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May 10, 2024
My creative week.... a little house for my pins and some paintings from Not Afraid of Color

 

This week I was distracted by physical pain, but I managed to compete this wee pin cushion! 

There are videos of people teaching versions but none gave me a pattern... I found one on line


SunCatcherStudio.com

at first I cut it out large since it was drawn to scale. Too big for a pin cushion but great for a box... so then I cut it out as shown. 

I used pink felt scraps since the color of the month at rainbow scrap challenge is pink! yea! It looks wonky in these photos but it's a precious little sturdy ...

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April 21, 2024
creativity this week yellow fabric scraps turn into a star, and paintings on fabric, and paper from Not Afraid of Color

 

this week I made the yellow feathered star block for rainbow scrap challenge... used more yellow scraps. When it was finished I noted the center yellows looked too similar so I got these out

copper paint, tested on a yellow scrap, perfect! Dab paint on with sea sponge

then went over with gold paint on the test scrap... maybe... I like stenciling a lot

these blocks are paper pieced (foundation) from this book

 so stenciling was easy with the paper backing. Iron when dry makes it permanent. I also shaded that one with brown prisma color pencil

the four colors ...

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April 13, 2024
my creative week... yellow fabric art and watching paint dry from Not Afraid of Color

 

I have two main projects for rainbow scrap challenge this year... the EPP project shown above is one of them. I'll be doing one each in scraps from that month's color, this month it's yellow.

got the idea from https://thecraftycreek.com/2023/07/16/owl-and-hare-hollow-hqal-2/.

I really enjoy english paper piecing...
 
four epp circles done... haven't decided what color to put them on yet

here are three yellow scrap pieces I'm working on at the same time... the design wall is sunny! 


I'll be sharing them as they grow larger and more complex ...

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April 6, 2024
creativity this week... yellow study in fabric and in painting from Not Afraid of Color

 

this was actually a full week of creativity for me...I'd like to invite you into my world, my happy studio space. I love my sewing machine...  

When I'm stressed I like to sort fabric scraps then take the smallest of them to the machine and make order out of the chaos. My scraps are all shapes, all sizes, all color values and patterns. The focus color of April is yellow, so I pulled out the yellow scrap bin, and started sorting. 

In my bin was a bag of blocks, improv starts, left overs. A treasure chest! I ...

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April 1, 2024
creativity this week: watching paint dry, Table Scraps challenge finish, and a purple feathered star block from Not Afraid of Color

 

16.5" square
I'll start with this month's feathered star block, done in purple scraps for RSC.

I like the mix of purple prints and tones, and from the scraps from making the block

 (scraps from scraps)

I made this 5" X 7" something...

5" X 7"  so far...

here are the three colors so far...

I like how the tula pink background blends together


I use a foundation paper piecing pattern from this book

For this month's Table scraps challenge I used scraps from last week's PQ irish chain quilt

I layered them on a ...

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March 23, 2024
Creativity this week Two finishes Project Quilting & Stay at home round robin... done! from Not Afraid of Color

 

Whew! what a week, so much studio time to finish two big projects, Stay at home round robin (SAHRR)  and Project quilting (Irish chain)  

Just so you know, also this week I wrote a few stories, made ink and paper drawings, and cooked. 

(I am starting with the round robin, then we will see the Project quilting piece. If you're only here for PQ feel free to scroll down)

The first image is the center of my quilted SAHRR and here it is finished, including a hanging sleeve!

about 32" square

If you've been seeing these finishes you ...

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March 17, 2024
creativity this week... sewing, runs with scissors, sketching and a cookie from Not Afraid of Color

 

welcome to my creativity round up for the week... 

This is my rainbow scrap challenge purple piece for the week.... all the papers are now basted and ready for me to hand stitch while watching tv tonight. I love having a variety of scraps so that I can see my fabrics! I'm trying to do dots in all the joining hexie shapes in each colorway. 

I used my portable design table (cardboard covered in felt) to arrange these a few days ago. I didn't like one of them so I found another scrap to baste around the paper ...

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March 2, 2024
last row on my sunflower quilt, watching paint dry, and using my purple scraps from Not Afraid of Color



Let's start the week with the last row on my stay at home round robin quilt

the prompt was "letters or numbers" so I found a wonderful quote on sunflowers, changed it up a bit, and printed it onto a sheet of prepared for printing sheets

along with an image of one of my paintings (not to waste the sheet of printable fabric on one quote)

I pieced it in with some blue sky fabric, bird and dragonfly fabrics... 


I think it needs a bit of border around the whole thing, like a frame, how about this sparkly blue ...

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February 25, 2024
Creativity this week: 4 challenges, some paintings, and a workshop from Not Afraid of Color



whew! completed 4 challenges, painted a bit, and took a workshop on writing/ illustrating a novel. 

It  required all my creativity!   

Click on images to enlarge them

Let's start with the Project Quilting piece. The prompt was "hourglass" and we had one week to design, make and finish it. Here is my finished project

It will hang in my studio, reminding me of the speed of time (tempus Fugit ) that artists are happy when they are creating

I started with cutting two triangles of peltex stiff stabilizer, covering them with backing brought to the front

choosing which of my ...

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February 17, 2024
my creative week... challenges met: SAHRR & RSC, a beaded necklace finish and a painting!!! from Not Afraid of Color

 

pattern from the book,Precisely Sew

 I'm getting faster at piecing these large blocks (can't remember, they may be 16.5"

and it's fun to dig through the box of scraps for a variety in red prints and solids. I was surprised that with all the fabrics, the star just looks red from a distance!!

On both the red, and green one I chose to repeat two fabrics for the center to be more graphic. The tula pink fabric I chose to use for background (I use plain white for foundation piecing around the feathered star points ...

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February 11, 2024
creativity round up for the week... three challenges achieved and more from Not Afraid of Color

 

let's start with my ongoing  EPP project for rainbow scrap challenge... in reds the focus color of the month

look at the little chickens, and that old 2000 fabric scrap
I cut my own templates for this but got the idea from https://thecraftycreek.com/2023/07/16/owl-and-hare-hollow-hqal-2/.

This shows the challenge work done this week, (and the green EPP from last month)

stay at home round robin (SAHRR) top left, Project Quilting under the red EPP

The Project quilting challenge prompt, was "inside out" we are to design make and finish a quilt in one week. She ...

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February 5, 2024
I am published! from Sew Preeti Quilts

No, this isn't the first time, but I still feel giddy every time I see my name in print, even if it is digital. 

Kashvi was published in Make Modern #55


Kashvi, 60" by 80"

It is a jelly-roll pattern made using Island Batik collection Vintage Charm.



It is a lovely floral collection - airy, delicate and bright. Start this quilt now and you will be celebrating Spring in style.

Instead of choosing a white/black or gray background, I chose the Island Batik Solid - Cobalt Blue.  Isn't it refreshing?  


Bright & Beautiful


The backing is Frosting from the Island ...

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February 4, 2024
creativity round up from Jan to Feb in one day from Not Afraid of Color

 

I have a few things to show you in today's weekly creativity round up... 

I've had a grand time painting, drawing and inking some Valentine paintings this week...

I tore watercolor paper into 4ths, and tried a different approach with the 8 small sheets. Some of them were from videos from the multitude of generous artists who share their techniques. Some from my own heart, and I'll share the rest of them next Saturday, closer to Valentine's day

all of them done quickly, while waking up and drinking my coffee in the morning. I sketch painted ...

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January 20, 2024
How many art projects shall I work on at once? from Not Afraid of Color

 LOTS!

clockwise from top left: round robin center block, project quilting finish, RSC feathered star, RSC EPP block, and my mantra these days

calendar page from years ago
I went from languishing and uninspired to having several ongoing challenges and projects going at once...

spinning dishes

remember this trick from the Ed Sullivan show? (I'm ahem, of an age) 

plus, I hope to also do Joy's table scraps challenge, and a friend and I are working on our drawing skills by doing prompts together.  It feels good to be creating again!  

My goal this year was to focus ...

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January 18, 2024
Prismatic from Sew Preeti Quilts

I have a new finish to share, but first this news!

Island Batik announced the 2024 slate of ambassadors and I am thrilled that I made the cut. Check out the link above to read about the new and returning ambassadors.

I will be receiving my goodies next week and the Unboxing post (and video) is scheduled for 1/23/24. Won't you come back then?

I do have a new quilt to share. Meet Prismatic.

Island Batik Solids

Made entirely with Island Batik Solids, Prismatic finished at 48" square and can play the dual role of a baby-going-to-be-a-toddler ...

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January 14, 2024
The first of challenges for 2024 a birdhouse and a circular handwork project from Not Afraid of Color

 

remember last week I decided one of my RSC projects would be this EPP circle? I drafted then cut my own elongated hexies, and regular hexies. It reminds me of tinker toys of old! 

I got the idea to do colors of the month using google images 


I took paper shapes, and scraps down to baste while watching TV., Then sewed the basted shapes together one night, and now must decide what fabric I want to applique it onto. The talented Jennifer Fulton reminded me if I applique it by machine to my quilt sandwich, I could quilt as you ...

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October 28, 2023
Making stuff with yarn, paper, fabric and beads! from Not Afraid of Color

 

sitting on the easel on hall table already!

light neutral scraps sewn improv fashion. Raw-edge applique bird, machine quilting, and hand beaded around the edge.... I call it Quiet Tweety-bird   and am entering it as my offering into Joy's Table Scraps for this month! 

I talked about this last week, that post is ( here...) including the inspiration for the bird



instead of batting I used peltex which is stiff but easily machine quilted. I put binding on the bottom edge so it can sit well on a mantel or easel. Then I used size 8 perle cotton to do ...

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October 21, 2023
Creativity round up this week, Owl be seeing you....quilting, painting and Ink-tober from Not Afraid of Color

 

I finished up the painting workshop and although I didn't do all lessons, I feel like I learned so much.

(quilters, the fabric art is near the bottom of this post in case you're wondering! Lots to show)

The painting above was inspired by Tamara LaPorte. She urged us to let go the idea of perfection and acknowledge parts of ourselves we might believe to be undesirable. 

I chose to interpret on this whimsical bird, these three things about my body, plus a roundish shape.

Big Feet... I grew up in the top percentages for height til I ...

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October 14, 2023
creativity : learning new techniques and using my supplies... paints, inks and fabric art this week from Not Afraid of Color

 

this creative week was mostly focused on paint, ink and binding a finished quilt

I had two free workshops plus Inkktober prompts this week, which means very limited instruction time in which to take lessons

The little lamb above was challenging for me because I had to work with acrylic paints. hard for me to mix and use as they dry so fast here

I have a small set of acrylic paints in tubes, and I painted the background with a palette knife. 

I thought it was too harsh til I looked out the back door at our sunset one ...

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October 9, 2023
This week's creativity round-up... paintings, gold, quilting, planning, and paper dolls! from Not Afraid of Color

 

there are many finishes when making a quilt... finish the design, finish sewing together the top, finish layering the top/ batting/ backing and baste, finish the quilting, and finish the binding to finish the edges... finish putting on the hanging sleeve on the back and hang it up or put it on the bed!
this week I finished quilting this big quilt, wrestling with it under the arm of my little old machine. I mostly used mylar sprakling turquoise threads, purple threads, and a YLI variegated fall color cotton thread to do that. Mostly used my walking foot, but along ...

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