Everyday Inspiration: Yourself
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of spoken word attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
Two little quilts and 2 postcards made from one UFO
Those of you who don’t have any UFOs can stop reading now.
You’re all still here, aren’t you?
Who doesn’t have UFOs? Mine are mostly small projects that were started in workshops that I’ve taken. The quilts are small, maybe 18″ x 18″ or so. Some are quilted, some partially quilted, some not quilted at all. I was going to cut them up to make quilts for the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI), I could get 2 quilts from each one, but there would be big pieces (relatively speaking) left over, so I kept stalling.
Then I read on the website of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show that there was going to be an auction and sale of fabric postcards. Aha! From my little quilts I could get two Alzheimer’s quilts and two postcards, with just a bit leftover. Perfect!
Now don’t you dawdle–the postcards must be to Sisters before July 1. And AAQI always needs more quilts.
To give you an idea, here’s 2 quilts and 2 postcards I made from one 18″ x 18″ quilt:
I disliked the original so much that I didn’t even photograph it before I started cutting it up, but you can see how it fit together–the bird of paradise and “ART” were not part of the original quilt.
For Mom’s day this year I wanted to do something springy and special, yet still in alignment with my Junk to Jewel style. I decided on this mama and baby bird linen pillow set, and put a new, modern spin on one of C&T Publishing’s classic quiltmaking books in the process.
I used the Country Bird block from Nancy Johnson-Srebro’s Block Magic. I love that she has all the math figured out for you—mama bird is a 12″ block and baby bird is an 8″ block. You can download the block project PDF by clicking here. I let my pillow forms determine the size of the borders I needed to add to each block: The large pillow has a finished size of 18″ x 18″ and the small pillow is 12″ x 16″. They turned out just as I’d hoped!
The linen I used came from a variety of sources: Various linen shirts, pants, leftover embroidery projects, a duvet cover…Then I threw in a little batik for the finishing touch. As the C&T resident queen of upcycling old into new, I also used second-hand down and feather pillows that I sourced from a local thrift store. To freshen them up, I removed the pillow insert and then set the forms outside in the fresh air and sunlight for the better part of the day. Then, I gave them a final fluff in the dryer.
All they need now is a big burlap bow with a twig to hold a Happy Mom’s Day note…maybe tie on a little nest….
Happy Spring and Happy Mother’s Day!
If you know what a “sit upon” is you must have been a girl scout. It’s just something to sit on when camping or outdoors.
There are many materials that can be used for making a sit upon: Wall paper, duct tape, shower curtains, jeans, plastic or vinyl bags, and vinyl table cloths are just some of the options available. Here is the supply list I used for the sit upons pictured above:
I had extra oil cloth so my lucky girls have fancy sit upons. A carpet store donated carpet padding for the inside cushion and we used nylon lacing similar to shoe laces to stitch them together. To personalize each sit upon, the girls finished them off with a loop which they strung alphabet beads on to spell out their name.
Each girl was given pre-cut pieces of fabric and padding. I hole punched the fabric about 1″ apart all the way around so the girls just stitched around and made a beaded loop which they could also use as a strap for holding. The girls had a great time crafting their very own sit-upons and we all can’t wait to put them to good use!
Congratulations to our four winners of a super cool ArtBin container!
Speaking of getting organized…Carolyn Woods, author of Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter, recently held her book launch party and celebrated with fans and some of the contributors to her book. Check out Carolyn’s blog for great organizing tips!
From left - Carolyn Woods, Gail Riker, and Betty Sharp
Many thanks to our terrific guest demonstrators tonight - Laura West Kong and Lynn Koolish. We learned how to make cute fabric cover buttons, as well as very creative clocks made with fabric, fast2fuse®, Lutradur®and other materials. Click here for the replay link* and enjoy!
Join us next Wednesday night for needlefelting!! I will show you lots of fun ways to create a variety of art and craft projects with wool. Click here for the current schedule – we look forward to seeing you…don’t forget there are great prizes up for grabs when you join the show live!
* Note—while you are watching the recording, you will see image slides pop up. You can use your mouse to click and drag them aside so they don’t block the demonstration.
Allie showing me how to do the stitch left-handed
A few weeks ago I took a terrific class from Allie Aller on hand embroidery. The class was at New Pieces in Berkeley…this shop is great! Clean, well-lit, has tons of yummy fabrics and is nicely merchandised (this coming from me—a woman who did retail floor and window merchandising in her youth for 3 years). I always appreciate a store that maximizes its floor and display space.
I have always wanted to learn embroidery and loved the class; in four hours we learned about 10 stitches. Teresa (left) and Sandy from our editorial team were there, too. We shared our threads and fibers and had a great time.
Sandy had the best fiber stash!
My block - I learned the Chevron, Fly, and Herringbone stitches
A detail from Teresa's block (her work is much more precise than mine)
Allie said we had to practice to get better, so since taking the class I have been practicing most every night. It is a great craft for relaxing or while watching TV. And I love that you can put it down and pick it up at a moment’s notice. I highly recommend taking a class at your local quilt shop. The topics are great, the atmosphere is friendly and your classmates are the best!
I’m at an age . . . . it’s not my friends who are having babies but my friends’ daughters! It’s wonderful. Recently, Marcie’s daughter, Amy, had her first child—a beautiful daughter named Lucy. To give you some perspective, Amy used to babysit for my children, who are now both in college!
The name Lucy means “light.” So I picked bright fabrics and named this quilt “Bright Lights for Lucy.” The block pattern is really an old one, Cracker, but it reminds me of little lanterns swaying in the wind.
An interesting traditional use of this block is for a baby shower. All the attendees sign the quilt in the little white rectangles.
I was inspired to make this quilt by “Baby Crackers” in Alex Anderson’s Baby Quilts with Love. Here’s Alex’s version.
Thanks, Alex, for the beautiful inspiration!
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of spoken word attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
You don’t want to miss this blog tour! In Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts, Laura Wasilowski will show you how to add fun and finesse to your art quilts with 17 new hand stitches. You’ll love all the color and dimension of her whimsical appliqué quilts! Be sure to follow every step of the blog tour, because each host will give away a FREE copy of the book—don’t miss out on your chance to win! The tour starts April 19th and wraps up May 4th.
Tour Dates:
April 19: Simple Arts
April 23: Fibermania
April 24: Moxey Musings
April 25: Lyric Kinard
April 26: Judy Perez
April 28: Dragon Threads, Open Book
April 29: Janeville
May 2: Blue Moon River
May 3: Frie Style
May 4: Connecting Threads
