Creative Life Sampler

I was just scrolling through pictures I'd taken during the summer and a nature theme began to emerge. So I thought I'd share a couple "live shots" with you.  They speak for themselves, I think.

While on the east coast earlier this month, a friend recommended that we check out Webs Yarn store in North Hampton, Mass. I don't think I've ever seen so much yarn in one place! For all you knitters out there, this is well worth a visit.  The front show room is filled with so many tempting yarns and lots of sample projects to show how they have been used. They carry everything you could possibly need to create something special, right down to a great selection of really fun buttons. One of several button fixtures, sorted by color But keep going to the back of the store and you'll find a warehouse with rows and rows of yarn to browse. This place is full of inspiration. Even if you're not looking for a new knitting project, the colors, the textures, the sheer volume and variety of fibers will definitely get the creative gears moving. And if you are looking for a new creative outlet, there is a room set aside for a weaving classroom with multiple looms available. There ar...

Summer is the time for fairs!  Since I've had the pleasure of attending two of these events this summer, I thought this would be a good opportunity to compare and contrast a county fair with a craft fair.  In my last two posts I wrote about our local annual county fair, the vibe of a west coast event, it's energy, and friendly air of competition in everything from livestock to fine art. ( https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2022/08/more-scenes-from-2022-ventura-county.html )  Each August on the opposite coast, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen hold their annual fair. This summer they celebrated their 89th year.  The mission of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen is "   To advance, cultivate, and champion excellence in fine craft." (  https://nhcrafts.org/ ) New Hampshire a rtists and artisans who work in fiber, silver, clay, paint, wood, and so much more, are juried into membership through review by other crafts persons in their field of experti...

  The Ventura County Fair grounds is right along the beach front. Palm trees mix with the bright colors and exciting atmosphere of a county fair. There's lots of opportunity to soak in the traditional county fair vibe and to take some iconic pictures of Americana.  We got there just as it was opening up, not too crowded yet, and cool breezes made it comfortable to wander around for a few hours. I thought I'd share my impressions with pictures. Venders Livestock buildings People of all ages participate in the competitions at this fair; anything from cattle roping to table setting. There is an air of friendly competition all around. Professional artists have a building separate from the amateur/novice and youth groups. In this way, participants with the same level of proficiency and experience can compete fairly.  Table setting Competition in the Home Arts Building The Youth Expo building is set aside for young participants to show their accomplishments. The youth exhibits ...

The last weekend of the Ventura County Fair and I finally had the chance to get over there to see how my quilts did in the Home Arts Division.  After some gentle nudging and supportive encouragement from quilt guild friends, I decided to enter seven quilts of different sizes in the hand quilting and machine quilting sections.  I've talked about each of these quilts in this blog. (Explore "Projects" under Labels to the left for details on each quilt.)   Scrambled Q's was displayed next to the work of some Ventura Modern Quilt Guild friends: In good company Left: Off the Grid,     Right: Grape Snowballs Tangled, (draped in this water themed display area) Left: Blue Transitions,    Right: Rainbow Hexis And VOTE found company in a display of patriotic quilts: They did surprisingly well.  Final tally: 6 first place prizes and 1 second place (for Blue Transitions).  If you're interested in the judging criterion check out this blog post:...

Just wanted to share a new wall hanging.  Here I've enlarged my "Q" shapes and simplified the design. This simplicity suggested to me new possibilities for execution. I went with a monochromatic palette and a patterned fabric for the first time in this series. Measuring 41 x 28.5 inches, the dimensions are a little smaller than I have been working so it came together pretty quickly. I've been debating about how to hang this piece: The photo on the right is what I originally envisioned. (A sketch was shared in a post on July 17:    https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2022/07/project-in-black-white.html ) But now I have flipped it because the Q's are less obvious in this orientation. The top was appliquéd and then hand quilted to give it texture. The black shapes were echo quilted in black so, for better or worse, the texture only shows up in certain lighting situations. Actually, the quilting can be seen more clearly from the back because a solid "pop of ...