more detail in an older post). This type of in between piecing/leaders and enders also is great to warm up your sewing muscles when you start a sewing session.

Along these lines, I also cut squares of various sizes and keep them in a bag for when I need some squares. This is not a well thought out plan and I should probably cut squares all the same size and put them in bags according to their size. I haven’t gotten that far yet.

The idea is to cut regular sized pieces so that you have a selection to choose from when you need some shapes for a project. You can also cut different shapes such as triangles with an eye towards half square triangles, rectangles, etc. This is also a good task when you don’t know what else to do.

The Fabric of the Year (FOTY) quilts are, technically, scrap quilts. They are also charm quilts, but scrap quilts do not have to be charm quilts if you are working TJW. As you know, for the FOTY quilts, I cut a piece from each fabric I purchase or use throughout the year and then make a quilt top from those pieces in January. This concept can be used in general as I am with an upcoming pink quilt and an upcoming blue quilt. I am cutting 2.5×4.5″ rectangles of all of the pinks I come across, either newly purchased or from my stash. When I have enough I will arrange them on the wall and sew them together. I am doing the same for blues.

I don’t do this, but I think it would be useful to sort my scraps by color. I don’t think I have enough scraps to sort by color. I don’t want to devote fabric space to scraps, so I try and keep the scrap pile manageable.

Corner Store block and patches
Corner Store block and patches

I found a new source for scraps when I started the FOTY 2010 project. I use a ruler when I cut the diamonds and end up with two triangles. After seeing the Corner Store project in Pretty Little Mini Quilts, I decided I could do that with the triangles. The block is shown in the middle. The triangles are added to a square of Kona Snow and then trimmed to size. The triangles are all slightly different sizes and I am trying to take advantage of the wonkiness. The nice thing about this project is that the triangles never even go into my scrap basket. They go into a separate pile and are sewn on to the squares.

The Red Journal is also a scrap project. As longtime readers know, I have been sewing together little slivers of red fabric for awhile to make a new piece of fabric. The technique is called Mosaic quilting, a concept developed by Shannon Williams. It has all the qualities that work for me for scrap quilting. The maker sews random pieces of like colors together to make new fabric. I do this with red and want to do it with all of the colors, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

I think there are a lot of ways to think about scraps. Above are a few of the ways I think about and use scraps. Hope it is useful.

Pillowcase Party

I am really sad that the weekend is over. I really could use another day or two off.

There was lots of cooking and baking and visiting and guests. We also went and saw a movie, had 6 boys over, destroyed and fixed our network (sort of) and talked to Grama on the phone. It was a busy weekend.

November Pillowcases
November Pillowcases

I had hoped to make lots and lots of things. In reality I was only able to finish three pillowcases. For some reason, I couldn’t put one of these together without ripping out significant portions. I had problems with all of them. I have to admit that I just took the ripping in stride and dealt with it.

I have three more pillowcase burritos pinned and ready to sew, but haven’t done it yet. My nephew came over and he started a pillowcase also. He has to sew the front and do the French seam and then he will be done.

The Young Man gave the pillowcase he made to his friend who lost everything in the San Bruno fire. He was able to, finally, make the gift this weekend. The friend’s mom almost started to cry. I was glad we could do something small for them.

So, it was a big pillowcase weekend. What did you make?

Modern Quilt Guild Meeting

I went to the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meeting on Monday night. It was a perfect confluence of events that allowed me to go. Thanks to DH who picked up the slack at home!

We did show and tell. The quilts were very modern, for the most part, and there was a wide range of experience and styles. I should have brought the Zig Zaggy top. It would have fit right in. I want to quilt it or get it quilted before I drag it out into the world. I don’t want people to be sick of seeing it. I brought It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap, because I wanted to work on the sleeve. I think I put in about 2 stitches. People admired it.

Mostly, the members seemed like people who had just started sewing again after a hiatus or were new to sewing/quiltmaking. There was some discussion of the tube method of binding and various shops – two I hadn’t heard of! One is along my beaten path, so I will have to check it out and take TFQ there when she visits again. It was a great group. I really enjoyed the people.

Someone brought some great books. I was able to take a look at the new Amy Butler bag book, Style Stitches, which is a beautiful book. There were two bags in it that sorely tempt me, though I am a bit scared to take on another Amy Butler pattern after the Sweet Harmony bag. I was also able to look at Elizabeth Hartman’s new book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmaker (yay! quiltmaker in a title!). I liked the look of it and found some tips and tricks that might make it worth a purchase. I also took a quick look at I {heart} Patchwork, which I had never heard of. There was so much going on that I really only had a minute to look at it. I don’t know what Zakka is, but what I saw was interesting and worth another look.

Everyone was really friendly and welcoming. One person, Adrianne of Little Bluebell, went to Quilt Market! She has great pictures on her blog about the experience. I can’t believe that they accept bloggers as press! You have to show some effort at a business, but she said it wasn’t that hard to register. WOW! A whole new door has opened to me!

I saw Chris, again, and still didn’t get much of a chance to talk with her in person! I hope to see her again!

There was a guy there! George magically appeared at the beginning of the fabric exercise. I don’t know if I just didn’t see him or if he came in late. I liked hearing his perspective, partially because of all the press about guys and lately, but also because I am never around quiltmaking guys. He talked about his experiences in fabric stores. As a result, we asked him what fabrics he gravitated towards, which spawned an interesting discussion.

We did a GREAT fabric exercise. Ruth, who is the owner/convener/president/quilt maven of the group asked everyone to bring 20 pieces of fabric. She promised we would get them all back unscathed. I was reluctant, but threw a stack of reds and aquas into the bag just before I left.

BAMQG Fabric Selection
BAMQG Fabric Selection

There were a huge variety of fabrics. Laying on the tables, a lot of the fabrics looked like the old Hoffmans. As people started digging around, I could see that they were what people consider to be modern. Without the Kona Snow, they look really different.

The first exercise was to pick one fabric, get together with someone (great ice breaker as well) and pick 6-8 additional fabrics for a quilt. Subsequent versions of the exercise ensued.

There were a number of great things about these exercises:

  • no cutting = no fear. We weren’t actually going to make the quilt.
  • working with fabrics that weren’t mine opened my eyes to different possibilities.
  • working with someone gave me different ways to look at fabric combinations and learn from them.
  • reminded me that a fabric avalanche might be an opportunity to see fabrics in a new way.
  • there is always more fabric, so put the fabrics together in interesting ways.
Fabric Combo
Fabric Combo

Above is the last group I put together with another quiltmaker. The grey is something I never would have added, but the exercise was to pick two fabrics and they had to be touching each other. I picked that lovely turquoise/aqua and white in the upper right hand corner next to the red/white plaid. It was touching a grey. I picked a couple of other greys and more red and aqua and I think the group works.

I think this is a group I could really feel comfortable with. The meetings are not convenient, which is a real shame. I am going to try and go again and see where my attendance and participation on the Ning part of the guild lead.