Have fun and link to your responses! Ask a friend to join, too! You can do the prompts together.
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!
Some of us are having issues getting our prompt responses out. SherriD is not one of them. Check out her recent responses. She is doing a number of responses in FABRIC on one piece and it is wonderful.
…and some thoughts on donation quilts are posted at Mary’s Art Musings. Mary makes some really good observations about the repair of a quilt and has some great tips on making donation quilts. We will definitely be taking these into consideration as we make the Stars for San Bruno quilts.
Links
I saw something on my blog dashboard that I had never seen before: a way to see who was linking to my blog. Here are some of the latest:
I started another piece of scrap fabric in anticipation of making another journal like the Red Journal. It will take while to make a big enough piece from scraps, but a person has to start somewhere.
Above is the last group of diamonds for 2010. Hopefully, I have to count and make sure I have the right number to make some kind of even quilt.
Background Testing
My first order of business was to decide on the border fabric. I had an idea in my mind and, luckily for me, I think it worked. I pulled a selection of diamonds and laid them out on a large piece of Michael Miller Ta Dot in Stone.
Sample diamonds
TFQ suggested that I make a sample piece to test the size of the finished diamonds. I have been working on this piece and really got going the other day. I got out the rulers and started cutting. After cutting a side piece, I realized that the Tri Recs ruler was the wrong angle! Duh!
Wrong angle!
I didn’t have a chance to get a new ruler before the BAMQG meeting on Saturday, so I went with paper templates and the Fast2Cut rulers. I am not cutting around the paper templates, but used one for a guide for the side triangles. I found a sweet spot on one of the Fast2Cut rulers for the bottom triangles.
Fast2Cut strip triangle cutting
I got the idea of cutting this way from all the Fons and Porter I have been watching. I was able to cut about 14 triangles from each strip, which made the cutting go very quickly.
Corner Final?
Above is what I ended up with. I am not sure about those chopped off corner angles, but I will see if they when I do the test.
Yesterday, as I mentioned, I went to CQFA AND the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meeting. I was a little concerned about spending so much time away from home, because I had hurt myself earlier in the week and wasn’t sure how my body would handle it. It turns out that I was fine. I wasn’t 100%, but I had healed enough not to be cranky and miserable.
I headed down to CQFA after performing some family duties at the crack of dawn. I was a bit early so I stopped at Starbuck’s and caught up on a few things. The meeting wasn’t as serious and busy as the last one, which was nice. We organized the meetings for the year and will have a social/big show and tell in July. We were able to spend a lot more time on Show and Tell, too, which is my favorite part. People at CQFA do the most unbelievable work. I wish I had taken a picture of Dolores’ quilt as it was GORGEOUS. She made a sun out of silk tie fabric. The sun was yellow, but then the piecing was a colorwash from green to purple radiating out from the sun. It was beautiful from close up and far away. A real stunner.
This was but one of a number of gorgeous quilts. I brought the Zig Zaggy top and the Flea Market Bag since I haven’t really finished anything else that wasn’t given away. I was also really busy last week and even though I started getting ready early I was still racing around at the last minute trying to get stuff together.
I didn’t get to go to lunch with everyone, because I wanted to attend the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meeting. Yesterday was the first time the meeting was on Saturday. The President jumped through whatever hoops she needed to jump through to get the community room for us on weekend days, so we were able to have a sew day. It is a nice room – big, has power, good lighting and some space for food items.
I didn’t want to bring my sewing machine, but I brought my FOTY 2010 project so that I could work on the side and bottom/top triangles. Sadly, I forgot the actual diamonds, so I had to improvise with a paper pattern. I’ll write a separate blog post about cutting the triangles.
It was very informal so people walked around and looked at what everyone else’s projects. The projects are really different than the CQFA projects and it was good to see a different side of quiltmaking.
I brought the Stars for San Bruno to show everyone and people pledged to make some. They were also interested in my FOTY project so I talked to people who stopped by my table.
Angela's Shoulder Bag
Angela had a nice bag. She made it from a pattern in the book from That Patchwork Place,The New Handmade.
New Handmade Book
I have a vague memory of hearing about this book, but don’t remember seeing it. I looked through it briefly and found the bag pattern Angela made to be best one. There were a few others that were interesting, but wouldn’t be on the top of my radar. They don’t have it at my Library, so I will have to see if I can find it at another one. I am interested in making a bag like Angela made.
Angela's Bag - detailAngela's Bag - detail
First, it is a good size.
Second, the pockets are great. Angela had her actual small, leather purse in the top, large pocket, but her cell phone and other devices are in the front pockets for easy access.
Third, I like the way it stands up.
Fourth, the design had a long enough strap to wear across her body.
Fifth, I really like the shape, because it is a useful shape! While I still want to remake the leather, saddlebag style handbag I curently, this pattern has some possibilities for interim hauling.
Finally, Angela used a great combination of fabrics. This has nothing to do with the pattern, but I think that is part of the reason I looked at it twice.
There were a lot of other projects going on. Lynnette was making whirligig blocks and I got a little lesson in how she was doing that. Angela was in the process of getting ready to quilt a 9 patch she had just finished basting, so we chatted about quilting it. She had also made a Little Wallet, but she put a loop with a clip on the outside so it could be clipped to a larger bag. GREAT idea! Joylily was working on samples for a book. Julie had a Sizzix machine and was telling us about the variations between the Sizzix, Go and one other brand of cutting machines. Ruth was combining some embroideries she and her sisters had done with some quarter log cabins she had gotten from a swap. She found some out of copyright designs on Flickr. Another great idea! Someone was basting a table runner. People brought books so others could look at them. Lynette did a 10 minute demo on the tube method of making bias binding. She made me want to try it again.
One great thing about watching these folks work is that they use all sorts of tools I haven’t used. Ruth was using one of those square rulers with the slices in it to make strips. I had never seen anyone use it, though I have looked at it in shops numerous times. Julie uses the Sizzix to cut appliques and other shapes quickly.
Aside from feeling like a complete geezer at the meeting, that group is a real working group with a nice feel to it. And nobody calls me a geezer! 😉
I went to CQFA and the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Meetings today (total quilt extravaganza!) and had a great time. As an added bonus, I increased by Stars for San Bruno collection of blocks by 2! The top two are from Bron. She has upped her contribution to 4. Yay and thanks, Bron!
Adrianne is the owner/author of Little Bluebell. She also contributed 2 (the bottom ones) blocks to the SFSB cause. She came to the end of the meeting just to give me the blocks. I met Adrianne at the first meeting that I attended back in December. She told me about attending Market on a press pass. She also made a Flea Market Bag, which inspired me to make mine. Thanks, Adrianne!
We now have a total of 14 blocks, which is a great start. Do you want to contribute some blocks?
All star blocks are welcome!
Block background: dark blue
Block design: Yellow star (any pattern, technique)
Block size: 8″ finished or smaller (we will work with any size)
Remember to sign your block!
Deadline: TBA
Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!
I thought about taking a break, but some new people joined and I thought that would be mean. Here is a prompt that is pretty. Have fun and link to your responses! Ask a friend to join, too! You can do the prompts together.
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!
a mixture of red and white. The use of the word for the color we know today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century.[2]
Although the pink is roughly considered just as a tint of red,[3][4][5] in fact most variations of pink lie between red, white and magenta colors. This means that the pink’s hue is somewhat between red and magenta.[6][7][8][9] (Wikipedia)
Code Pink
pinky finger
Pink Ladies (from Grease)
Pink Cadillac (movie)
Pink ribbon
Pink’s Hot Dogs, Hollywood, California
pink slip
line of loungewear clothing from Victoria’s Secret
I didn’t do any massive gift making, but it turns out that I did make a fair number of gifts. I wanted to test the journal cover tutorial and use the fabulous bas relief fabric I talked about a few weeks ago for someone who would enjoy and appreciate it. My pile of gifts for Friend Julie looked a bit pathetic, so I rushed out and bought a journal and made her the journal cover with this fabric.
I had a fat quarter of the fabric and I wanted a journal that would show off as much of it as possible. Flax had a huge pile of black sketchbooks on sale, so I rummaged through them and finally came up with a 10×10″ size. I thought it would be a useful size and show off the fabric nicely.
Bas Relief Journal Cover Open
It turned out to be a bit too big for the fabric, because, of course, of the requirement that book has to open. As a result the pockets for the covers are a bit small – only about 2.5″, but I hope they will stay on when she is drawing.
I had some trouble with the measurements. This is a different journal than the Miquelrius journal and I needed different measurements, so I adjusted the instructions in the tutorial and have, hopefully, made it more clear for future.
Bas Relief Journal Cover Closed
I think I centered the fabric nicely and it is shown off well. I thought of a lot of different ways of wrapping it and ended up with just a ribbon. I salvaged the ribbon from somewhere, but pressed it and it is of nice quality, so it looked nice.
Hopefully, the gift will spur on a plethora of creativity at Julie’s house.
I made these journal covers in November and December, but didn’t get a chance to post them.
TFQ told me that she made journal covers for all of her journals. I got tired of using the blue one, so I made a quick one (the b/w dot) and thought I would just transfer that cover to each new journal. I tired of that plain cover very quickly. It showed me why piecing a journal cover is important: the piecing adds visual interest. I left the b/w dots on the journal for which I made it after I wrote the last page and made yet another journal cover with the Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Grape. I don’t love/adore that fabric, but there is something about it I like. It is also a more complex and, thus, a more interesting fabric than the dots.
I think I will see about making a new cover for each new journal I start. I don’t know if I will piece the next one. I have plenty of fabric and can make a journal cover in a half an hour if I don’t piece it. On the other hand, pieced covers are more interesting and I could piece bits together as leaders and enders. My scrap basket is starting to overflow and I need to do something with the scraps. Stay tuned.
DH’s family has a tradition of his siblings and cousins giving each other’s families small handmade gifts at our big Christmas Eve celebration. People make bread. One SIL makes tea and other hot drink mixes. There is a lot of food that I can’t eat, but it is all in good fun.
Green Holly
We have fallen into the habit of making ornaments. Last New Year’s we were thinking ahead to another year of strained finances and we bought kits for ornaments from the revered craft company, Herrschners when they were on sale. We planned to be very organized and have them done in a timely manner well before Christmas. No last minute beading for us.
Red Chandelier
You know where this story is going and know that our plan didn’t happen. We were beading and poking pins into styrofoam balls a few days before Christmas.
Red Snowflakes
Each family received three ornaments. One seems so meager, though I know everyone would have been happy with one.
Red Snowflake - detail
DH was the primary maker in this endeavor and he did a great job directing me after I was able to get away from the pies and help him.
Blue Ice
Some of the ornaments, especially the round one called for many more sequins and much more beading, but DH decided they were sparkly enough and we passed on some of the beading. The round ornaments required a lot of pins to keep beads on.
I found it fun to work with DH on a craft project. In general, I enjoy working with people on projects, as long as we are companionable.
I took the young Man and his friends to laser tag for an outing after Thanksgiving. While they were shooting each other with little beams of light, Mom and I wandered around trying to get away from the noise of the place. There was a Starbuck’s nearby, so we headed there on one of our forays. On the way there we saw a bed planted with these cabbages. I thought they were very pretty. I have never seen anything like this except at Disneyland and thought it was very enterprising of the owner or the gardening company or whomever thought to do it. Wouldn’t it be nice if they grew the cabbages and then gave them to a food pantry?
I love my Tivo. It is a relatively cheap date in terms of entertainment and after YEARS of never being able to watch a show all the way through, I finally can. The problem turned out to be, over the holidays, that we watched all of our shows. We were home a lot, and working on Christmas projects in front of the TV. Many of the shows we like were pre-empted by holiday specials. I was able to watch a lot of Fons & Porter and partially clear out that playlist.
Still I was looking for something else. I am not much for watching YouTube and other videos on the web, but I saw that Laura and Linda Kemshall now have Design Matters TV. I watched one of their free shows where Laura shows how to use photocopies in your sketchbook. I really liked the episode which was called “Those Shoes.”
First, Laura is a very calm presenter.
Second, she talks through the whole process, including tips and tricks about the paint and the process. I am not a confident art journaler and watching this video made me think that I could do what she is doing. I really think that using photocopies is a great idea.
Third, Laura is confident in a way that makes me feel confident that I could do the same thing.
Finally, the show is well produced. I don’t mean shiny and fake, but edited appropriately, no wobbly camera and good information.
There was a project in one of their Thr3fold Journal issues using a photocopied hand on a bag, the Hands on Bag project, and seeing the project with the shoes makes me want to use the shoes on a bag as well. There is a list of shows on their site. I haven’t decided whether to subscribe (cost is about $35 for 3 months). I have renewed my Quilt Out Loud subscription and was given a The Quilt Show subscription. I haven’t watched either. I wish I could watch them on my TV and that they provided a list of shows I could tick off so I didn’t have to start them and stop them when I found I had already watched one.
I also adjusted the Tivo search I have set up for quilts and am now recording Eleanor Burns’ Quilt in a Day program. It doesn’t come on as often as Love of Quilting, so I don’t have as many. The first one I saw was about 2 star blocks from her Victory Quilts book. The stars were Army Star and Hope of Hartford. Army Star has a Sawtooth Star in the center and she showed her quick way of making Flying Geese. I liked her show, which I don’t remember seeing before, because she gives the dimensions, so I can go up to my workroom and make the blocks. I tried the Sawtooth Star bit of the Army Star and found that I couldn’t finish the last bit because I don’t have the specialty Flying Geese ruler Burns uses. I also think the measurements she gave or the Flying Geese must be finished sizes, because they seem too small for a cut piece.
Creativity
Stress has been a constant, and not so welcome, companion for the past few months. I have been seeking ways to reduce my stress and this article on the effects of stress on creativity make me all the more determined to accomplish that goal. I certainly don’t want my creativity affected by work!
Lisa F from C&T publishing has a new blog called “My Blissful Lack of Focus.” I really like the layout. She talks about her creative adventures for 2011. I wish the CPP were included, but, as yet, I haven’t been able to persuade her to take part. Will YOU take part in the Creative Prompt Project this year?
Color
The Pantone color of the year is Honeysuckle. It just looks like a warm pink to me. You can download palettes for the Adobe Creative Suite application, FB ‘like’ it, tweet it, etc from the above referenced site.
Doing Good
We are making 3 quilts for victims of the San Bruno Pipeline explosion. I have been trying out different quick methods of making Flying Geese with minimal success (see above re: Eleanor Burns).
Eleanor Burns Method
I was trying to avoid the bias and get really nice crisp stars, but as you can see, I am a bit stymied in the process due to not having the correct specialty ruler. I have to decide whether to buy that ruler or just try to cut them and see what happens.
Jo Morton Method pt.2
I saw Jo Morton on Fons & Porter one day and thought I would try her method of making Sawtooth Stars. Of course, Fons & Porter does not include measurements in their show or on their site (mostly), so I went searching for a pattern/directions for the Flying Geese method, which eventually renders a star. I found one called Jamestown that had her method explained. I know that she wants to sell her books, but this was a hard method to find.
The directions were part of a pattern for the whole quilt, so my star didn’t come out the way I needed it to for the San Bruno Stars quilts.
San Bruno Star Wrong
I’ll use it on the back.
Finally yesterday, I dug out my copy of Around the Block and made them the old fashioned way.
Around the Block method
These look pretty good. I plan to make more and perhaps put them down one side of the quilt. I like them in the on point orientation.
On point orientation
I have to kind of see what other blocks I receive before I can decide how to use them. I also have to make more than 2. These are 6″ blocks.
I need a lot more blocks, so if you would like to contribute one, three or ten 😉 the parameters are:
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!
Deadline: TBA
Contact us through our blogs for mailing instructions. Thanks so much for your generosity!
This is the finished Flea Market Bag by Grand Revival Designs. It is made with Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner in the grape colorway.
I have mixed feelings about this bag. The straps weren’t the same length when I went to topstitch them together at the end of the process. The bag was easy to put together and especially to turn, but the straps ended up a different length (probably my fault when I traced the pattern), so I had trouble sewing the straps together.
Also, the maker has to press all the edges of the strap under before topstitching, which was a pain, but turned out ok in the end.
The bag is a little small for a tote. It is more handbag sized, but may fit an iPad or Kindle or something. I don’t know yet if I’ll keep it or give it as a gift.
I spent several hours having a test at one of the labs at the hospital on Friday. It wasn’t invasive or painful, so I spent time reading, drawing, writing in my journal and staring at the wall.
I spent the time doing this Creative Prompt response. I am really happy to have gotten it done so quickly. Check out the original prompt.
