Quilt Pieces: 30 Days of Creativity: Day 23

30 Days of Creativity: Day 23

More Quilt Process

Finally I finished all the main blocks!

Now I just have to sew these 48 pieces into 12 larger blocks...

And then those 12 blocks to each other...

And then sandwich it with the back and batting...

And then quilt it...

And then bind it.

Woah.

I better keep going.

Quilt Progress: 30 Days of Creativity: Day 20

30 Days of Creativity: Day 20

Quilt Progress

Making progress today.  Finished many quarter squares.

Goal of finishing the blocking by moving date is still possible.

I just have to say that five days ago I was ready to call it quits.  But it just so happens that I keep making "something" everyday, even if family is in town, or suddenly I get a call that someone is here to look at our house, or the boys seem to get possessed by craziness.  Yes, it happens.  Every day there is a nutty element thrown in, but I keep making something.  So, here we are, 20 days down, 10 days to go.  2/3 is pretty damn good.

Woot.  Woot.

And on we go...

Ink Drawings: 30 Days of Creativity: Day 12

30 Days of Creativity: Day 12

Sketches of my favorite levers

Ok, so I just can't help being a physics nerd.  A very simple physics nerd, that is.

I think simple machines are so cool.

After teaching seventh grade physics with levers, pulleys, inclined planes, screws (an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder), and reading the book One Good Turn, I declared myself in love.

Today in particular, I am in love with the lever.

So I have this idea that I'm going to create some linoleum prints of all my favorite levers.

Right now this is my list:

Hammer

Stapler

Shovel

Clothes Pin

Garlic Press

Fork

Scissors

Wheel Barrow

Pliers

Safety Pin

Broom

I want to create nine small prints of levers to organize together.  

So I have to limit my list to nine.

What's your favorite lever?

Lino Cuts: 30 Days of Creativity: Day 1

Today is June 1: Day 1 of my 30 Days of Creativity

Creating things is already a habit for me, part of life.  

In fact, I get pretty depressed if I can't create things on a regular basis.

But it will be a huge challenge to put these things up on the blog each day.

Wow!

I'm following the 30 Days of Creativity Challenge and will be putting my images up on Pinterest too.

Happy Creating to all of you involved!

Today, I set out to make some draft prints of my lino print I finished this weekend.  This is Solomon splashing in a puddle with his rain boots on.  

They are either not full enough with ink, or too heavy with ink.  But really I just wanted to see if I needed to cut anymore away.  Lesson remembered: less is more!  I wish I had left more in certain areas.  Process, process, process.

Month of Creativity

Ok, here goes.

I'm going to try...

TRY...

TRRRY...

to be creative 

EVERY DAY

for the month of June.

This will be tricky.

My husband works in June from 7am to 9pm.

I'm with the boys.

I still have work to round up from the school year.

I have a lot of work to do for next year's homeschool high school program I'm creating.

I may be moving to a new house (oh please, oh please, oh please)

My mom and her fiance are coming to visit.

My in-laws are coming to visit.

So, I may drop the ball here and there.

But I'm seriously going to do my best.

Thanks for your hope and intentions and "Atta-girls"!

Collaborative pastel drawing

Waldorf Alumni Night 2011

Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork

25 high school students.

Me.

18 packages of pastels.

One Van Gogh painting cut into 99 two-inch squares.

A glue stick.

The original masterpiece.

Printed and cut into 99 2" x 2" squares.

Twenty-five high school students who used to go to our school gathered for 45 minutes.

They were each given 4 little squares of the painting and 4 blank squares to create their own versions.

Using pastels and fingers, they recreated their squares on their own paper and assembled them together on a numbered grid.

Our final collaborative creation.

So much fun in 45 minutes!  I love collaborative art!

Single Girl Quilt Take 2

Finally got all my circles sewn together.  31 x 12 = 372.  Again, I was very systematic, sewing all A pieces to the B pieces, then the Cs to the Ds, until I finished.  Atta girl!

I had to end my systematic ways because I desperately wanted to see one square complete...

Then, I wanted to make two.

But I did go back to the methodical ways, cutting out all my brown inner and outer pieces and sewing the inner pieces on first.  These curves are much more time consuming than squares.  My goal is to finish piecing it together in the next seven days.  Goals are much easier to achieve when you set them!  

Thank you to all of you in blogland who help me keep working.  

Where was I this last month?  Why no blogs for a whole month?  I even missed Ten on Ten, which was so sad for me.  Was it because...

A) I spent a week in DC visiting family
B) Three family members came to stay with us for a week
C) Both of my sons got sick and spent time vomiting ON ME
D) My car broke down on the side of the road with a blown head gasket
E) Therefore, I spent a weekend in Grand Junction trying to find a new car
F) One of my students' father passed away
G) We decided to sell our house and began cleaning, photographing and packing
H) All of the above

Oh yes, standardized test fans, the answer is H) All of the above!  Crazy few weeks.  I have still been crafting, no doubt.  I could not live without.  But, somehow I wasn't able to actually get all those adventures on this blog.  April will hopefully be a more balanced month.  Here's hoping!

Pieces cut for Single Girl Quilt

Hooray, the Single Girl Quilt is happening!

Finally my pattern came in the mail.

Here are my cut pieces--with wine glass and lip gloss in the corner of the pic--essential. :)

It took me two days to cut out all the pieces for the rings.

31 templates for 31 pieces.  12 of each.

That's 403 pieces total.

A good Bruce Willis movie and This American Life helped me to finish.

Bruce Willis is great for quilting by the way.  When he speaks, you know what facial expression he is using and have no need to look at the screen.  Not a dis, just saying it works with quilting. :)

Now all my ring pieces are organized in labeled envelopes.  

My mother has got to be so proud of this organization!

She is a woman who has all her stuff in boxes in the attic...

The boxes are numbered...

She has a chart showing where each box is in the attic...
 and another chart showing all the contents of each box.
Seriously, that woman knows what she's doing.

Me on the other hand...sure I have boxes.  They are full of stuff.  I'm not even sure what's there.
And my last quilt was made completely and wonderfully haphazardly, one unique square at a time.  I decided when I was finished by being done. 

So, this is a new thing.  Thank you to all the ladies helping me along in the Single Girl Quilt Along (check out button on the side bar)!  And thanks to my mother.

I'm on my way to DC tomorrow for a vacation and plan on getting even more behind on this quilt.

But, I'm so happy it's started and organized.

All is well in Quilt Land.

Single Girl Quilt Along

I am super excited and just have to share with you.  I am going to join 200 amazing ladies (how could they not be) in quilting Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl Quilt.  The Single Girl quilt along begins now!

Step-by-step instructions, help and enthusiasm is found here

 http://acuppaandacatchup.com/

and here

http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/

I love how humorous this quilt is, playing off the traditional double wedding ring quilt.  

And since mine is going to be for my son Solomon, I'm calling it a Single Boy Quilt.  It will have a brown background with rings of blues and whites.

I have to admit, it took me a bit to sign up for this because honestly (don't laugh...ok, you can), when I read about the Single Girl Quilt Along, I thought it was for single girls.  Doh!  Then I looked carefully and realized this was just the right project for me!

So, I'm still waiting for my pattern in the mail, making me a wee bit behind.  But I catch up fast. 

This will be my first twin quilt.  I've only made crib sized ones until now.  

Wheeeeee!

If you want to see the 200 quilts in process, follow the links above or click the button on my side bar.

Valentine Cards

After Christmas, I must admit that I often feel a desire for even more traditions, more celebration, more crafts.  Thankfully, Valentine's Day is here shortly.  So, I started making some fabric Valentine's Day Cards.  I had so much fun.  I love quick projects where I can have freedom and flexibility and creativity.  I like making it up as I go along. 

Fabric cards are so easy.  They do dull your needle quickly, punching through cardstock.  So, if you decide to make your own fabric cards, change your needle when you're done.  All you need is a pile of scrap fabric, some cardstock and a sewing machine.  You can use a straight stitch or zig zag.  I wanted to do some loops, so I got out my free motion foot for a little extra embellishment.  I also used vellum paper to write little messages with a sharpie.  Then I stitched the vellum paper onto the fabric and card.

Happy early Valentine's Day to you!

More Circles

More circles for my Circle art project.

Today was a bit industrial in theme. 

Tomorrow I'm hoping for some food.  Egg, pie...??

What are your favorite circles?  

Leave me a comment and let me know.

Cheers!

Circles

Project in Process:

Circles.

For Christmas, I want to put together a canvas of photographs I've taken of circles.  This is for my youngest, Little O.  I've begun by taking some pictures around the house, but plan to venture outside soon.  

Please, let me know what your favorite things are that are circles! 

I would love to have some creative ideas to add to my collage.

Also, I think I'll crop each one into a square.  If that's the case, I may need to retake a few pictures.  I want a better one of a spool of thread--just a single spool.  I tried taking some pictures of a record but didn't get what I wanted.  Also on the docket--gear, tire, hay bale.  Oh, maybe I can get down to the train yard.  More to come...

Quilted

Streaked by sunlight, the quilted front.

I look forward to putting on the golden binding, which I think will frame the dark grey well.

Pinning the quilt sandwich.

The back. Golden and simple.

Close up detail.

In the sunlight you can really see the crazy texture of the free motion quilting pattern.