Artquiltmaker Blog – Page 290 – Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity

Can You Piece This?

I thought this was an interesting design and thought it would be great challenge to try to piece it. It is from a piece of furniture.

Deco Block

I saw this as I was walking down the street. Interesting, don’t you think?

More Yellow Donation Blocks

As mentioned last week, I am working on the yellow donation quilt and it is going well. I made several more blocks while I was off over the Fourth of July holiday.

I was spurred on by seeing the finished blue donation quilt. Jennifer finished it on her longarm machine and did the binding as well. It looks so great to see it done.

It made me think that this Yellow quilt is an even better exercise for me, because the yellows are really different than what I have done with yellow before.

The brown-y yellows are a challenge, but I like the prints, so I am working with them.

I still have a few more blocks to make, but already have cut some pieces for sashing in hopes that I will get this top done before the next BAMQG meeting.

Pineapple Redux

This is what the awesome BAMQG Charity girls made from my disappointing Pineapple blocks. I was so thrilled to see this quilt made from the blocks that I thought were a hopeless loss.

In addition to being happy that the blocks were usable, I also learned that a few mismatches wouldn’t detract from the overall look of the quilt.

This makes me feel like I could make new blocks and make a quilt out of those blocks. I still want to work out the measurements of the blocks, row by row so I can try and figure where I went wrong on the first series of blocks.

I just feel so much better about my original idea and about my technique.

Creativity and Fun

I saw these in a shop today and they made me smile. Of course, they were in the kids section. Kids get all the fun stuff. If I ever have that sort of shop, I’ll designate a section labeled “creative people”. Could be fabulous or a disaster. Would you be more creative if you had these crayons? I might be tempted to just look at them and not use rhem. Note to self: get over that!!! 🙂

Creative Prompt #165: Ferry

Golden Gate Ferry

Ferry Island, in British Columbia

ferry children

Definition: A ferry (or ferryboat) is a boat or ship (a merchant ship) used to carry (or ferry) primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi.

Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels. However, ship connections of much larger distances (such as over long distances in water bodies like the Mediterranean Sea) may also be called ferry services, especially if they carry vehicles. (Wikipedia)

Ferry Building

Ferry Farm, the childhood home of George Washington

East River Ferry, NY

Washington State Ferry fight

Staten Island Ferry

ferry crossings

excursion ferries

Ferry Carondelet (1473–1528), a Habsburg diplomat

ferry across the River Styx to Hades.

Ferry Field, a stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Harper’s Ferry

Captain Fell’s Historic Ferries, Tasmania

cable ferry

On A Ferry Boat

THE RIVER widens to a pathless sea
Beneath the rain and mist and sullen skies.
Look out the window; ’t is a gray emprise,
This piloting of massed humanity
On such a day, from shore to busy shore,
And breeds the thought that beauty is no more.

But see yon woman in the cabin seat,
The Southland in her face and foreign dress;
She bends above a babe, with tenderness
That mothers use; her mouth grows soft and sweet.
Then, lifting eyes, ye saints in heaven, what pain
In that strange look of hers into the rain!

There lies a vivid band of scarlet red
With careless grace across her raven hair;
Her cheek burns brown; and ’t is her way to wear
A gown where colors stand in satin’s stead.
Her eye gleams dark as any you may see
Along the winding roads of Italy.

What dreamings must be hers of sunny climes,
This beggar woman midst the draggled throng!
How must she pine for solaces of song,
For warmth and love to furnish laughing-times!
Her every glance upon the waters gray
Is piteous with some lost yesterday.

I’ve seen a dove, storm-beaten, far at sea;
And once a flower growing stark alone
From out a rock; I’ve heard a hound make moan,
Left masterless: but never came to me
Ere this such sense of creatures torn apart
From all that fondles life and feeds the heart.

Richard Francis Burton (Poetry Hunter)

Ferry flying, transportation of aircraft

Ferry railway station in Norfolk, England

Ferry schedule

ferryman

Make your response simple. It doesn’t need to be a masterpiece. Take 5 minutes. Just respond and create a creative habit.

Please 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, and how your work relates to the other responses.

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

Inifnity Quilt

I want to give up on the 26 Projects List and do something fun, but somehow after finishing the backs last week, I pulled out the blocks my SIL and I made and started putting them together.

These blocks are on the small side and I thought I would have to make more, but, as you can see, the blocks I have will make quite a large quilt.

My first idea was to just lay them out the way they came out of the box and, then, move them around. I didn’t have to do much moving around, though. They came out pretty well when I laid them out. There is a quite a lot of variety in the fabrics and also a good balance of light and dark. There were a few places where I switch a couple of blocks so that a print was next to a tone-on-tone rather than next to another print.

The adjustments I made were very small adjustments.

This is pretty much the layout I am using for sewing.

I did have to move the row on the far right to the bottom to make the ‘wreaths’ finish on the bottom.

I have not yet completed the borders as of this writing, but will do that later. I put on a Pure Elements Grey border, but will also put on another border of blue stripes as well.

I was amazed at how fast this top went together. I am also very pleased with the movement created by the different fabrics. My SIL has a different palette than I do and the combination of her floral blue-greys with my aquas and turquoises is a great combination.

This will be another large quilt, but will be good for a boy to grow into.

July BAMQG Meeting

I have to admit that with everything that is going on I almost bailed on the meeting. It was a bit strange to have the BAMQG meeting in the middle of a long weekend. It was also a nice diversion. I am really glad I went. Kelly and Patti helped me with my Accuquilt Go! 2.5″ square die, I chatted with Kathleen about the next block challenge, caught up with the Charity Girls and dove into cat bed land by taking a catbed kit to make.

BAMQG Block Design Contest

You know I love a good block.

This is similar to the QuiltCon Block Design Contest. Ruth organized a block design challenge for the guild. I sent off my QuiltCon Blocks (there will be a post about them later), but I turned in my BAMQG Blocks yesterday.

Some of the blocks are from the Block-a-Long or modified from blocks I designed for that project. I haven’t made all of those Block-a-Long blocks, so I was glad to have the opportunity to do so.

I found the colors for the QuiltCon challenge to be quite limiting.The BAMQG challenge was even more limiting, but I made it work.

I am pleased with the way all of the blocks turned out despite the challenge of the color choices.

One thing that was on my mind throughout the challenge was the asymmetry mentioned on the Modern Quilt Guild website. I didn’t want to design Liberated blocks like Gwen Marston creates, but I did want a sporting chance, especially with the QuiltCon blocks, so I tried to add some asymmetry.

I have named this block #3, but I actually made it first. This one only has asymmetry in the coloration, not in the placement of the patches. I couldn’t help myself in that there is some good in symmetry, I think.

Sadly, my great work looks crappy next to the other blocks that people made. Not that my points don’t match or my technique is bad, but their design work was awesome.

Ruth's QuiltCon Block Challenge Block — Ruth’s QuiltCon Block Challenge Block

I am absolutely NOT saying this in an “oh poor me” kind of way. I am saying this, because Ruth’s creativity is something to which I want to aspire. I love the way she has used different fabrics in this piece, especially the grey. This block might look dated in a few years, but the dynamism and movement of the design will trump the fabrics. I would love to see a whole quilt made of this block. I am so thrilled for Ruth and excited to see her development as a quiltmaker.

Ruth’s block also reminds me of the ‘pushed neutral’ concept I learned back in the dark ages from Mary Mashuta. Essentially, the quiltmaker uses more than one fabric for the background in order to add interest. Ruth has done this in her block, though the greys are much bolder than Mary Mashuta imagined when I learned this concept. The boldness does add movement and interest to the piece.

People’s blocks for the BAMQG part of the challenge all look good together. The star at the bottom implies the BAMQG logo, which was clever. My attempt at asymmetry falls a bit flat in light of the asymmetry that others created. Perhaps my blocks will provide some resting space for people’s eyes?

One of the cool things about seeing the two different groups of blocks is that people who made blocks for both challenges often used the same block. I love seeing the different colors used in the same block.

The blocks also look really good together.

Rhonda had a bit of a vacation theme going in the work that she showed today. Her block is the glass of lemonade with the umbrella sticking out. There was discussion about whether it was lemonade or a margarita.

In some other work Rhonda showed appeared palm trees. I hope she has a beach vacation planned. 😉

Speaker: Terri Thayer

I have known Terri for a long time, have her books and have been to meetings and retreats with her. I have never heard her speak and it was a distinct pleasure. She talked about her quilts and the development of her writing career. I was especially interested in that part. She mentioned a writing group and I am going to look into it so I can get my novel going again.

A-B-C Challenge

Lots of block making went on during the past month. In addition to the BAMQG challenge, the A-B-C Challenge continues and I made my two blocks, of course, Simple Flower Basket and True Blue.

As I mentioned earlier, I needed another basket block, so Simple Flower Basket did the trick for me. I just like the shape of True Blue, so I made it.

People are still working on their blocks, but I think there was a smaller group of blocks this time. Vacations and such, I am sure. We are hoping that people will finish their quilts so that we can enter them as a group in the San Mateo County Fair in 2013. We have 6 people working on quilts, but that number leaves no wiggle room for “life events.” Fingers crossed!

The blocks look really nice. I brought something to work on, but focused on talking with people and found out some interesting things about the way people are thinking about their A-B-C blocks.

Michelle, intelligently, planned out all the blocks she was going to make when she started. Using only two fabrics is a real challenge, so it was smart of her to take the time to plan out the blocks. Some blocks simply need a 3rd fabric and that wouldn’t work with her idea.

Her blue and white diagonal grid blocks (upper right hand corner) is interesting and cool.I wonder what it would look like in a quilt with fabrics gradated from light to dark. The lights could blend into the background and then appear somewhere in the middle of the quilt.

I have to say that one of the great things about this challenge is that I get to see a lot of different blocks.

Angela was back with her Hawaiian print blocks.

Rhonda is diligently catching up and making current blocks. Diana, as well.

I really got a shot in the arm at this meeting. Nothing special happened, but I felt good when I left. I felt excited and like I had my equilibrium back.

Various & Sundry #9

I have re-enrolled with Amazon Associates. You should see the widget in the right sidebar towards the bottom. If you buy anything from Amazon, you can do so by clicking on the widget. This may be a duplicate of what you have heard on any number of other blogs. It will give me a few pennies on whatever you buy at no cost to you.

I also have a Cafe Press Shop: www.cafepress.com/Artquiltmaker. Go buy stuff. Thanks.

What I am Reading: I am still working the Age of Innocence on my Kindle, but I am mostly playing Mahjong Solitaire on my Kindle and not reading! As I said before, I think it might a better book to which to listen, which means I might jump to Creating Time: using creativity to reinvent the clock and reclaim your life by Marney Makridakis
Audiobook playing on my iPod: Beekeeping for Beginners, novella by Laurie R. King.
What I am Working On: Garden, and thinking about binding a table runner for my Grama. I may start putting the Infinity blocks together. I am also doing a lot of pressing and cutting of recently washed fabric

Fabric, Spools & Tools

I haven’t been using much DMC floss lately on the pieces that I embroider. I usually head over the Perl Cotton aisle. Mark Lipinski had a few things to say about a DMC floss color card he bought recently. Definitely Buyer Beware.

Weeks Ringle talked recently about elastic thread on her blog. She gives some tips and tricks for working with it. Quick skirt anyone?

I had iron drama again recently. I finally got fed up with my iron leaking and went looking for a new one. Target had drastically reduced their choices, which is where I usually buy my irons. Mark Lipinski suggested I get a Digital Velocity iron, so I went looking for one of those. Joann has them online only, but you can’t use their coupons, except for the free shipping coupon and $165 is a lot to pay for an iron. I saw the other day that Bed Bath and Beyond had them also. They are $140 online at BB&B, which is a discount. Again, you can’t use the coupon online and I don’t know if they have them in store. I ended up with a Sunbeam Turbo Steam Master. It feels cheap, but isn’t leaking and has good steam. I’ll keep looking for a good price ont he Digital Velocity.

Doing Good

Nancy Zieman had a guest blogger talking about The Quilt that Build a Library. One block +$5=a library. Do your part! I made a block and sent it off. Yes, I used the same fabric I bought for the QuiltCon block challenge. I had plenty and it was at hand. After I made the columns, I thought I should alternate, but then I realized I put the greens and greys in the wrong locations and if I alternated the squares and rectangles, some of the contrast would be lost, so I left them. I hope the group likes the block. The information for size, where to send, etc can be found directly on the Princeton, Wisconsin Public Library website. This project goes on through 2013. I may do more and I got a lovely comment on my blog from the director of the project filled with praise for my blog, the block and my writing. We’ll see how many more blocks I make.

Space, Studios & Workrooms

Did you see the new studio that Olabelhe created out of her (his??) dining room? It was being pinned all over Pinterest at the beginning of June, because it is fabulous. It is fresh, clean, uses wonderful colors. Love it.

Creativity

You know I go on and on about developing a creative habit. Part of my solution is responding to the Creative Prompts I post on Fridays (most recent). I am not making this up. Creativity and developing a habit that allows you to call upon it at will is important. At work I get an emailed newsletter called HBR Management Tip of the Day. These are very short tips, literally taking 30 seconds or less to read. Normally, they are things I already do or know about. I was surprised to find one pop up about creativity. The tip was related to work, but I was reminded how a creative habit can help in various aspects of our lives. One of the tips within the tip (a subtip?) was “Let your mind wander. Studies show that day dreaming stimulates a unique mental state. You’ll connect dots in new ways when you allow your mind to roam.” Work or quiltmaking, it applies.

I finally went and watched an episode of The Quilt Show. I am so engrossed in audiobooks at the moment that I never seem to get to them. I would suggest that you watch episode #1013 with Susan Shie (pronounced shy). Yes, you will need a membership, or, perhaps, you can just buy that one episode. She talks about creativity and how to just do it, that your work is always good enough and to reclaim that 6 year old who wasn’t worried about what others would say. I really liked this episode and it gave me a creative shot in the arm. Susan does great work, which was an added bonus.

Other Artists

Lisa Call posted an interview about how she works. I love the reading these types of posts, because I like to compare them to what I do and think about the differences.

Lil Sissy is posting to her blog from Paris and I had to update some stuff for her. While I was nosing around, I noticed one of her links, Weekly Gratitude. The project was a one year project, but the closing post is really good. The author talks about how she will continue to practice gratitude and try to look at life from that angle rather than from the negative. I think that doing a project and then doing a “project wrapup” is a great idea. Many times work projects have this step built in, but we, as creative people, sigh with relief when a project is done and move on. This is a post that I might print as a reminder. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Have you seen Pam’s Pinwheels and Patches baby quilt? It is really pretty. Not in a sickly sweet baby kind of way, but in a sophisticated English Garden Party kind of way. Go take a look.

A librarian friend was laid off at the beginning of the year after 20+ years of service. Needless to say the library is going to hell in a handbasket and my friend is thriving. She is looking for a new job, but she has a bit of leisure because she got severance. She is really beefing up her knitting and dyeing. If you want to buy a gift, take a look at Marlowe’s Etsy Shop.

My sister put up A Day in the Life post on her blog. The post confirmed for me that we are actually related. Her day is like a lot of my days: crammed full of tasks that I just do one after another.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30