Creative Life Sampler

 One Month Before Gift Giving 2021 Graduation gift    There is a little more than a month left before the flurry of December's activities prohibit handcrafting!!! Perhaps this is more a reminder to myself that to the readers of this blog. If I want to accomplish all the projects on my gift giving list, it is high time to get started! The pillow above was a graduation present, gifted earlier this year. It was reverse appliquéd, of course, and that was probably the most time consuming part of the project. (This blog post gives info on that technique:   https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2021/10/basics-of-reverse-applique.html ) The thing that elevates any homemade project is attention to details. For instance, the piping on this pillow outlines the shape and gives it a professional finish. Ready made piping is usually available in the home decor section of your local fabric store, but if you are particular about an exact match, you can DIY (do it yourself.) ...

 ... Correction: HER Story! Nothing, I am sure, calls forth the faculties  so  much as being obliged to struggle with the world. Mary Wollstonecraft, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) I created this pillow as a Christmas gift which was given along with the children's book series  She  Persisted,  written by Chelsea Clinton and beautifully illustrated by Alexandra Boiger. So much achieved, so much more work to do.  Happy Women's History Month. 

A Tribute to Maya Angelou This pillow was created as a gift for a family friend who feels a special connection with the poem by Maya Angelou entitled Still I Rise . The yellow lettering is reverse appliquéd on navy and the pillow was backed with a vibrant rainbow stripe to reflect the hopeful, encouraging message of resilience on the front. Poet and activist, Maya Angelou (1928-2014) is the author of 36 books, including her first auto-biographical work,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, written in 1969.   Angelou's internationally acclaimed memoir became a bestseller, making her the first African American woman to achieve that distinction for a work of non-fiction.  (For more on Maya Angelou's achievements check out this link: https://www.biography.com/writer/maya-angelou )

Message From 2020   Christmas gift with a "Be Still" message in reverse appliqu é . As we prepare to turn the calendar page to 2021, it may be beneficial to take a moment to reflect on the lessons of 2020, and try to find something positive to bring with us into the new year. 2020 was challenging, and often disheartening, to be sure. Stay-at-home orders cushioned us from the outside world, but in doing so it left people feeling isolated. So, to help feel connected to something beyond our four walls, it was natural to search out information in order to "stay informed." After all, the world outside continues to turn.  However, the endless news cycle often felt more like an emotional roller coaster than a source of information. In our home, we began to tune out the sensational stuff, absorb the substantial highlights, and capitalize on the moments of quiet the circumstances afforded us. More than ever, it became important for mental well-being to take time to "Be ...

  Linen Closet: Christmas Pillow Stepping Stones block pattern, created in 2014 For those creative types that plan for homemade gift giving, this is the season to begin holiday projects! It's far more gratifying to take these things at a comfortable pace and relish the process than it is to struggle through the process at the last minute, risking dissatisfaction with the end product. And we all know that trouble shooting under the stress of an approaching deadline does not make for a joyous holiday season. So, there's no time like the present to get started. The nice thing about going with a holiday theme is that your gift becomes part of a family's holiday tradition. When it comes out of storage for seasonal decorating, it is a gentle reminder of your presence in their lives. The pillow above was created as a wedding gift for a friend who had given us this lovely pillow as a gift for our wedding: Cathedral Window block pattern Fortunately, crafts people no longer have to w...

  Some time ago I ran across the work of Yoko Saito in her book House Warming Patch Work and put it on my inspiration list for things I want to try. So, when our quilt guild gave us the challenge to create an architecture inspired quilt in a month, I was excited to put all other projects aside to use her "basic house" and "basic tree" blocks in a small project.  The house and tree are pieced but the little heart is machine appliquéd. Embroidery floss was used to add texture to the background with echo quilting that follows the contours of the subjects and outlines the text boxes. The text was borrowed from a needlepoint given to me many years ago and was also embroidered with three strands of floss so it would stand out. This relatively quick project was quite satisfying. Working on a smaller scale was a great break from the focus required by the larger projects I usually work on. In fact, many quilters use this smaller format for a test run before starting on a fu...