How Pinteresting

Have you heard of Pinterest yet? I'm just discovering it so there is a lot I don't know. Basically it is a virtual bulletin board where you can "hang" things you have found from one place or another so you don't lose track of them. You create your own categories and start pinning. Pictures, tutorials, anything you want to keep track of.

Here is a screenshot of my board.

If you enlarge the screenshot, you see the "pin it" icon on the toolbar. So far, getting the icon up there was the hardest thing for me--one of those click and drag things, so when you see something you like you just hit the "pin it" icon on your toolbar. Easy peasy. Except apparently it doesn't like Internet Explorer so much. When I opened up Firefox as my browser, I could drag it up there lickety split. Now when I'm poking around trying to find things to pin, I make sure I'm in Firefox, hit the icon, it asks what board it should go to, and voila!

This is my link. I still don't have much on it. And I'll just warn you ahead of time. Like going from one blog link to another, or one Flickr photostream to another, you can go from one pin to another, see what everyone else is interested in, and repin it to your own board.

Here is the Pinterest "about" page. Right now they are still in the beta stage so you need to request to join, but that only took a day or two, and then I was up and running.

So spend some time this weekend with something Pinteresting...

Having Fun

I thought it might be fun this week to switch to some brighter, richer colors, (a final farewell to the vibrancy of summer) and let myself be inspired by the weavings that one might find in Mexico or Guatemala...


Using stripes of solid shot cottons, along with some striped shot cotton, plaids and a madras fabric, I pieced the tops.


Then using 12wt. Premium Sulky® 100% Blendable Cotton Threads, I did the same closely, but unevenly spaced rows of meandering straight stitch that I used on my last piece ...


I really had a lot of fun with these two little quilts... probably because I use to weave before I quilted, and I got a real kick out of the one art form inspiring the other. More of these quilts are in the works.


Color Weave no.1


and Color Weave no.2

are currently available for sale in my shop.

(P.S. Lest you are thinking that I have abandoned my hand stitching, rest assured that is not the case! I am currently working on the hand quilted layer on Work Quilt no.4 as well as working on another Yukata cloth table runner similar to the one shown here. More about those, coming soon!

Where do you get your INSPIRATION?

This mini card I made to share today because of the heart and crown on the card. My heart belongs to the King of kings, Our Lord.

So Many Scraps blog is a lovely place to visit. She asks what inspires you? What a good question. I am inspired by God to share his word on blog, my crafts are inspired by things: I love God, my family, roses, angels and so many wonderful blogs you all have. Everyone who comments or signs up to follow I try and go and visit you too the same day. I am inspired by your blogs or sometimes a combination of all your ideas inspires me to make something. So, all of you are my inspiration. The verse I want to share:
1 Timothy 6:12-16 (New International Version)
12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Have a Happy Saturday. I hope this inspires you in some way.
Living in God's Graces,
Kim

Wordless Wednesday

Images used with permission of Yulia Brodskaya

Remnants

Pinned up on my studio wall, I have some photo images of really heavily patched and stitched antique boro.


The patches in those boro pieces are all raw edged, and seem to completely cover whatever had been the original base fabric.


I like that nothing went wasted, and everything was important enough to be patched.

... Years ago when I was a teenager, a woman commented on my heavily patched and mended jeans, (they made my mother cringe and I know she used much restraint not to steal them from me in the middle of the night and set them on fire). The woman told me that to patch something was to show love. I never forgot that. (And I appreciated that this kind stranger understood me.... I wasn't accustomed to that.)


Anyway... looking at the boro images, and then glancing over at the ever growing pile of small bits of fabric scraps and off-kilter shaped pieces of batting left over from previous projects and now just sitting on my shelf, got me to thinking it was time to use it all up.


So I'm starting a little series of "Remnants", which I will be posting in my shop as they are completed.



More to come soon. xo

Thanks, Kaffe

One of my best friends, Sue, has been in the hospital for over a week. The long-term prognosis is not good, surely not what any of us wanted to hear. Even though I'm in a bit of a bind, timewise (more on that tomorrow), I decided I needed something to cheer me up. I headed over to Barnes & Noble. A large cup of coffee and Kaffe Fassett came to the rescue.

Kaffe has a new book out:

Spectacular doesn't even begin to describe it. I spent a long time totally immersed in color, shapes, gorgeous photography, stunning fabrics...

(click to enlarge photos--it's definitely worthwhile!)

This is not a cheap book, and I could have saved a lot of money by ordering it on Amazon. But I needed it today. I needed the color and optimism today. I needed the hope and inspiration today.

Sue sent a text message saying "Don't be doom and gloom. Call me." I called her. Her voice sounds really good today. I think I'll take Kaffe to the hospital this afternoon, and Sue and I can spend some time turning the pages together...becoming lost for a bit of time in simple shapes and spectacular colors.

You can never have too many sprinkles: Valentine's edition

I saw this picture at Fig and Ruby Sweets the other day (and let me just warn you before you click over to her blog: even her banner will make you hungry...)

Today Aaron and Christa went nearby Yosemite to spend a day snow shoeing, so Levi and Charlotte spent the day with me. Charlotte made her own version of yummy marshmallows this afternoon.

I had definitely planned on tinting the white chocolate pink, but turns out at our grocery store, white melting chocolate is only a seasonal thing. Huh? But no matter. All you really need is sprinkles. Lots.Of.Them.

In an unrelated topic, it could be just me, but I thought the the colors the this luge athlete wore would be gorgeous in a quilt.

They really looked so much brighter on our high-def TV, but I'm definitely putting this in my design file. The limey green/aqua/coral/goldenrod just popped against the black and gray. I give it a perfect score.

Inspired by Color

A few months ago I was contacted by the lovely Sonu Mathew, who is a Senior Interior Designer for Benjamin Moore & Co. She also is the host of Benjamin Moore's Living in Color with Sonu, a wonderful blog full of color inspiration. Sonu wanted to know if my little Abstract No.5, (pictured below) which I created about a year and a half ago as part of a small series, could be included in a future post featuring quilts as color inspiration. (Absolutely!)


Today the post ran and I am really delighted to find my work included in a post also featuring the work of Jan Myers-Newberry and Denyse Schmidt, both genuine rock stars in the quilt world! (Geez Louise, I sound like a silly groupie !)

Please be sure to check out Sonu's great blog and quilt inspired post here.

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A big Thank You for all the great comments in regards to my current work in progress, (see post below) and the struggle to overcome the critical voice of the perfectionist, (something apparently many of us share). This piece is so personal to me, (not in terms of private, but in terms of a journey) and I am truly grateful for everyones encouragement and support. I will be sure to share the final results once I finish. xo

Layer by Layer

Remember the shot cotton quilt I was working on from a few posts back? Well, what I didn't explain in that post was how I am approaching its construction...

Because my muse for this piece is old work quilts, (which I am not trying to duplicate, only be inspired by) I thought it'd make sense to build the quilt up in various layers...


I first started off with 9 12.5" x 12.5" base squares of fabric and appliqued various patches on each one. (These squares were to represent the various patched fabrics that would have been recycled into a work quilt.) Then I sewed them all together for the quilt top and did the first layer of quilting, (which is what I showed in the first post.)

Now I've moved onto the 2nd layer. This finds me sewing on more patches, (such as the ones in both of these photos) some overlapping patches from layer #1 and some overlapping the seams joining the base squares. (This is to represent the patching that would have been done after the work quilt got used and worn even more.)


Along with the shot cottons, I'm also starting to incorporate bits of really lovely woven cottons that have an aged look to them. (The white thread will be removed, as it was just used as a preliminary basting stitch until I could machine applique the patches in place. The brown threads will also get trimmed off.)

More long rows of quilting come next, (this time in a zig-zag stitch I think, just to add some interest).

After that I move onto layer #3... probably more of the same, just slowly building it up until either I have the look I want, or I have made a complete mess... hoping it's the first! More to come later!

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There's a new quilt blog recently started called Modify Tradition. It's about the journey of marrying the look of a modern quilt with the techniques used in traditional quilt making. Discussion is encouraged and I am finding the posts and the conversation very entertaining. Check it out, it deserves a look!

"I did so good I scared myself"

This summer, Christa signed Charlotte and Levi up for swimming classes, the "mommy and me" type.


Since she needed another helper, I got to help with Levi, who turned out to be a little fish.
It took Charlotte a while to become comfortable in the water, but toward the end of the sessions, she was talking to Grandpa on the phone right after one of the classes. He asked her how she had done, and she said, "Grandpa, I did so good I scared myself."

Huh? What was that again?

When kids start talking, they say the most amazing things. Charlotte has already done this many times, and I would give you some examples, but the thing is, I've already forgotten. A friend had a great suggestion (thanks, Tanya). When her 4-year-old says one of those priceless things, she writes it on a piece of paper, dates it and puts it in a jar. Brilliant. Easy.
Oh, and all those fortunes you save when you eat Chinese food, because of course "your ideas are clever and you will be rewarded."

Now I've got that covered too...

Stones, Shells and Hemingway... Inspiration to Sew By

"Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so."
- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea


With this new piece, I happily revisited a previous theme which I first began exploring a year ago... Mid Century inspired table runners/wall hangings, (which I also refer to as "functional art quilts" as these pieces work both as beautiful, functional table runners and decorative accent pieces, as well as a beautiful piece of art to hang.)


My muses for previous pieces, (see here, here and here) included old utilitarian quilts and Frank Lloyd Wright.


For this piece however, my inspiration came from stones, shells and the mental image of Ernest Hemingway. The stones and shells, gathered on my recent visit to the sea side, were a visual influence for my color and pattern choices,


where Hemingway provided the muse for creating a piece with a masculine feel... I wanted something that would look at home in a study, draped over an old and well used wooden table that had been oiled to a deep, rich shine.

"Hemingway" - A Mid-Century Inspired Functional Art Quilt is currently available in my shop.

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P.S. I was delighted to learn from the comments on my last post that so many of you are familiar with and like Tsatsiki! What a pleasant surprise!

Design Inspiration

The sun came out today for a bit and I was able to get some slightly better photos of my new work, (thanks everyone for the very kind responses in the previous post!)

Also thought I would share what I wrote about the thinking and inspiration behind the work:

"Form and function are one"
- Frank Lloyd Wright


Lately, I have been increasingly drawn to and attracted to, mid century design. Especially architecture. I decided that I wanted to start a new series of art quilts that were both beautiful and functional. Objects, that if placed in a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, would look like they belonged.


When I was a kid, my parents took my sister and me to see Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater", (picture above). I was so enthralled by what I was seeing, both on the exterior and the interior. All the rules were broken, and everything made perfect sense. One thing that's been on my "bucket list" for a long time is to take a trip from coast to coast, stopping along the way to visit as many of Frank's structures as I can! Wouldn't that be wonderful!?!

Glorious Color!

Outside it was gray and overcast again, but inside I focused on glorious color!

A bowl of thread on my sewing table


A pile of paint chips on my cutting table. They provide wonderful inspiration for new color combinations, and the best part is they're free!


My latest embroidered mini art quilt, photographed against a vibrant piece of yellow paper.

Show me your colorful inspirations! If anyone has recently posted something bright and colorful on their blog, feel free to add a link to it in the comments section!