Creative Life Sampler

FRIDAY Dear Diary, My sewing machine is in the shop and I don't know what to do with myself!!! We've been struggling with each other a lot lately. I'll be honest, frustration was growing by the minute, but I pushed through until I couldn't ignore it any longer. We had to take a break from each other, there was no other alternative.  Still, this is really difficult.  SATURDAY Diary, I suppose it's for the best that my machine get some attention.  I tried to be a good owner, cleaning out the lint occasionally. I even Goggled how to fix tension problems. I seem to have made matters worse.     So many spools of thread, so many miles of stitches.  We've been through a lot in the last year and a half. A light bulb went out months ago and we've practically been sewing in the dark ever since.  It doesn't owe me anything, and it will be so much better when everything is functioning as it should. At least the guy said he can get it to me by Monday. That's just

New Wall Hangings to Share   How Does Your Garden Grow? II Back in December I shared the prototype for a quilt I planned to enlarge for a bed quilt. I also envisioned using these polygon shapes to experiment with different color combinations in the future.  My main focus was to use some of the wonderfully vibrant batiks in my fabric stash. This approach was a fun way to play with textures and colors. But it turned out all those textures and colors bumping up against each other, without any place to rest the eye, felt a bit overwhelming in the larger size.  So, I split what was going to be a twin sized quilt and created two wall hangings.  Here you can see the hand pieced prototype, side-by-side with the first finished wall hanging, which was machine pieced in the larger version. You can see the original idea is about half the size of this later version:   How Does Your Garden Grow? I, with prototype on the right The original concept does not have binding. The backing and unquilted t

New Project: Mini Quilt For my trip east recently I wanted to have a hand project I could work on whenever I found some spare time.  I prepared the two layers in this reverse appliqued piece by marking out the shape on the background color. Then it was basted to the second layer which would appear as the letter when the top shape was cut away and turned under to stitch. I planned ahead enough to bring along a square of batting and a small collection of embroidery floss; odds and ends that needed to find a purpose. But I neglected to plan for the back of the quilt. Fortunately, during my travels, I was able to find just the right fat quarter to use as a backing.  My vision was to emphasize the activity I was trying to memorialize by heavily quilting the background.   It wasn't until I was going through the pictures I took in Colonial Williamsburg that I realized the choices I made for this 12x12 mini quilt match the color palette I found there. The quilting in this project even sugg

Documenting New Inspiration It's been quite a while since I've been able to post anything about travel. So it was really a welcome experience to take a recent trip to the east coast.  One of our destinations was Colonial Williamsburg, a "living-history museum" in  southern Virginia. I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to explore this unique environment and take some pictures that document things I might want to use as a starting point for future projects.   Several months ago I started an Instagram account and I have been so impressed by the creativity that is shared on this platform. It is exciting to show my own work, to see the creativity of people from around the world, . . . and to be inspired by it!  At one point I crossed paths with Hyuna Kim, a Korean quilter and textile designer who has been posting studies of doors in fabric. (See quilt_hyuna on Instagram to check out her work.) If it hadn't been for her posts, I wouldn't have been tuned in t

Thought for Today If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.                                                                                                          Thomas Wolfe 1900-1938