A Face in the Floor

One of the interesting things that the human brain does is to see human features in inanimate objects. At a friend's house, I saw this in the flooring:

I see eyes and a nose.  It reminds me of ET.

And here is my "face" singing an older song. 

You may need to click the play button twice or use this YouTube link

https://youtu.be/Sel-rwcUOyA

 I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

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.

Quilting - Embrace the Oops

I know that many people get uptight about their free-motion quilting because of small mistakes. Folks, I make small mistakes pretty much every time I sit down to quilt.  Do I let it bother me?  In truth, it used to bother me.  Now, I embrace the "oops" and carry on. Unless the tension is bad or there are "eyelashes" on the back, I just leave it and keep going.   

Yes, I will show you a mistake. Why not, I don't love it but I said "That, right there,  is something that shows this was guided by human hands!" 

What happened? I lost my path and got a variation.  It is a flower and not all flowers are perfect.

Go on, go outside and check them.  Are you back yet? Ha ha.  

And if you make a mistake -embrace the Oops - maybe repeat it a few times and then it looks like you meant to do it. 

Sometimes, I do simple quilting patterns that give me a rest break in a section.  This one in the dark fabric is super easy. It is a "straight" line (sorta straight anyway) and a curvy line. You can do variations on this by using 2 straight, 1 curvy OR two curvy and one straight OR make up your own variations. 

You don't have to be consistent with it either.  The quilt gets quilted and the variety adds a bit of interest, especially if you are doing it on the entire quilt.  As I was typing this I realized that if you were doing a full quilt with just this idea you could alternate straight into curvy on a single line. Then alternate the next line with the opposite of the first one. OR line up 2 (or 3) the same and then do one all curvy (or straight) and make it even more interesting.  Okay, so now you see a bit how my peculiar mind works. 

If you are looking closely, you will see that each section is a bit (or a lot) different than the one next to it.  One of my rules is to do a section in curves and use straight lines in the next section.  Of course, I can break that rule if I want to break it. As long as the entire quilt gets quilted I am happy. 

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.

Family

Today I am just sharing some old family photos so that they are somewhere other than on my hard drive. 

First up is my Dad with his father-in-law, my grandfather. I don't think I ever saw my grandfather when he wasn't wearing a pair of overalls.

Next is some family that I never met but I like the photo. 

These are cousins from my mother's family.

The variety in the girl's dresses is what I find particularly interesting.

Here is my maternal grandmother. She was a mother of nine. 

She never learned to read or write (with the exception of signing her name) 

but she was a pretty smart woman.  And she was a quilter who did everything 

by hand with just a needle and thread - no quilt frame/hoop etc. 

And here is a pic of my Mom and her older sister. The sister was expecting her first child. 

Since there are lots of faces I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

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.

For a Friend

One of my local friends was having some health issues that could be life threatening. A group of us got together and did various things to cheer that friend.  One thing that I did was to make her a covered notebook, because I know she will use it.  I asked for her favorite colors and was told Blue and Green. 

I also knew that she loves hand dyed fabrics.  So I dove into my stash of hand dyed fabrics and chose a selection of blues and greens to make the cover.  

I love the small pop of red on the front of this one. 

And here it is opened so you can see front and back.

I think it came out beautifully. I used a variegated green thread for the quilting. 

You may notice that there is a bit of purple on the back cover.  That end is actually a bit of leftover strip from a quilt top that I had been hanging onto. It worked nicely here. That bit and the lining are the only fabrics that are not hand dyed in this notebook cover.  The best part of these covers is that they fit a standard composition notebook. That means once it is full, you replace the inside notebook and start with a fresh notebook. 

This has been a crazy week so I have no new face to show. 

However, I am sharing "Lucy Prisma" again. 

                I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

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.

Staying Creative

There are some things that I try to do on a fairly regular basis. One thing is to keep the creative juices flowing. I was watching a live stream promotion for a class that I thought might be interesting.  But to insure that it wasn't time wasted, I pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and drew some quick face sketches.   Each of the three I drew were inspired by someone in the video. None of the three look like the person that inspired them.  Getting a likeness wasn't the point.  The inspiration, the use of eyes and hands to see and create based on that inspiration - that was the point. 

The top person was inspired by the glasses one of the presenters was wearing. My perspective on it is not right, but somehow it caught the essence. 

The lower photo was inspired by the hair (the bangs, or fringe as it is called in the UK.) Then I just added face to "fill in." 

The cap worn by a participant inspired this quick sketch. 

In Spanish (at least in Mexico) that type of cap is commonly called a "gorra"

I remember that word because the cap is in sections that can be called "gores" - much like an old fashioned gored skirt.  (Do you notice that the scribble on his cap looks like the name "Danny" ?) 

Drawing these simple sketches help me when I go to create digital machine embroidery files. 

There are shapes and forms that my mind have stored away ready to use again.

This is an example (although a poor one) of how this works for me.

I am linking up with DVArtist/Nicole for the Friday Face Off. 

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.

July 4, 2023 -

Last night I was happy to quilt the final bit on the middle section of the quilt I am making for myself. I used a number of quilting patterns on this quilt section.  

The section will need to be trimmed now, but then it gets set aside while I layer and baste one of the two side sections. After the three sections are quilted, I will join them to make one big quilt. 

This will be the new quilt for my bed. I think it is going to be just lovely. 

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.