What’s next…..

I have finally finished all of the quilts for our local show, and I have laughed as I realized how many of my quilts have a finish date of January or February of show years!! I guess that I really do need a deadline!!

I am now starting to think about what to do next. I know that the next three months are going to be super busy and that I wont have a lot of large blocks of time but I do want to make sure that I have something planned for my “creative-20” minutes each day.

The problem is that there are just SOOOO many choices, including a number of UFO’s that came from my Mom!!

She left this quilt top…..

….which I dont particularly like, but I just realized that it might be a good place to practice some ruler work free-motion quilting!!

She also left several sets of block that I am not sure I EVER want to finish…..

Since I couldn’t come to a decision about where to start, I decided to start working on cutting and organizing the scraps that have accumulated in the last couple of years. Today I worked on them for 2 hours while listening to a webinar about Depreciation Tax Laws…..

I thought that having my hands on fabric would make the webinar more enjoyable….Not So Much!! Anyway, it will be good to have all of the scraps cut and stored in an orderly manner and ready to use at a moment’s notice.

One of the things that I also wanted to do was to give my sewing machine a good clean. To that end, I purchased a vaccuum cleaner attachment that would allow me to get down and dirty with my machine…..

It seemed to have made a big difference.

Finally, the chairman of our Guild’s charity bee gifted me two quilt tops that I can use to practice my machine quilting. I love this quilt……

…..and am looking forward to quilting it, but think that I will do this other one first……

These two will give me some good practice time!!

Finally, I have also realized that I am missing having something to work on at night so I am playing with some hand applique….but more about that in a future post.

So for now, I am enjoying doing a few small things and looking forward to creative times to come!!!

Step right up and see the amazing Bovine Woman!!!

Yes, I can officially say that I am a cow…. Yesterday’s Rotator-Cuff surgery ended up being a bit more extensive than planned but it is over now and I will definitely feel better….once I get out of the sling in 4 to 6 weeks. One of the things that the surgeon did was to insert a strip of bovine collagen that is supposed to help strengthen the shoulder tissue. So you see, I am now part cow.

During one of my wakeful periods last night, I started thinking about this phenomenon and had a good giggle remembering how my father felt about his cows. He loved them like pets and I think he would be happy to know that I am now “part bovine”.

As I thought more about him, I was reminded of a photo that I had come across at my Mom’s house in which my dad is pictured feeding one of his favorite cows……

And, the idea for a new quilt was formed!

The photo quality isn’t great but hopefully I can crop it down and pull enough detail to make it look realistic.

I know that I will enjoy working on this reminder of my sweet Dad!!!!!

Words of advice from Lyric Kinard……

I subscribe to the Lyric Kinard newsletter and loved this post from her about creative slump……

“When you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done. You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Every once in a while you need a change of pace. You feel that you are in a slump, are feeling blue, or you’re just plain tired. Too many deadlines, too much pressure, too much on your plate. You feel creatively blocked. It happens to the best of us once in a while.

I believe it’s part of the process and part of life. Energy and enthusiasm can wax and wane.

It’s what you do with yourself once you hit that slump that matters.

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping stone in the pathway of the strong. ~Thomas Carlyle

Go for a long walk. Breathe. Look up at the sky. Notice beautiful fallen leaves or fascinating cracks in the sidewalk. Take your camera. Getting out of your narrow environment and looking at the wider world can work wonders.

Try something new. Take a class in an unfamiliar medium. If you are struggling with portraiture, try a wild abstract. If your usual palette is earth tones, do a quick exercise using only saturated brights. If you only machine quilt, pick up a scrap of cloth and some embroidery thread and randomly stitch by hand for a bit.

Clean your space. Methodically clear the clutter away and make space for new ideas and new projects. You will find materials you had forgotten that will inspire you. Cleaning might also become more unpleasant than the making of art – so you’ll want to get back to it.

Wait. Sometimes, it is best to just wait it out – Continue to just keep doing. Let the ideas stew in your subconscious. Studies of creative people show that many brilliant ideas come not during the period of intense study, but in the quiet resting time afterwards when the ideas have had time to mix and mull in the unconscious.

Stop. Sometimes, if you are still blocked, it is time to make a change and leave what you were doing.

There is the possibility that you will emerge a different, a better artist. Don’t wallow or fret – slumping may be a natural part of your growth process. Look up, look out, grow!

I’d love to hear what you do to “un-slump” yourself.

All my best wished to you!
~Lyric

Look what I found….

A couple of months ago I was shopping at Sams Club and, from a distance, spied this book cover…..

And look at some of the fun designs inside…..

I DEFINITELY feel an applique or quilting project coming on…..

NOW…..fast forward to yesterday…….

The first project that I wanted to work on was to quilt this top…..

Click here if you want to read the post about the making of this quilt….

As I sat and looked at this quilt and tried desperately to figure out how to quilt it, my eyes wandered to the book shelf and the Mandala coloring book, and fireworks went off!!!

I am quilting every other block using the Mandala’s from the book! I LOVE it when I actually use something that was a spur-of-the-moment purchase.

Back Yard Inspiration…..

A few weeks ago we had dinner at some friend’s house and they had a wonderful Clematis bush in their back yard. The flowers had already bloomed and in it’s place were these exciting structures…..

My Hubby, the Botanist, tells me that these are actually the fruit of the flower.