Creativity Mirror

I went to A Work of Heart on Sunday with a group of friends to belatedly celebrate my birthday. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that place! I love the space, the creative energy, Andrea (the owner). I want that creative wonderland to be down the street from my house. Really, I want to live there, but I would settle for it being down the street from my house.

I invited some non-crafty people so Andrea the Awesome suggested the Altered Mirror project. I wasn’t that excited about that project, but went with it and am very pleased at how mind came out (top), how successfully everyone was able to work and how well all the mirrors came out.

The place is great and all of the supplies you see in the backgrounds of the above photos are available to use.

Step 1: Paint the Frame

The first step was to paint the frame and the little chipboard squares. I ended up painting all of them (top and sides). Above it shows the squares as I was painting the sides.

The color scheme I chose was to coordinate with the way we are going to paint our bedroom. I didn’t mean to put ‘CREATE’ as the message, but creativity is on my mind lately and it seemed like the right thing. I don’t know if the mirror will end up in our room ultimately, but we will see.

Step ?: Distress Some Squares

Each of the squares has something done to them: cover with paper, paint with crackle paint, ink, etc. Above I was using distressing/embossing powder on some of the squares. BLECH!!! I sincerely disliked how they came out and the effort was not worth the result. Live and Learn, though. I am glad I tried it and now I know.

Step Near the End: Embellishing

Above I have lined up all of the squares and glued them to the frame. I have also started to embellish. Andrea has FABULOUS glue and I only had to stick down some of the papers a little bit. The glue used to stick the squares down is different from that she suggested I use to apply the embellishments.

Kathy's piece

Kathy, from Everyday Bliss, wrote a great post about the day. She expresses some self doubt in the post, but I didn’t see that at all. I saw her start looking at the paper and dive right in. Kathy’s piece, with its orange base, reminds me so totally of her. It has whimsy and a little reality check (see the martini glass? She is the parent of a 2YO, after all) and a fabulous girly, but elegant girly look. Check it, and her project out, at the Everyday Bliss blog.

One of the great things about the afternoon, as I mentioned, was that everyone was successful. Everyone worked on their mirrors and created beautiful pieces. Everyone seemed happy and to have a good time. There was  a nice creative and relaxed feeling that permeated the event.

Julie's

I love Julie’s message. Her message of “Today” makes me think about not looking to the future too much. It is a good reminder to be in the moment – or to balance planning for the future while living in the moment.

Helen's

Helen seemed really uncomfortable when she started. I don’t know what Helen’s creative experience is to date. She did the most amazing work. I love the color scheme and her selections of paper and embellishments. It was so fantastic to watch her work.

Bron's

Bron’s embellishments came across to me as delicate.

Mary's

Mary knew not getting the squares straight would drive her crazy, so she made the squares wonky. That small changed added movement and now the straightness is not an issue. I adore her background color.

Maureen's

Maureen used her hand dyed fabric instead of paper to cover the chipboard squares. It reminds me of a painting I saw at the SFMOMA. I’ll amend this post if I remember which one it was.

Terri's

I love the red that Terri used for the background color. Her piece has a bit of an Asian feel.

Camille's

Camille insisted that she was not crafty. Her piece, for her daughter’s new bedroom, tells me otherwise. I had a pink and purple bedroom when I was a girl, so I am partial to this piece.

Maggie's

Maggie wanted to make a piece to commemorate our sorority. I love it that she used yellow to to prevent the pink from getting to sickly sweet. This piece is very cheerful.

Kim's

Kim has more experience than anyone with the various tools and supplies. If you look closely at her piece, you can see where she used a rubber stamp and then embossed. The embossing actually came out well on hers.

Kim's also

I think the above photo reflects the colors she used a little better.

Sharon's

Sharon’s piece reminds me of sailing and code flags. She says that she chose a color scheme that would coordinate with her duvet cover.

Adrienne's

Adrienne, or AJA, is one of the quiltmakers with whom I do the Bullseye Project. She came all the way from Tucson to be at my party. I was so happy! She and Julie and I went to dinner after the party. I love the way she used the bottle cap and the garter hooks.

Valerie's

Valerie and I see each other once a year. We met in the baby class when we were both pregnant and our kids used to play together when they were small. Now we see each other about once a year, but it is great. She is a great sport at being creative with me.

I am thinking of having my birthday there again next year.

Mom and I had museum day last Friday. We first went to the DeYoung and saw the Amish Abstractions  exhibit. This is an exhibit of Amish quilts from the Stephen and Faith Brown collection.

I could look at Amish quilts for years and never get bored. I went to the Esprit exhibit at the DeYoung back in the Dark Ages and I even demonstrated handquilting during one of their free evenings through a quilt class I was taking at the time. That was in the old museum building and before they charged extra for the special exhibits. Times definitely change!

I really tried to look at each quilt for more than 30 seconds (which my mother tells me is the average time that someone looks at a piece of art in an exhibit.

Shutter Block

I liked all of the quilts. The ones that particularly stuck in my mind were a small crib quilt with two vertical rows of 3 Jack’s Chains* and a small 6 block crib quilt using a block I had never seen before. I am calling it the “Shutter quilt.” Do you know the name of the block?

The hidden complexity (quilting) in the simplicity (piecing) fascinates me. The piecing designs are often (not always) relatively simple. As the viewer gets closer, s/he can see the complexity of the quilting designs. Many of the quilts had feathers quilted into the border. A quilt using the Bars design had a feather wreath in the middle surrounded by an octagon of straight line quilting design with little quilted clamshell stitching accenting the octagon line. This detail was invisible unless I got up very close to it.

One thing I particularly noticed this time was the deft use of their limited color palette. They use certain colors, which I knew. The glow that I have noticed in some of the quilts comes from the colors and how they were put together. This must seem obvious to you, but somehow it struck me as I was comparing some of the quilts that had this glow to the more subtly shaded pieces.  I noticed that the more subtle quilts did not use the salmon, turquoise and lavender colors. I think, based on this quick trip, that this is the case.

I was drawing the shutter piece block from the crib quilt when my mom sat down on a bench nearby and began talking to the lady next to her. My mom talks to everyone. They were talking about a 9 patch quilt made partially from 4patches when I heard the lady said “oh this is the man that owns the quilts.” A nice looking, white haired man in his mid fifties to early sixties wearing a blue Oxford shirt was standing there. Of course, my mom started talking to him!

She started in asking him how long he had been collecting (since the mid-1970s) and how he stored the quilts at home (acid free boxes) and did he display them at home (no). I decided to mention the Jack’s Chain, which was listed as “pattern unknown”. I have had that pattern on my to do list for years and originally saw it at a shop in the East Bay as a class. Even then it was called Jack’s Chain. He said that he would look it up and made a note. This made me think that he provided all the information about the quilts and the museum didn’t do research. I don’t know for sure, however. Then my mom asked me to give him my quilt business card. No, I do not have a quilt business!, but I do have a card that lists my blog address. He actually looked at it and commented on me having a blog!

Marie over at Z Quilts had a long review of the quilts and the exhibit catalog in which she posted some photos. My favorite, though I liked all of the quilts, is the one mentioned above I call the Shutter quilt. The pattern had no name according to the card next to the quilt. I want to look it up in Barbara Brackman’s book, or int he new Jinny Beyer block book, but haven’t yet. Stay tuned for that info.

I overheard some guys commenting that it looked like the shutter of a camera closing or opening. It is the 5th image on Marie’s page.

The museum had a boatload of stuff in their regular gift shops and they had a full shop right outside of the exhibit. One of the items that really drew me were wooden boxes with quilt designs inlaid on the top. They were form Quiltboxes.com (about $125) and were absolutely gorgeous. I liked the one with the Dutchman’s Puzzle design.

After the DeYoung, we went over to the Legion of Honor and saw the Cartier and America exhibit. This was a jewelry exhibit. I enjoy seeing different types of art and craft exhibits because I enjoy seeing the commonalities with quiltmaking. I also enjoy getting inspiration from other media. Of course, the jewels were fantastic. There was one stone that over 143 carats. Can you imagine? This type of jewelry is so out of my realm of possibility that I just looked at the designs and admired the artistry. There was one tiara of which I wish I could have taken a photo. The swirls would have made excellent applique’ designs. That tiara was in the exhibit catalog, which I didn’t buy. I may buy it later and if so, I will show it then.

Stomacher Broach detail

I was also very interested in the historical aspect of the exhibit. The exhibit cards said who bought the piece, who owned it and, in some cases, whether it was purchased for a gift. Some information mentioned changes to designs with the times. The meager information made me think that such an exhibit would be a good way of getting people into the history of the era. There were obvious changes in  the jewelry designs as times changed. Flappers, for example, didn’t need stomacher broaches.

It may be that pieces for the exhibit were selected for their relevance to SF, because there were a lot of pieces owned or purchased by prominent people in local history.

I did, finally, learn what a pave’ diamond setting was. Apparently Ms. Wallis Simpson loved pave’ settings for her panther broaches.

Some of Princess Grace’s jewels were there as were Elizabeth Taylor’s. Sadly, I was very tired after all this visual stimulation, so I didn’t look and read as carefully at these as I would have liked.

I was very annoyed and disappointed with the selection of postcards. None of my favorites were available as postcards. It was probably a good thing as the postcards were poor reproductions anyway. Not the high quality to which I am accustomed. The exhibit catalog was wonderful, but times are tough so I didn’t buy that either. It is on my list. I think you would enjoy it as well!

*No affiliation with this site; I just think the picture of her Jack’s Chain is a good example of the pattern.

Black & White Cup Set

I saw this at a Coffee Bean coffee shop last week and thought that the design would provide good inspiration.

Branches

I saw these branches on the ground when I was at the DeYoung last Friday in the park in between the two museums. I thought the lines were cool.

Many Clocks

I thought this was an interesting display of clocks. I like how there is one square one.

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?

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!

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.

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:

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.

No rest for the wicked! Even on Christmas you get a prompt. I am doing it early so I can do a Christmas post for tomorrow and so you have time to get it done in a timely fashion.

Please note that every single holiday in the universe is NOT listed. This is a small sampling.

Holiday preparations

New Year’s Day

Holiday packages

Three Kings Day

Holiday trip

Martin Luther King Day

I am going on holiday

Valentine’s Day

Golf Holiday

President’s Day

Definition: A holiday is, in the English-speaking world, a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observation is warranted.

Chinese New Year

Mardi Gras

Sales tax holiday

St. Patrick’s Day

Holiday train

Baha’i New Year

Holiday house

Name Day

Favorite holiday?

Saints Day

Holiday boutique

Easter

Holiday season

Passover

Holiday party

Earth Day

Home for the holidays

May Day

Cinco de Mayo

Mother’s Day

Memorial Day

Spring Bank Holiday (UK)

Flag Day

Take a holiday

Father’s Day

Juneteenth

Fourth of July

Ramadan

Birthdays

Labor Day

Rosh Hashanah

Yom Kippur

Columbus Day

Halloween

Dia de los Muertos

Veteran’s Day

Thanksgiving

The TSA’s helpful holiday travel tips

Advent

World Aids Day

What will you do for the holidays?

St. Nicholas Day

Holiday lights

Channukah

Holiday Crafts

El Eid

Holiday Bowl

Christmas

Christmas Ale from Anchor Steam

The Holiday (2006) (movie), Directed by Nancy Meyers

Kwanzaa

Boxing Day

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.

Hot potatoes

Hot cocoa

You look HOT!

Hot flashes

Being in hot water

Hot bath

Hot rock massage

Walking on hot coals

Lava

Hotwire.com

Is the oven hot enough?

Hot plate

Hotmail.com

Hot Wheels

Hot ice

What’s hot now?

Is that food hot?

My food isn’t hot!

Have you seen the hot drink quilt, She had to have her Latte? I really need to take a better picture. This one was taken in the olden days before digital… No excuse, I know

Watch out! That’s hot!

The stove is hot

There is more information on the Creative Prompt Page.

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.

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

There is a lot going on. I realized at some point over the weekend that I had not really inventoried what I for gifts. This year will be a much leaner Christmas even than last year, but I still have a few things to buy and a lot to wrap. There is a lot going on at work and I have just been ignoring everything, and focusing on the gifts I need to make.  I got myself in gear, did an inventory and started working on my Christmas shopping.

I am an inveterate cyber-shopper. Before the web had stores, I would spend the Friday after Christmas with all of the catalogs I had been hoarding on the phone ordering via phone. Since I do mostly online shopping, I inevitably find other sites that might be of interest.

Liesl from Oliver + S pointed me to her free mitten ornament pattern. It can be used for gift tags, winter decorating, tree ornaments or an advent calendar. I could see where the maker could have a nice little reminder of favorite fabrics from the year by using project scraps for the mitten cuffs. Thanks, Liesl!

Liesl pointed me to Alabama Chanin. I like the look of their blog, which they call a journal. I believe they are a clothing company. They do sell scrap bags of organic cotton fabrics. I saw an interesting jacket on the cover of one of their catalogs via their blog/journal. I am thinking about renewing my wardrobe, but want classic pieces with interest which look good on me. That is a project for much later, but it is on my mind.

Quilts, Inc in Houston has website with a list of the winners from this year’s show. Robbi Joy Eklow won second place in the Art-Abstract Large category. It is one of her gear type quilts. I saw Moon Garden by Judy Coates Perez last year at PIQF She won Honorable Mention in the Art-Painted Surface category.

I was pointed to the Running with Scissors Blog for an interview of Susan Shie. She talks a lot about her airpen work and how it has changed the pace of her work (she can do a lot more). She is doing less hand work, but I don’t know if she has completely stopped that. She also talks about spending the day with President Obama sitting by the side of a river and talking with him while they eat cheeseburgers. It is a very sweet image. After the debacle with the White House party crashers recently, I was thinking that it would be nice if a “regular Joe or Jane” was invited to every White House event. It is, after all, our tax dollars at work.

Also, some time ago I took a class at the Marin Needle Arts Guild weekend retreat from Gwen Marston. It was a two day class and we learned Liberated Quiltmaking. I ended up with my quilt Women’s Work 1. I used her technique to having making a lot of different house blocks.

I found a blog called Block Party and they show a tutorial for making star blocks similar to the ones that Gwen Marston teaches. I thought you might enjoy making a few. As I scrolled through the blog, I found they had tutorials for other blocks as well.

Somehow I found my way to a Dutch site full of Mariner’s Compasses and other round designs created by Jacqueline De Jonge. I have linked you to the English version. De Jonge’s work reminds me of Judy Mathieson and her work looks similar to Barbara Barber’s circular work. I took Barbara Barber’s class at PIQF once and should be able to make these without another class, but De Jonge’s quilts look so cool, I would happily take a class from her as well. There is a review and picture of a great block one of her students made. You can buy the patterns and fabric collections at BatiksPlus. I was surprised at the cost of some of the patterns ($46), but I think it would probably become clear once I actually saw the complexity of the pattern in real life. Not all are that expensive. I think I would rather have a class form her or a book and do the drawings myself.

This reminds me that I have an idea to make a circle quilt a la Malka Dubrawsky, but with inset circles like Ruth McDowell teaches and shows in her Piecing book instead of the dyed circles that Malka uses.

If I had unlimited money, after I bought the diamond earrings, I would buy the Aurifil Suitcase. Have you seen this? If I bought it I would probably never use any of the thread, because I wouldn’t want to break up the set! The colors are luscious. I love the thread and having it in a suitcase keeps the dust away.

Spiderwebs are all over the place. I saw another one on Oh Fransson’s blog. Her spiderweb has her signature colors with a tinge of Christmassy-ness and grey centers.

Janome has a content running called “Pass it On“. You answer some questions about where you learned to sew and are entered to win. Your entry and photos become their property and will not be acknowledged or returned blah blah blah. You can win a sewing machine, serger or big pack of thread. How did you learn to sew and who taught you?

A lot of brain dumps lately, I know. Hope you are keeping your inspiration high during this busy time of year.