Color Therapy Thursday: It's all in the details

And no one does details better than Disney!

I would love to have this table in my sewing room. But maybe with a spool of orange thread instead of the blue...

We haven't been on the Storyland Boats since Aaron was little. If you haven't been on this ride, all the buildings are tiny.

They even had a patchwork quilt!

 Can you see the rope "stitching"?

And one final picture of that cute sewing table. It's there. In the background. Behind the adorable "details" on either side of Tinkerbelle.



Color Therapy Thursday--Jumping on the Bandwagon

I have jumped on the bandwagon. The Denyse Schmidt/Joann's fabric bandwagon, that is.

That phrase kept going through my mind when I woke up in the middle of the night. Does that ever happen to you? Howexactly did that phrase originate?

Nothing earth shattering. It was coined in the U.S. in the mid 19th century as the name for the wagon that carried the circus band. Now it just means "a growing movement in support of someone or something, often in an opportunist way, when that movement is seen to have become successful."


Yep, that pretty much sums up my feelings about DS's new fabric line. Well, maybe not in the opportunist sense. Although I have seen fat quarters going on etsy for $4.99 each! I'll just be happy to get another yard or two with my 50% off coupon.

And did you know that there are colorways available in Australia only? I learned about that here, and it's gotta be true because Audrie heard about it from Denyse herself. That seems like a reliable source...

(Photo from blue is bleu)

It's been an odd week, kind of introspective. I've been reading a lot, but not blogs. And I've thought a lot about quilting, but haven't sewn a single stitch.
 
On the other hand, all the blocks from the first quarter of the 3x6 mini sampler block exchange have arrived. I'm participating all year, and requesting orange/grey/white each quarter. It should be a fabulous quilt. But before I show you the blocks, look at the return label on this envelope. When I flickr-mailed my exchange partner, she said she works for the studio head, Jeffrey Katzenberg! Whoa, another brush with fame!
 

Back to the blocks.

I love the combination of improv blocks, and the more traditional blocks done in modern fabrics.

Now I'm off to my sewing room for a little quilting therapy.

Color Therapy Thursday: The "I changed my mind" edition

It seems like just yesterday when I quite confidently said I had made my fabric selections for the Single Girl quilt-along. Oh, wait. It WAS just yesterday.

Since that time I have a new plan. As much as I love Katie Jump  Rope, I was still a bit unsettled about my decision. So I switched over to Hope Valley. Maybe because I'm in such a grey/orange mood right now? I'm not quite sure of the reason, but this is IT. Finito. Same plan: twin size, nine rings of print, three rings of solids.

(sorry for the weird line going through the picture. Blogger's image uploader has been doing this to my pictures all week!)

Here is where it got tricky. Have you ever tried to match Hope Valley against the Kona solid swatch card? Until yesterday, I thought I had a pretty good "read" on colors. Wow. Denyse Schmidt did a number on that theory. Each of those colors is just a little "off" from anything Kona (and Moda Bella solids ) has to offer. Pretty much each and every print in that line is just a little warmer, just a little cooler, a tad more brown, a tinge more grey. This is the selection I have so far. I have a couple more colors on order. And if someone could track down Moda Bella "Betty's Orange" for me, you would be my new BFF.

I'm okay with the fact that the solids aren't an exact match. I think it will add a little interest to have a slight deviation in color. And anyway, the prints and solids aren't going to be holding hands with each, they're just going to be friendly neighbors.

And just to show you that I mean it when I say "this is IT," I'm off to post my fabric selection pictures on Flickr. That's a lot of commitment for a Single Girl...

WIP Wednesday and Color Therapy Thursday

First things first. I need advice on just one color of perle cotton for my Spools quilt. I decided to outline each spool with off white No. 8 perle cotton. Around the border I am going to use variegated in a swirly line, like thread. By last week I had decided to big stitch the quilting needle in the bottom border rather than applique it on. So here's the question: would you use grey pearl cotton for the needle to more closely resemble a silver needle? Even though there is no grey in the quilt itself?  Or would you use brown pearl cotton because there is a lot of brown in the quilt?

Yesterday Charlotte and Levi did a Valentine's project using this great "love mail" tutorial from Noodlehead, cute little packets, one side vellum and the other white card stock, and then stuffed with M&Ms and sewn shut (by me...). I got the Valentine's M&M assortment. While I never eat blue M&Ms (personal protest--weirdo...), I have no problem with seasonal M&M colors.

I was going to have Charlotte write both her name and Levi's name on the front of each Valentine in the "from" area. Her name is long, and while she can write it very well, she really needs a good 8 inches of paper. These Valentine's were only 4" wide. Things started out well enough, and then she ran out of room. So she just put the rest of her name randomly wherever she could find space. Her whole name is there, you just kind of have to search for it. And sorry, Levi, there was no space for your name.

Then I sewed the front and back together, just leaving an opening of a couple inches at the top. The packets then got stuffed with M&Ms.

This is what I love about art projects with little ones. You give them the rudimentary instructions, and then sit back and watch how their incredible little brains interpret what you said.

While there were four colors of M&Ms in the bag (white, red, and two shades of pink), Charlotte only wanted one color in each of the packets she stuffed. After watching her create the pattern in her macaroni necklace, it makes me wonder if she is going to favor linear and symmetrical creativity in her projects. It will be interesting to watch.

Levi, on the other hand, wanted all the colors.

This was a fun project (even though they always look so serious--art takes concentration!) and educational--lots of practice in counting those M&Ms. And plenty left over for eating...

Color Therapy Thursday

This afternoon I spent an hour with  dental sadist, aka my hygienist. I'm sure she is very nice in a social situation. From my perspective, she had an evil glint in her eye and was wielding high-speed power tools.

Don't get the idea that I don't practice good oral hygiene. Quite the contrary. However, a regular toothbrush just doesn't do the job. So from now on, my Sonicare is my new BFF. Promise.

Trying to take my mind off the high-pitched drilling noise, I went to a happier place. Thinking about fabric and color. Tossing around the idea of doing a spool block quilt-along with lots of different options.

Have you ever taken covert pictures in, say, Borders or Barnes & Noble? Wouldn't these be the starting point for some great quilts? Question: are we getting our ideas from packaging, or are packagers getting their ideas from us?

My favorite:

Okay, I'm outta here. Off to floss again. Ouch...

Color Therapy Thursday--Keeping it real

I have been enjoying everyone's end-of-the-year review, seeing the quilts and other sewn items that people have made.

Here's the thing for me. 2010 was a completely low-output year for me. My friend, Sue, was sick most of 2009 and then passed away at the end of March 2010, and this year, to put it mildly but honestly, was pretty sucky for me.

I started a lot of projects:

I thought about starting many more.

In reality, I completed...um...hardly any.

There was this quilt, which was donated to a charity auction:

These two, wedding gifts:

This one for a modern quilt exchange:

And a few bee swap blocks:

But the rest of the year, I really only had the creative energy to complete some of these:

And sometimes even that really taxed my creative energy.

Have you ever had one of those years? Or even a month? It didn't come as a complete surprise to me that Mark and I seemingly sleep-walked through much of 2010. We did the same thing in 2005. I know that quilting can be a wonderful antidote to hard times. And it has been the same way for me at times. Just not in 2010. At first I kind of beat myself up for it. You know. "Snap yourself out of it. Get busy and do something. You'll feel better." This year it just didn't work.

So instead, I read countless blogs, looked at, and was inspired by, what everyone else was doing. Did I feel, dare I say it, jealous of what everyone else seems able to accomplish. I did.

I also did a lot of what I called "grief therapy" fabric purchasing. A lot.
To combat that, I gave away/donated to church quilting group/sold a lot of fabric. And tried to simplify my life in other ways. Cleared out closets. Cleaned out drawers.

By December, I literally felt myself coming out of the year's fog. Our Christmas was more focused on spending time together and making memories, something you can't begin to put a price tag on.

My downer year of 2010 has not ended on a downer note. I feel light, and light-hearted. I have looked at relationships. One in particular had suffered as a result of this year. But that too has been repaired and restored.

Yesterday I read these two posts back to back. Oh, the conflict. The joys of simplifying one's life? Yes, please. The price of fabric going up? Seriously? And I may or may not have hit the "purchase" button once or twice. But with a little more control this time. I looked around my sewing room (and office...and spare bedroom). I have stacks of really gorgeous fabric that have been waiting for me to emerge.

I hear it calling me.

And finally....finally...I am ready to answer the call.

Thank you to all my blogging friends who have sustained, inspired and encouraged me throughout 2010.

Happy Creative New Year to you all.

Color Therapy Thursday: my sewing room--holiday edition

Color Therapy Thursday

Some oldies. ("freckles" by FreeSpirit to coordinate with FMF blocks. Eeek. I'm actually cutting into my precious FMF tonight; dots from Lightning Bugs by Heather Ross.)

Some new goodies. (It's a Hoot by Momo).

A week ago today was Vertical Day 2010. How did I let that pass by without even a mention? Becky called me very close to 11:11 a.m. my time (1:11 p.m. her time--all vertical numbers, get it?). And then this box arrived in the mail with all its vertical goodness (the picture totally doesn't do it justice).

Included:
11 inches of ribbon
11 straight/vertical treats (pixie sticks)
1 very "meager" contribution to our vertical year/month/day/hour/minute fund (eleven pennies--because we'll planning to fly to Chicago next year to share vertical day together--and lunch at a restaurant in downtown Chicago, called...wait for it...Eleven!)
1 early bird and vertical birthday gift (crocheted in limey green, blue and orange--lovely!)
1 length of leftover yarn--all that was left.
1 vertical Christmas ornament (crocheted in red and white, ready to hang on the tree)
Vertical writing utensils (lots of pencils!)
a great big hug.

ahh. Thanks, Becky. Anyone want to join us for lunch at Eleven next year?

Color Therapy Thursday--Making Some Decisions

Earlier this week, I was blog hopping and I'm not even certain where I read this because I was having blogger's ADD--you know, where you catch up on all your favorite blogs, but then start clicking on links from their blogroll, and then to links from the links...anyway.

This topic appears from time to time, sometimes in a humorous way, sometimes in a more serious way. The topic? When does a fabric stash cross the line from being a stash to being a problem? I know. Mostly it's pretty funny and a lot of commenters will say something like "there's no such thing as too much fabric." But is that really true? I look around my personal stash and know that if I never bought another fat quarter of fabric, I could sew for years and years....and years.

This week I emailed my friend, Crystal. She hadn't posted for a while and I just wanted to say hi and check in. I noticed that in addition to her quilting blog, she had started another one about simplifying her life. Now Mark and I have been doing this for some time after hearing a speaker's message really hit home to us. When is enough "enough"? When is your house big enough? When do you have enough clothes? Stuff is stuff, and finally when do you have enough of it? In this economy, it's no coincidence that people are downsizing, some by choice, some by necessity, and information on organizing your stuff is everywhere you look.

So my question: why is it so easy to get rid of other "stuff" in my life but I keep adding to my fabric stash? I admit to many, many impulsive buys. Someone will post a stack of fabric or a new quilt top and the next thing I know I'm at an online store with fabric in my cart.

About five years ago, I worked in one of the local quilt shops...until I could no longer "afford" to work there. Much of my stash comes from that period in my life, a period right after a traumatic event in our lives. Working with fabric was good therapy. After being there about 1 1/2 years and knowing I was going to quit, I felt the need to "stock up" because of my great employee discount. Any new charm packs that came in? I bought two along with some yardage to go along with them. No real plan in mind. But it was too good of a deal to pass up. Right?

Then last year when my dear friend Sue was battling for her life, I admit to using fabric as grief therapy.  Yards and yards of fabric came into the house. No real plan for it. But it made me feel better.

So I'm making some decisions. I started going through my fabric, pretty much piece by piece, and asking: If I were to start making a new quilt today, would I actually consider adding this fabric to it? In any quilt? Ever? If the answer is no, it goes in a donation pile for my church quilting group. My extensive Asian collection? Soon to be gone. Batiks? Some gone now, more will probably be gone in the next go-around unless I can figure out a cool way to combine them with solids for a hip, modern look...

I have been exposed to fabulous fabric, fabric designers and quilt designers online that I wouldn't have even known about otherwise. My tastes in fabric and quilt design have changed dramatically. And a lot of the stuff on my shelves does not fit that style, and it probably never will.

Here's a prime example: two lines of fabric that I HAD to own because each was called "Charlotte" (yeah, I know, my selvage obsession kicking in again).

But neither of these remotely reminds me of this precious Charlotte. So into the donation pile they go, unless someone wants to pay postage and give them a happier home (after I cut the selvage off, that is...)

I don't think I'm the only one wondering about all this  fabric purchasing. Jennifer wrote about the very same thing this morning. Sometimes it just gets overwhelming. I love the fabric I have and want to use it. It doesn't do any good just sitting there on the shelf.

So...much of what I have will go to our church group.

Some will go into the destash section here,

and some will be given away (so stay tuned).

Don't worry. I haven't become cured of my fabric addiction (sorry, Mark). But I plan to "plan" a little more and buy with more of a purpose.

And save my pennies for this line coming out soon. I hope.

Color Therapy Thursday--the hexie lovers edition

I know there are lot of hexie lovers out there.

Jessica Jones from How About Orange (and I also know there are a lot How About Orange readers out there too...) posted the link to this freebie the other day, a hexie notecard!

Or possibly the inspiration for your next hexie project using Kona cotton....

You can get the free download here. Isn't it amazing? Yeah, I knew you all would think so too...