Eastern Phoebe Babies

A pair of Eastern Phoebes has built a nest on top of one of my outdoor lights.  I was hoping they were gone as I see the parents less these days.  So I took a small ladder out and climbed far enough to take a photo.  The babies are in the nest, so I will wait a while longer for them to fledge and move on. 

At this stage they are rather ugly creatures. 

They will grow up just a bit to be a prettier little songbird

Plus they are insect eating birds. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Quick Check-in and Face

This week I went to a will clinic held by the State Bar association at my public library.  I now have a will and a living will.  I am glad to have those in place.  It was an interesting couple of hours sitting in the room with all of my quilt display.  Plus, one of the attorneys bought a small piece for her mother-in-law. 

While I was there, the head librarian asked me  if I could possibly leave the display up through June as the planned artist had backed out.  Of course I said yes. 

One of the things I have done recently was to take an online class about creating face shapes with ink and then adding the features with pen.  I didn't use the ink suggested, but I did use my Inktense blocks and a paintbrush.  It worked well, I think. 

I liked the outcome.  I think that I will play with this method more.  

If you would like to take the same "class" it is on CreativeBug and with this link you should get a free month.   The class I watched is  Inky Faces with Lisa Congdon: 8/14/18  There is a date with the title because the class was recorded live.

I am linking up  to the Friday Face Off (hosted by DVArtist.)

Have a great day!

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Painted Shibori

I recently saw some lovely hand dyed shibori fabrics and was immediately in "lust" with them.  It reminded me that I my "someday" list had "try making shibori fabric with fabric paint rather than dye." Needless to say,  it had been on the list for some time, and I said "Okay, today is the day." Of course that extended to two or three days of experimentation.   

You should know that shibori takes a bit of preparation before you dye (or paint) it.  In one class I took the teacher suggested using rubber bands for the method I was using to help with the fabric compression. Other teachers suggest using twine.  So, I did some of both.  I started with the rubber bands because I couldn't remember where I had put my twine. Ha ha. Later I found the twine and used it for one of these.  I honestly can't tell which was which. 

 

Here are my resulting fabrics.  First is this green pieces, that was compressed a bit too tightly at one end. That resulted in some white spaces remaining. 

 

Next up is a piece that was pre-dyed with some purple and blue. However, most of the fabric was still white and I was planning to over-dye it, so it was perfect for this experiment. For this one the cloth was dampened prior to painting. 

I really love the colors peeking through. 

Next up is a piece on which I decided to use two color of paint.  Seeing all of the white, I can assure you that this was on dry cloth that was tightly compressed.  The paint doesn't bleed into the compressed fabric when it is dry and nicely compressed. 

I love the effect of the two colors both applied while the cloth was compressed.

The next piece looks a bit disappointing compared to the previous one.  The lighting wasn't good for this photo.  The fabric is actually while with just the blue paint on it.  This will work well for water or maybe a distant forest if it is turned ninety degrees. 

Overall, I would say that my experiment was a success for the most part.  I will certainly try doing more of this type of painted shibori.  I think any of them would work well as a "filler block" or part of a pieced block.  The should also work well in art quilting if I find the right place for them.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Faces and a bit more of the Party Quilt

Greetings, thanks for dropping by.  Today I have a couple of older sketches of faces for the Friday Face Off (hosted by DVArtist.)  Last week I used a male face, so today I am using a couple of female faces from the same time period. 

These ladies are more sketches from imagination and memory.  They are not anyone in particular, but simply my creations. 

Next up are two more sections of the Party Quilt that I am slowly creating. 

You have seen part of this in the past.  When the photo was taken, this were laid together while I was 

making decisions as to how it would be joined. 

This next piece started as a wonky square in a square block.(red, blue, yellow, lavender.) 

That block was layered with a solid piece of batik and cut on a rough diagonal.

The pieces were switched and joined into two blocks. 

Then those blocks were joined. 

I went on a search for a photo of the block before it was sliced, but to no avail.

Here is the result of the joined pieces.

It is "weird" and I love it. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

The Party Continues

I am continuing to make pieces for the "Party Quilt" Here are a couple for you to see. 

I like to add in a few curved pieces to add feel of motion to the piecing. 

There is only one curve that I see in this one. But there is one of my improv pineapple blocks in it also.

I really love all the batiks and hand-dyed fabrics in these chunks. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Piecing and Musing

Welcome!  I have been making progress on the "party quilt" that I am making.  I call it a party quilt because there is a lot going on and not everything is organized or orderly.  It is just a lot of fun. Like a party there are groups clustered together - occasionally someone wanders into a different group.  

I have shown some "chunks" already.  This quilt will be made in sections - and there is very little planning at this point.  Here are a couple of chunks.  One may be somewhat of a repeat, but this time each one is all one piece. 

P.S.  they may not be laid out the same as when I showed pieces just laid together. 

I have this on a sheet of watercolor paper for the white background, it makes the colors render better in a photo. 

Here are three smaller pieces:

Confession: These are not neatly pressed because they get made and piled up until I want to work on each of them again. If they need pressed before sewing on more pieces or joining them, they are pressed again at that point.  (My piles are not neat and orderly when I am creating.) 

And now, for the Friday Face off crew, here is a sketch that I am guessing I made from a live "model" who didn't have a clue I was sketching him.  The reason I think this is that it appears to have been sketched very quickly before the subject moved too much. Also, he is facing left, contrary to my normal direction.  There are minimal lines defining the eyes and his glasses. 

You can also see that I defined the shape of his mouth and chin with blocky lines. 

That is another clue that it was from life and done quickly. 

I am linking this to the Friday Face Off hosted by Nicole at  DVArtist.   Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun to see how various people interpret the challenge. 

When you are creating anything, do not think about (and fear) the things that "could go wrong." Instead, rejoice in the things that could go right. Trust and obey your creative instincts. Quell the fear and doubt. You were created in an image of a CREATOR. Find your creative gift and use it joyfully. 

Gene Black

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

A Chunk of a Top

Last Wednesday I showed some pieces that I am working on.  Since then I have added more and created a few small chunks. Those were made to let pieces fit together fairly well. Ha ha.  Sometimes I make them too big and need to trim away some edges.  That is okay. 

Today (Saturday)  I joined several pieces so that I have one big chunk.  There are still other smaller chunks waiting a turn to grow. 

The goal is another quilt similar to "Party Time"  - made with lots of parts that never made it into quilts yet.  Of course I added pieces using up more scraps.  

Here is the quilt "Party Time"  

This quilt is made in sections and joined using a technique I learned from Marguerite Mcmanus in her book "Crazy Shortcut Quilts."  I made one using the book and then adapted the technique for quilting a quilt in sections and then joining them. 

I love this quilt and have had it on my bed for some time now.  I could probably sell it (or could have already sold it) if it were put in the exhibit.  But, I love it and it is mine for now. 

I know that I have more pineapple blocks hiding somewhere and I need to find them and add some of them into this wild mishmash of a jubilantly happy quilt. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Placemats and Faces

Good Friday morning.  As I am writing this, I feel no signs of another kidney stone -yaay.  I hope I am done with them.  I do believe that I counted a total of seven over the 12 days of misery. 

To celebrate I "chased a squirrel" and used a piece of sun-printed fabric that I got from a friend.  With it, I made two placemats for another friend.  I had previously made him a couple but they shrank badly in the wash.  (I think I quilted too much on them.) 

I think that the fun gear designs in the center make them perfect for a guy's table.  I used some of my own hand dyed fabrics, a dark purple solid, and a batik for the binding.  

Now a couple of throw-back sketches from yet another sketch book that I found while cleaning out some things. 

This guy is probably straight out of my imagination. 

This little old school teacher is also from my imagination.  

As both of those have faces,  I am linking this to the Friday Face Off hosted by Nicole at  DVArtist.   Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun to see how various people interpret the challenge. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

A Bit of Sewing

This has been an "interesting" week.  I think that I passed the 6th kidney stone this morning. That makes 6 in 12 days. Sheesh.   I was scheduled to work as usher for a Broadway touring show, but the onset of #5 caused me to call and tell them that I could not come in.  I have to say that I think only the first one was a big one. Or it could be that I am learning to deal with the pain better. I have not managed to catch or see any of these, but I have felt each of them moving along the ureter.  As I am writing this, I feel a possible #7 coming down the line. Hopefully it is small and will move quickly.  

During the "lulls" in the pain, I have started sewing some random pieces together to start another wild scrappy quilt.  There are three separate sections in the photo. While I put them so that they almost look like one big piece;  they probably will not end up together. 

While I was at Mom's, I went to the mailbox for her. As I neared the road I saw something moving at the edge of the road, near the mailbox.  I slowed down and made some noise. These two raised up their heads and started to leave.  I said "What are those?"

So I took the photo and showed mom when I was back inside. She had no clue either. 

Hmmm.... Let me try Google lens!  It focused in on the bird at the right.  The results said:
Helmeted Guinea fowl.

Of course, I was curious, seeing them for the first time. I read several articles. 

You will notice that this is a couple. The one on the right was trailing behind. I noticed that he/she was walking with a slight limp.  I suspect it has a damaged foot.  I have read that they mate for life. So I suspect this is why there were only two of them, as usually they stay in flocks. Perhaps they got left behind. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.