Creative Life Sampler

Happy Autumn!                                                                                                                        © Lauren Klementz-Harte                                                           This year, given the restrictions on movement most of us have experienced, it would be easier that usual to let the world go through its motions without a notice from us. But the world does continue to turn and a new season is upon us.  It starts out gradually, hardly discernable, and then flashes of autumn change the color palette in...

 Just Finished! This is one of those patterns that can play with the eye. The many squares within the largest square visually accentuates the overall diagonals, as if to make an "X" in the block. In this "on point" setting, there is the illusion of a horizontal/vertical grid. So, if you look for those axes, the eye groups the squares differently and another pattern emerges.    I ran across this pattern in The American Quilt Story by Susan Jenkins & Linda Seward. The example they showed was quilted in the late 1800's, but it struck me as remarkably modern. This is the traditional setting for Carpenter's Square What is really cool is that Carpenter's Square has a very different look depending on the orientation of the blocks.  These are two options I considered before deciding to rotate the setting to put the blocks on point. Both of these versions preserved the traditional square gridding, while rotating the blocks. On the right there is a strong dia...

Creative Process: Slow or Fast? I'm always on the lookout for quotes that speak to creative people in all sorts of disciplines, so I thought I'd share this one with you:  "Without totally insulating themselves against everyday matters, many quilters state that the quilting process itself is an aid in setting one's pace, offering social and communal contacts, and developing respect for oneself and for others. Quilters are learning through practice that creativity is best nurtured, not through exhaustion, but by allowing sufficient time for leisure, and they are realizing that their work partakes of their personality."   Contemporary Quilts, essay by Luella Doss                                                                                  America's Glorious Quilts (pub.1987...

  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...

Machine Appliqu é Farm Themed Wall Hanging My discovery of Wonder Under fusible webs opened up new possibilities for creating with fabric. The webbing comes in different weights and has a paper backing. The heat of the iron is applied to the paper backing of webbing centered on a piece of fabric; then a shape is cut out. When the paper backing is removed, you have a crisp edge that won't fray and adhesive that covers the whole shape, making it easier to iron in place without bubbles or puckers. A zigzag stitch around the edge finishes it off nicely.  This quilt is one of a series of children's wall hangings I designed back in the 90's. It was inspired by the agricultural fairs that take place in late summer/early autumn across the country.  Unfortunately 2020 has up-ended everything in our lives and these festivities have been cancelled. So, with happy memories of many county fairs my family has enjoyed through the years and with a note of encouragement to children across t...

A List of Contrasts Whether one works with paint, words, musical notes, clay, fabric, or any other medium, creatives are always looking for new ways to generate ideas for their work. It doesn't matter if you are brainstorming for a project you have been given or one that you have set for yourself, most artists, craftspeople, musicians, poets, authors want to push beyond the obvious solution for the challenge at hand. We all work to come up with something that is different, original. Back when I was generating ideas for illustrations, I began a list of contrasts and kept it close at hand. I thought of it as my own personal nudge to think "outside the box."  It started with simple opposites; at the top of the list is right/left, back/front, light/dark. This enabled me to look critically at the image I was creating. Sometimes it served as a reminder to consider both of these qualities, for instance, the light and shadows that provided the light/dark contrast in the image. A...

This shawl was created in 2014 with a pattern from knitsimple: 33 knit Shawls by SoHo Publishing Co. It's a collection that ranks the projects on complexity with a scale of 1 to 4, which means that with one book the beginner can progress through each project and eventually tackle the "experienced" category. The advantage of knitting shawls is there are no complicated edges, like the armholes or neck edging of a garment, to navigate. The simplicity of the shawl shape focuses your attention on the pattern itself, (and sometimes it requires a lot of attention to get lacy patterns right.) It's been a while since I've posted a knitting project. So, as I was collecting my thoughts to write, I googled quotes on knitting for a little inspiration and ran across this one from writer/knitter  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee : Every ball or skein of yarn holds something inside it, and the great mystery of what that might be is almost spiritual.  Gears started turning and I rem...