Creative Life Sampler

Appliquéd Insects  In honor of the beginning of a new school year, I'm going back in time to share this child sized quilt which was made early in my quilting journey.  It is one of a series I designed and created for my siblings' new families. The technique used in these quilts is quite simple. Fusible webbing is ironed on the wrong side of the fabric, shapes cut out, and then ironed on to the background fabric. It is machine appliquéd with a zigzag stitch. The quilting for this series was very minimalistic. At this point my interest was directed toward creating the top. Quilting was an afterthought, of not a necessary, tedious step. I didn't want to take too much time on it, and even felt more quilting would somehow distract the viewer's attention away from the objects. If I'm honest, I didn't have the skill set to create more sophisticated designs either. My outlook on this part of the creative process has evolved through the years. Now I consider quilting the...

 Raspberry/Peach Experiment Raspberry/Peach Experiment This is my latest experiment with irregular hexagons.  I found this lovely, soft, 100% cotton fabric line awhile ago and started collecting some of it's vibrant colors. (For this wall hanging I had a yard of each color.) It has a sateen finish so it kind of shimmers. I was excited to find a suitable project for this fabric and looking forward to working with it.  But looks can be deceptive. Though the feel and finish were so inviting, it was difficult to work with this fabric. It frays rather easily so cutting edges have to be sharp. They always tell you to start a new project with a fresh rotary cutting blade. This project brought that lesson home. The title of this wall hanging gives a hint of the other problem I ran into in pulling this piece together. I was experimenting with a new approach to these shapes so there was some expected trial and error. This fabric doesn't stand up well to a lot of seam ripping and ma...

  Ventura Beach Walk Today I thought I'd share images from our beach walk in Ventura.  With these photos, I'm particularly interested in the textures of nature.  The palm tree below, bursting from the center like fireworks, feels grounded by the downward motion of its old growth, while its neighbors reach for the sun in an upward motion. Quite a contrast of directions. Obviously there's loads of textures at the beach: The water's edge is an ever-changing landscape; variations in water depth and the waves can produce some compelling shapes.  Textures uncovered in stripes along the shore line produce their own composition. (Even the surfers add texture to the water's surface.) The birds in this photo add a bit of interest, and the vibrancy of beach life, to the smooth, exposed sand. Much to my family's frustration, I frequently feel compelled to interrupt the momentum of a walk to "stop and smell," (photograph), the flowers along the way.  Here's tha...

Through the Cell Phone Lense I've written often about being inspired by the world around us and photographing things that "speak to me" to capture them for future inspiration in my work. But you may wonder what that really means.  If I'm working in fabrics, thread, and batting, how does a picture of, say, a crab on an east coast beach inspire a quilt? Short of attempting to replicate the picture in fabric, what could possibly inspire a new quilt? Set aside the "beach, sun, and surf " theme that influences many artists. This picture of a common sight at the beach can take us in many directions.  Let's take a look. First, the overall composition in this highly cropped photo might be a new layout idea. Lines that loosely follow the crab silhouette could be an interesting starting point for new color blocking or even inspire a block unit:  A closer look at the colors in this photo, which include a range of browns, grays, creams, and purples, might prompt exp...