my creative week... yellow fabric art and watching paint dry

 

I have two main projects for rainbow scrap challenge this year... the EPP project shown above is one of them. I'll be doing one each in scraps from that month's color, this month it's yellow.

got the idea from https://thecraftycreek.com/2023/07/16/owl-and-hare-hollow-hqal-2/.

I really enjoy english paper piecing...
 

four epp circles done... haven't decided what color to put them on yet

here are three yellow scrap pieces I'm working on at the same time... the design wall is sunny! 

I'll be sharing them as they grow larger and more complex

 

I'm adding stips and fabrics each day, after pondering how each new addition might add or detract from the center circles. I love this one. Also love this fabric... and it's slightly off tone and too dark but I had to add it in...

and I love this one... see this week I sewed sections together, added in the row of houses at the bottom.

 

I loved finding that leaves scrap next to the geese unit, how it blended the color, continued the line, and balanced the whole thing. I added in an uncomfortably thin strip of tan with some light yellow pieced on, to the left side, because I wanted to continue the brownish lines... 

it's all made with itty bitty scraps, sewn one to another with no goal in mind, until it started taking shape... now each addition must add to the visual meaning for me so it's all slowed down. 

I know the houses are abstract, the whole thing is abstract. I struggle with doing meaningful abstracts and that's a good teaching tool for me... so... it continues

Painting on paper

I have a junk journal made with random printed copier papers I no longer wanted. It lives next to the computer, on top of my watercolor paints, ready to try ideas that come to me while having morning coffee. 

swaths of color, with inking over them. Trying patterns, and how they affect a drawing with those lines behind the flowers and around the printed circles. A quick doodle rose

 

 my painting friend Sonja in Hawaii, sent a fun video plus a photo of a pink shell, that I thought I'd do a quick study on. Well, I learned just how fast copier paper dissolves in water... and the abrasion of pens. 

next time I must get watercolor paper before trying something that will need shadow and work, and water...

but do I learn? I did a quick no inspiration paint on the junk journal another day. Just wash of some paint, which the back printed side came through...

the left side was a doodle, and the right side is just quickly painted with no plan

(I kind of like the affect) 

Then I added more and more and more

sketch over paint with black marker

a few hearts always appropriate as well as star earring

some handwriting for the top

time to evaluate and learn from it... things I like (paint, shadows, little tatoos and swarm of hearts) colors, it was quick maybe 15 min

don't like as much, her overbite... her nose, both too prominent 

it all came from my head pouring out through brushes with the paint laden water. 

overall success, turn the page, do something new tomorrow. 

 linking with

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com

patchwork Sunday   

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

I Like #397 morning person or night owl

 

this is a lamp

welcome to this week's list of likes...

books

listening on audio

the next book in the pieshop myteries

reading on ebook

Italian for beginners on Pimsleur

 

Io verrai comprare perfavore  ( I want to shop please)

Attempt failed

I took a free workshop on Resonance and play this week. A TOTAL letdown but I stopped trying to make myself fit in at day3 at least... deleting all notices happily after that. I consider that an improvement over trying so long to make something work for me... Self awareness builds, right?

 on TV 

still enjoying American Idol... I liked the entire group on the second night this week. Talent!! One boy is 15 and has the maturity and depth of a much older decent man... I'm impressed with each person overcoming something in their lives to do this show

Survivor and amazing race... yep I kind of like all the contestants. Deal or no deal Island... I like Rob 

The good doctor is a good show, and the last drama on commercial tv I watch, and it's ending... 

I found The Traitors UK and am now watching that... love the complexity of that show and the challenges. 

I am relying on TV to sooth my pains at night, and doing hand sewing while watching. Or playing IPAD games while it's on. 

 

Prompt: Morning person or night owl?

seems like a lot of people think morning people are somehow "better" than night owls. I see it as energy... when do you feel the best, when are you most productive. left without demands would you lean more toward getting up early or staying up later?

I've always been more of a night owl.... even as a child it was hard to go to bed when others were still up talking, watching tv, etc. 

It's hard to wake up and get functional. Coffee helps but that's the drug caffeine's job. 

That said, now that I'm at an age when a lifetime of injuries and wear and tear have taken a toll on my body, I have to do things before the extreme pain starts. Ironically the pain stops me from resting/sleeping well too. So I'm being forced into being a mid day person. 

Add in bad dreams lately, from a state of chronic anxiety, sleep isn't as restorative as it should be. 

I have a memory of going to the Paducah quilt show with my older sister. We shared a room with two beds. I woke around 6 AM  to see her sitting on her bed, completely dressed purse on shoulder, hair done, looking at me. 

Crikey! what the heck? Let's go she said

I get chores done as early as possible now, to get them out of the way, knowing after lunch to 7 ish I want to be in the zone in my studio. I read at night or sometimes when I don't want to face the new day, I read before I get out of bed. If I'm into a handwork project, I do it while watching tv at night. I like it when dh and poodle go to bed, and it's quiet for me to watch tv without interruption. I might even check the computer for messages during those later hours. 

I think I'm a night owl still 

fine dining

tried this "healthy oat, apple, banana, raisen loaf with no sugar" recipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjboJMyZnk8 

 I found it tasteless with a slightly gummy texture. All good ingredients that didn't work with oats. 

Oh we will still try to eat it, I don't like waste... toasted with some peanut butter helps

youtube show

OMG we don't get this show here but it's Repair Shop with Dame Judy Dench, Dawn French

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YOPnI7fScg

 Milo's Moment

I like water in my raised bowl

 (editor's note, Milo pushes his nose out of the way on the far side of a bowl to drink. I never had a dog do that)

Hiya! Milo here... it got weirdly dark this week during the day. My problem with that was all the people outside... I had to guard and bark from the windows to wake them up and force them back into wherever they go when they aren't bugging me. 

I don't have any grand thoughts this week for you...but... some guidance for pups out there

 I guess I'll say watch your peeps' faces to see how it's going... if they are laughing I wag my tail since I rarely if ever actually laugh. If they have hard faces I leave the room and lie on the green sofa til they soften back up. 

I'm not brown, the color is off. I'm a mix of black and gray, called a blue poodle

 

Their faces tell a lot about their moods. Oh and if the mama makes noise in that sing song baby voice, that means she loves me and there might be treats. 

Please visit Mama's friends to see what they like this week

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://littlepenguinquilts

princess bubbles creates   

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

 craftscaviescontras   

 http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

the knitty quilter

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 

chasing my stories

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

   LINKING WITH 

https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

               friday smiles 

creativity this week... yellow study in fabric and in painting

 

this was actually a full week of creativity for me...I'd like to invite you into my world, my happy studio space. I love my sewing machine...  

When I'm stressed I like to sort fabric scraps then take the smallest of them to the machine and make order out of the chaos. My scraps are all shapes, all sizes, all color values and patterns. The focus color of April is yellow, so I pulled out the yellow scrap bin, and started sorting. 

In my bin was a bag of blocks, improv starts, left overs. A treasure chest! I started with the smallest bits and begin sewing one to the other, the bits growing with each addition, til it gets bigger than my biggest scrap in this pile. Then I start over, make another odd section... and another, til I had 5 sections. 

I start moving them around the table til they fit together, then sew sections together

I liked the geese but returned to the triangle scraps and made a section in yellow and browns

and learned it's okay to use just two fabrics to create a design. (More is better, excess is not enough is my usual mantra) Put the sewn square onto the design wall and pulled out larger scraps to see how a border might look... 

reevaluate... I like the repeated geese, I like the scrappy larger border strips, but... I don't want to use that pretty one in center right... it's too pretty for an experimental piece isn't it? But it fits, it looks good... 

I inserted another random pieced block into the boarder and like how it brings the chaos out. This is where I stopped for the day. I'm considering putting on final borders of one fabric, but not sure yet... 

I took the last of the tiny scraps to piece this long block... and decided it looks like a row of houses to me

dh came in at the end of the day to see what I'd been so involved in, and said he sees the houses! 

I also got inspired by some older improv drunkard path blocks in the bin... deciding I wanted more to go with them. I looked for my template set, 

but they weren't in their place... I ended up going thru a lot of stuff looking for them, found them obviously after the long search in the drawer above the one they live in, oy vey. But in searching I was reminded of templates, and rulers and things I'd like to make so it's all good! 

Ooooo I'm liking these, I had fun adding in that skinny 3/4" strip. Now what? The top three are slightly larger than the bottom three, but I just added in some coping strips and am thinking about that middle divider

and I'll wait til I get further along to show you the first border I chose, and an applique... but this one is exciting to me... which always comes with it's little friend, FOMU, (Fear of Messing Up) so I will take some time to find just the right shade of neutral gold or yellow or tan 

I started the week of yellow with my paint sets. Just done on copier paper printed on the other side and used for sketching. Two shades of yellow and one of yellow green became this... 

I liked the paper slightly dissolving and the words on the back peeking thru... 

a few inked lines, and another page in this junk journal is filled. I didn't even notice the page before it from weeks ago... I need healing

I've written several essays this week one of which is on Thursday's I Like post about my love of the beach... one was for my memoir about Granny's treadle machine  

I was forced to use creativity in meal prep to make things we'd like with what we had on hand. Not my favorite way to create but necessary. 

I am on lesson 7 of my Italian lessons... and try to use what I learn each day in real life. I speak. slowly. in. Italian. and comprehend slowly too... but dh reminded me I've only been doing it for a week... and I will get more comfortable. 

Not sure I'll ever roll my R's without a lot of effort, breath and spitting on anyone in front of me, lol

Italian phrase of the day,  " vorrei bere del vino perfavore"

from amazon

 

My mama quilts

linking with

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com

patchwork Sunday   

oh Scrap Sundays

 slow stitching Sundays

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/