My Process

My inspiration can come from any direction. Seldom and I mean seldom do my inspirations come from places like Pintrest.
Instead I find patterns in a coaster or bathroom tiles or an advertising in a magazine. Then I ask myself which elements drew my attention? How can I capture and use those elements in something I create? Was it a color thing, pattern, texture?
Then what method do I want to use? Painting? Quilting? Metal? Drawing?
Next I sketch a design that has those elements. certain lines, shapes, colors, textures...
I play with color combinations unless the color combinations are the elements I want to keep.
A recent example would be a series of golden diamonds on a teal, turquoise background.
Deciding if I wanted to use squares on point or create diamonds, how many shades of yellow/orange/gold and teal/green/aqua/ turquoise. and then it is a hunt to find the colors. In my stash or not.
Scale is yet another component.
And so I found some fabric, and then the next week I found more fabric that was even better in matching my vision. Finally when I sat down and designed and cut and sewed the pieces together I found that they did not satisfy what I had in mind. I have decided scale is the problem. I ended up with a piece about 20" x 20". What I think would be more to my liking would be a piece about 8" X 8".but that will entail sewing tiny pieces of fabric together. Not my favorite thing. And so it sits waiting for me to get back to it in the stack of other pieces languishing in similar limbo.
But wait,
 Look a cool picture. Not the dog, but the way the light reflects on the water around him. I wonder how I can capture that cool ripple effect in mixed blues and purples. Paint, fabric?  I'm still figuring it out.

big steps

  So I have finally taken a big step with my creativity. I have applied for an artist grant from a state wide foundation. I am guessing my competition is about 100 proposals for every 1 selected. Since this is my first honest to goodness grant I am not holding high hopes, but I did make my best effort and I can only hope they see the potential in giving me money.
  Oddly for as many different avenues of creativity that I regularly explore I chose fabric arts as the arena. Quilting seems to be a pretty expressive medium for me and I want to explore more options in that direction. 
  I tend to avoid the classic patterns in favor of pieces with a specific feeling and message. 
If I get the grant I will certainly dedicate more time to pursuing this medium. 
  Fingers crossed and away we go. 
Dreams of sewing machines will dance in my head right up until they tell me I did not get the grant.

starting something new

Ok I am determined to write a book.First I said I needed something to write about. Got it.It needed to be something different and interesting to me. Got itI needed a new computer so I knew it would not crash and I would lose everything. Got it

I needed time to just write. Can make it.

So what excuses do I have now?

Not enough room. In the winter my work space is limited to what I can do in a recliner in our tiny cabin.As I am writing a book on an innovative quilting technique (hey there is a bigger market than you may think.) it would be nice to have the space to actually play with the fabric more. But I can at least write up what I have tried so far and some generalities that apply. I can set up my formats and work on photos of the work I have done so far.Soon (ok this is a relative term to mean sometime in the next year) I hope to have it more or less pulled together and ready to print. I have a friend who is self publishing her science fiction novels and she has become quite the expert on the publishing thing.

Expectations: I may sell a few copies to friends and probably give away more than I sell.Hopes: it will be well received and I may be invited to teach some classesDreams: It goes really well, I can quit my job, I get to travel all over teaching my techniques and become a well known artist.

But first.... start writing.

for a few more details about the subject go to my entry about the 1/4 yard challenge in "Rouches and ruffles"

ruching and ruffles

To me quilts should tell a story. Even if the story is not obvious to the casual observer.
Some of my fabric creations are made to sell. cat toys, sleep masks...
Some pieces are made as gifts. Baby quilts, pillows, some are made for myself wall hangings and such.
My present project from the needle arts realm is a challenge piece. I got a 1/4 yard of the challenge fabric and the only criteria were that you could not get more of that fabric, and that you must use at least some of it in your piece.
I added my own challenge to myself. I wanted to use some of the 15 yards of assorted fabrics I picked up at the dumpsters that very same evening.
And so I decided to make a pillow. I have been playing with techniques to add dimension and texture to strip quilts. I have made one pillow with 3 d twists and knots that will become a gift to a friend.
This pillow is using some different ideas. ruffles and ruching with some of the strips.
My hope is that these ideas will translate into a class I can offer at the retreat to get some discounts on the cost of the weekend at the hot springs.
Thats is the best thing about this kind of project there are stories and there are hopes and there are chances to play and learn.

The story of my fabric stash

Just like my bead stash my fabric stash has grown through many sources.
Finds,  Salvaged fabric from clothing being thrown away or even fabric itself being put out at our local transfer station.

Friends, at group sewing opportunities I often find myself in need of just a bit more blue, or black, or yellow. My friends often have scads of strips and squares and sometimes even more that they happily share. I of course offer whatever I have. I love working these pieces in to my wall hangings and quilts.

Pick ups, at the guild meetings there will often be a pile of free fabric from other cutting back on their stashes. So I grab a bit here and there that fit in with some project I have in mind or that just grabs my eye.

Bargains, sometimes when no other options are out there I will go to the store. Possibly I have a particular idea for a project and nothing I have fits the bill. My first resort is the thrift store. Here bags of fabric sometimes containing several yards are sold at half or less the cost at the fabric stores. But you never just get the one piece. there is often 4 or more different fabrics in the bag and yet I may only want the one.
So I buy it and either add the rest to the stash, give them away at the guild meetings or turn around and donate them back to the thrift store. Just recently acquired several yards of a nice multi colored batik and a lovely teal and purple fish print this way.

Fabric Stores, The only times I ever buy from a regular fabric store is when I need a very specific color or print and all my other resources have failed me. In our area we are lucky enough to have 6 shops that sell quilting fabric. And three of them only sell quilting fabric. One of these also sells fur pelts and the fabric is either for Kuspuks or lining fur parkas, but they have some of the most diverse prints and best quality fabric in the area. These three are also the only source for "Alaska" prints. So moose and wolves, blueberries and auroras all fall in this group.

No matter how much sewing I do my stash never seems to shrink. I love having lots of options for projects, and I love having fabric from friends in my projects, so I do not think I will be "destashing" any time soon.

When It Doesn't Work

Sometimes Life seems to stack the deck against success.
Improvising on an art plan that did not work out. Much to the disappointment of the 7 year olds and myself.
Trying to stimulate some creative writing in 12 year olds who only see writing as a chore and the concept of organizing thoughts as stupid. 
Some days I find it quite difficult when faced with set backs. Especially when I am doing my best to help stimulate the creative process in others.

I have been thinking about what I will do first when it finally gets warm enough for me to be out in my unheated studio space.

Photography will probably be it. I recently asked a professional photographer about how I should take pictures of my art skulls. And his advice was to just try different things. different lighting, different set ups, different cameras, different exposures... And take notes. figure out what works best so that it becomes second nature to get the right set up every time I want to take a shot of a piece I have done.

I admit I am one of those people that always resented the process of learning. Practicing clarinet, practicing hand writing, practicing throwing, kicking... I just hold some tiny hope that one day I will try something and I will be perfect at it. I won't need to figure out why or how or go through the process of getting better. 

It is difficult to excite others to the process of practice and improvement when I resent it too.

So i find myself opting for those processes where control and perfection are not part of the final product. Haphazard or maybe serendipitous would be a better word.