What’s on the Design Wall

Design Wall, 3-22-2009
Design Wall, 3-22-2009

I thought I would give you a view of my design wall. It is packed to the gills right now and I may have to drag out the portable design wall. You can see the Tarts.

In the bottom middle are the swap/friendship blocks I am starting to work on with my SIL.

On the left side are patches for the FOTY 2009  quilt, which is in its infancy.

I am thrilled with how much I am sewing! I never have enough time to do as much as I want, but I feel like I am accomplishing a lot and that feels good. Quiltmaking is actually taking over time that I usually spend doing other stuff, so my time management skills, in general, appear o the outside world to be deteriorating. I blame it all on podcasts, which allow me to immerse myself in quilting when I can’t even be at the machine.

More Progress on the Tarts

Tarts, full
Tarts, full

Most of what you can see is the Tarts Come to Tea, but some are other projects, which I will talk about later. Progress is being made, despite seeming to make only very tiny amounts of progress every weekend.

Cupcake,detail
Cupcake,detail

I thought of putting a cupcake in the line of cups instead of another cup for a couple of reasons:

  1. I couldn’t find another cup that I liked immediately.
  2. I thought I had made plenty of cups already; all over the piece there are a total of 11 cups.
  3. If the title of the Piece is the Tarts Come to Tea, then there should be some blocks showing items that could be construed as ‘tarts’. I am not up for creating sexy women in machine applique’ right at the moment. 😉
Frothy Drink, detail
Frothy Drink, detail

Here is the new frothy drink. The one with the background plaid is gone. I have it in my scrap pile and it may be reborn as a teacher pillow or something. We will see.

PamDora’s Sketchbooks

I am in awe of the number of sketchbooks that Pam RuBert has. I think this is a great picture and it makes me wonder if I would have that many sketchbooks and journals if I dug out all of them. Take a look at her blog to see the entire post and her questions about organizing sketchbooks.
clipped from pamdora.com

March 20, 2009

sketchbook_mania.jpg
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Small Treasures

I listened to an interview with Mary Lou Weidman on Annie Smith’s podcast this morning. I listened to and wrote about it before. You can find the podcast and show notes at Simple Arts and the podcast on iTunes. It is the 4/17/2008 episode and well worth your time. Mary Lou is a really positive person and what I noticed about this podcast was her discussion of small blessings. I know that blessings can be a loaded word for some. I think of her concept as small treasures anyway.

Mary Lou talked about enjoying the small things in life: a special pear with a wonderful slice of cheese on it, a nice cup of tea, a wonderful bar of soap or bottle of lotion. While I have been trying to, generally, think positive, this comment gave me a little shove in the right direction. I also realized that there were a few recent things that I have really been enjoy.  I recently received some apricot vanilla bars of soap and some of my favorite chocolates from a very special person in honor of a very special anniversary. Times are tight financially right now and these were in lieu of the  wished for trip to Hawaii. I find, however, that I am not too disappointed and that I think about these gifts very often. I really am enjoying them.

Fabric Closet, Working
Fabric Closet, Working

Also, I have been rummaging through my stash quite a bit lately for fabric for the Tarts and other projects. I do this pretty regularly, but am not buying as much new fabric, so I am paying more attention to the fabric I have. It is really fun!

Crazy Test, Complete
Crazy Test, Complete

Finally, I also finished the Crazy Test on Thursday. It is ready for…something. I don’t know what it will end up as or who it will end up with.

In general, all is well!

Sew4Home Website

As I have a Janome machine, I get emails from them talking about new products. Mostly, I can’t use what they send because either I am too lazy to teach myself to use a new foot, I have no interest, I have no time or I am just not interested. Still, I like to see what is going on so when I buy that new machine, I will have something they can teach me at the class.

I was thrilled to see this site, sew4home, which Janome is sponsoring. I really think the layout makes sense and they seem to have a range of projects. I only looked at the cushion area because Teacher Pillow time is coming. I found the plethora of projects to be very appealing.

clipped from sew4home.com

Sew4Home - Transform your space.


Basic Rectangle Pillow in Purple & Chocolate Floral

Click to Read MoreThis simple pillow proves that a home dec item can be very stylish and still easy to make.




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Square Button-Tucked Toss Pillow

Click to Read MoreThe button-tucked or tufted pillow is a classic design. A middle button accent, front and back, is what creates the wonderful plump and puffy look.


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Creative Prompt #5: Spring

Spring has sprung! Spring is the creative prompt of the week.

The season of spring.

Grass can be springy.

Little coils of metal are also called springs.

Spring green.

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.

Color Theory by Vicki Welsh

Vicki is one of my blog readers and a wonderful colorist. If you are familar with  the Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop by Kerr and Ringle (review), then you would enjoy Vicki’s blog, Field Trips in Fiber, and especially her work on color theory.

Her color theory work was done a couple of years ago, but she has some very astute comments about the different color theory systems and color wheels. Lately she has been dyeing groups of related colors. I think that this current work must come out of her color theory studies. She posts the groups of colors next to each other (as Kerr and Ringle do in their book, above) as she dyes them, including, occasionally, the inspirational picture. Her postings illustrates perfectly the Kerr/Ringle “Big Idea.”

An English Artist in Britany

Periodically I peruse the various that comprise Urban Sketchers. Yesterday I found Caroline of the Artist’s Smock. Her drawings remind me of Seattle Sketcher, but with a European Twist. I like her descriptive bio as well. I can’t insert the drawing I like, but you can see it at http://tinyurl.com/artistsmock.

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
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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.
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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

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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