Monday, June 22, 2015

Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly progress...


Making a little progress....after several weeks of being up on my design wall, thought I'd try a different background fabric...



How about a hand dyed fabric....although I really do not want to cover up these beautiful splotches of color...


Maybe I'll combine with another fabric...


Not sure I like the fabric combination above...

I like this next fabric for the top part of this piece but, the zinnia gets lost in this similar color...


This next fabric is okay but it's not quite right to me....this being said it's time to take a break and come back to this again at a different time...


I'll post my progress again soon...

Until next time...have a great day!






Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Getting Inspired...

I can't explain why some days I can't get into a creative mood.  Maybe it's tiredness, from a full time job, or maybe it's simply a dry spell for whatever reason...I've learned that you can't wait to feel creative.....you have to just do it....even if it's just to get started.....it's a discipline...

So I've gone back to making progress on my Yellow Swallow Tail butterfly...focusing on that flower in my drawing below with no color.....

On Sunday, I selected the fabrics and ironed them...this is all I had time for....I'm going to take Nancy Zieman's approach of making progress in short spurts of time...I don't look at the clock....I just decide to work a little bit each day....it truly is a discipline....you just have to do it...


On Monday......I began tracing the petal shapes on pellon wonder under, fused to the fabric, cut out my petal shapes, fused on to adjacent petal shapes, and I get excited...I kept going for as long as I could....by the way....that shiny surface in the background is an applique pressing sheet...



A flower begins to form so I fuse the petal edges to the larger Zinnia...


A closeup...


On Tuesday...I place on the background fabric...it's not yet fused to background fabric...I've pinned just enough so I can think about whether I'm happy with this background...


I'm not sure if I want that entire green fabric as the entire background....I think I'll mix it up for a more interesting visual...



Wednesday....I'm writing this update....I'll do a little more work today....I'll have time to post my progress tomorrow.....the time just slips away when I'm lost in the process.....it's such great therapy....I'm in heaven when I'm in the zone...

Until next time.....thanks for stopping in to read this update....I hope you enjoyed it....







Friday, May 15, 2015

Just Add Color...

I've been recovering from a bad respiratory infection over the past few days and once I felt better, you know that the first thing we all want to get back to is sewing, creating, drawing, anything artistic....if you are reading this blog, you know what I mean...

My head was still groggy from bed rest & medication so I did the next best thing.....I picked up the following book by Joanne Fink and New Design Originals Corporation, www.d-originals.com, found at your local book store...



Most of you reading this blog are familiar with the Zen doodling books that have saturated the creative stores book shelves over a few years.  I found this one a while back because I was drawn to the inspirational phrases in each of it's pages.  I picked the following page and made a copy...




Then I added color....it got my creative juices going.....and I liked the idea of coloring...


As I searched the web, I stumbled upon Johanna Basford's coloring books for adults.  She has some beautiful illustrations and you may find her coloring books at most creative stores that sell books.   Go to her website at www.johannabasford.com to see her beautiful work, blog, coloring gallery, etc.  I came across one of her illustrations of a watering can with color and flowers and swirls pouring out.  I liked it so much that I decided I would sketch my own watering can & add my own drawings.  Below is what I came up with.....this was an exercise in relaxation and yet made me feel like I was being creative.......

                              

Coloring first done with Sharpie markers then, filled in the color with colored pencils....




Today's post was just about simple doodling and adding a lot of color...

Hope you enjoyed reading this...

Until next time......and hopefully a little more often...





Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Art with a twist

Art with a twist



Today I discovered this Art with a twist link that shows a video broadcast on the local station of the Art Center of Corpus Christi's exhibit of fiber art.  My purple pansy & fucshia/red zinnia quilts were juried into the show.  To see the broadcast simply click on the Art with a twist heading above.........;)

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Getting Inspired...

It can be difficult to find inspiration after putting in a long day at work, isn't it?

This past weekend, I tried to make some progress on sewing a knit top that I could wear to work but, I only got as far as cutting out the paper patterns.  Then I just lost steam.



I find that I get inspired to create something and then I go into my sewing studio & the area isn't very inviting.   Basically not organized.  This is when I just have to clean things up & straighten those books on the shelves.



Still need to organize my threads.




I finally put up my design wall & placed my unfinished yellow tiger swallowtail butterfly that I've been wanting to complete.

Here is what my drawing looks like.  


My original photo from my backyard.


Below is the fabric version that's up on my design wall.


Closeup snap shot of butterfly in fabric.  Still needs a lot of work.  Right now it's only one layer of fabric & it needs more depth.



This is all the progress I've made.  Tomorrow is another day & I'll do a little bit more then.

Until next time.....


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!!!!...

My New Year's Resolution....

To get back to creating......

No matter what's happening in my life.......I love the holidays......




With the holidays.....there's always something else to tend to.....like family, getting ready, or packing and making room.....




So decided to bake some peppermint cookies.....


baking the cookie dough seemed to be  easy......


Until I got to melting the white chocolate......what a mess & disgusting smell....


The white chocolate wouldn't melt like it was supposed to....even after I followed instructions.....



None the less.....I skipped the white chocolate and simply sprinkled crushed peppermint on my freshly baked cookie dough......



Making cookies is not my thing.......I should stick to what I do best.....organizing and then creating......





Not much quilting to speak of.....but it's a start.......tomorrow is a partial work day.....simply because the rest of the office is off until January 5th......that part of the staff are non-accounting staff......I will be back......my goal for tomorrow is to post something......I'm headed into that time of the year when year end deadlines are inevitable......along with other things......this year I'm determined.....even if I only post one or two photos of what I want to work on.......it's a start.......I now only have 364 days left in this year to create, make & complete something......;)

Until the next time......thanks for reading.....;)