Creative Life Sampler

Travel Log 2- Minneapolis/St Paul (1 of 3) So, while we were in the area, we took the opportunity to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. On the ground floor there was a special exhibit entitled “Art & Healing” which was a compilation of some of the art work produced by the community in the aftermath of the tragic shooting of Philando Castile on July 6, 2016. The work included paintings, drawings, videos… and quilts. It spoke to the feelings people deal with after a sudden violent incident occurs in a community where its citizens have come to have an expectation of well-being and safety. It is certainly understandable to want to express feelings of trauma, anguish and anger, when violence comes crashing into the realm of “home”, whether it targets the personal sense of home, as for the Castile family, or the broader sense of home for the people in this city. It seems so poignant and fitting that quilters came together to create a reaction to this shooting in...

A Sign in the Mall to Inspire... (4 of 4) Not a bad goal for each day! (found this sign in the Mall of America... thank you Paper Source)

Murals in the Twin Cities (3 of 4) I’m finding that urban settings everywhere provide very large canvases for creative expression, and artists are taking full advantage of the opportunity to beautify their surroundings. The graphic patterning in these two murals were particularly appealing... In the space of 3 blocks we found multiple murals on the sides of buildings, with some wonderful color combinations… This mural appears to be the group effort of four artists... And this was just on one side of the street!

Art Along the Sidewalks (2 of 4) Though I was there with a purpose, we had a bit of time to explore a little. Just as in New Orleans, I started noticing the electric boxes at street corners were painted in a wide range of styles... with some appealing color combinations that could be applied to future projects. And sculpture on the sidewalks...  ...this one also offers a rest stop for the weary pedestrian.

Travel Log: Minneapolis/Saint Paul (1 of 4) Went to the Twin Cities recently to help a family member move, and when I visited the restroom after deboarding the plane I found this stunning full wall mosaic. Don't laugh!... There is literally artistic expression and creativity everywhere!  Along the walkway in the airport I found this eclectic display of ceramic work by members of the Minnesota Women Ceramic Artists. I love the idea of artists helping each other in their pursuit of artistic expression. A little on-line research shows that one of the goals of this organization is to support its members by providing opportunities to exhibit. The creativity of their ceramic work bubbles over into finding unexpected ways to share it. (check out this link for more information:  http://mnwca.org/ )  All this before I'd left the airport! 

A Step Forward in Quilting   (3 of 3) Of course, in those early days I was juggling illustration projects with building a home and family. Quilting was a fun distraction which blossomed in to a creative outlet; one that needed to fit into the spare moments of free time in every day life. It was some years after I became interested in quilting that I heard of "stitching in the ditch" and used it on a quilt in 1993. This was the first quilt where I actually purchased coordinated fabrics with a purpose: the queen sized bed in our peach guest room needed a cover! The "stitch in the ditch" method of quilting involves stitching along the seams of the blocks. This tacks the quilt top to the back at the lines of the blocks' design. Stitching along the seam means less batting migration. The center is more stable and pretty much stays in place- at least compared to the tie method of finishing a quilt. In this case the perimeter of the blocks are outlined...

Quilting History   (2 of 3) Focus on the first stages of the quilting process is reflected in the way my first quilts were finished. They were tied with thick cotton thread to sandwich the top, batting and back, no quilting there. I used bed linens for backing, so I wouldn’t need to worry about seams and the quilt would be squared off correctly. Basically, I pieced the top to the size of a sheet.  My first foray into quilting complete, (  https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2018/06/picking-up-where-quilter-left-off-2-of.html  ), I decided to experiment with a new project.  I pulled together random squares of fabric scraps to make a quilt for my future husband. It was backed with a baby blue flannel sheet, which was folded forward to the front as a binding around the edges, and tied again at the squares' corners to finish it off. Very Basic. This quilt survives in tatters at this point, having had so much use that fabric frayed and ripped, the batti...

Another conversation about quilting   (1 of 3) When my daughter met her friend’s mom, she came home to tell me that she thought we’d get along well because we had so much in common, and especially because we both quilted. Naturally, I was looking forward to meeting her at a little gathering recently. She turned out to be a lovely, warm person. I brought up our mutual interest, when we finally had the opportunity to chat. She responded that she really enjoyed sewing the tops of quilts, but she didn’t really like the quilting part… in other words she didn’t like to finish them off. “Ah Ha!”, I thought, “I totally get where you’re coming from!!!” I've developed the quilters' habit of picking up fabric for my "stash",  sometimes  with no clue as to how it will be used... but it will be used eventually. It wasn’t that long ago that I felt exactly the same way. Finding a pattern to try, deciding on a color scheme, pulling all the fabrics together… in othe...

Ability to be Creative Ability , ( noun )- aptitude, intelligence, innate qualities, powers, potency, talent, capability, competence, proficiency, knowledge, technique, craft, skill, dexterity, artistry, facility, mastery, experience,understanding, faculty This is a partial listing of the synonyms for the word "ability" in Webster's New World Thesaurus . It seems to me that these words can be divided into two categories. The first category would be nouns which people generally think of as qualities that come naturally to the individual-  "innate qualities" . I propose that everyone has intelligence, capability, dexterity, even artistry, though some might say people possess them in varying degrees, and in different combinations. But isn't that called "individuality"? Now consider the second group of words. These are nouns that can be acquired: knowledge, experience, technique, skills, mastery . These are things you have with practice ! ...

Encouraging Creativity A couple of weeks ago, I found myself leafing through the pattern books with my daughter at the local fabric store. A woman joined us. She and I struck up a casual conversation as my daughter quietly indulged my desire to chat. It turned out she was “getting back into sewing” and was looking for patterns because she had just purchased a new sewing machine. “Oh! You ought to try quilting!” I eagerly offered, … No, she had tried that. She was going to stick with sewing for her grand kids. I appreciated her decisiveness, even if it meant I needed to take quilting off the table as a topic of mutual interest. (Besides, she may revisit the idea of quilting in the future. Once she gets comfortable with her machine and reacquainted with her sewing skills, she may start looking for new ways to utilize them.) I quickly reverted to sewing and patterns. The conversation ended with an encouraging “I hope you enjoy your new machine. Happy sewing!”     ...

Linen Closet- Happy 4th of July! "Union Squares" was sewn in 2003. It measures 89 inches square and was inspired by "101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts" by Judy Hopkins & Nancy Martin. On the backing you can see the assortment of patriotic fabrics in off-white, ecru, navy blue and red, which were used in the top.

Quilt Project Update Finally!!! "Pink Lemonade" is done. It still needs a label, but I really wanted to show it to you. I started this quilt to try hand piecing on vacation last year. The hexagons measure 3 inches across and the quilting in each center echos its sides. Random yellow and solid pink hexagons have a little more quilting in them, to give it texture and added interest. This was all done by hand.  Full disclosure: the straight lines of the borders and the backing were done by machine. I pulled the hexagon theme to the back in order to use up some bigger scraps. It was finished in a year, almost to the day, and it measures 76.5 x 92 inches. I'm glad I didn't give up on this one. I got lots of hand piecing and quilting practice, and learned a lot along the way, which I'll take to the next project. Press on, press on... 😉 PS- If you want the back story on this quilt, check out the three posts that began with this one: https://cre...