sewing/creativity round up "Indoor Gardening"

 

I spent the week sewing, writing, painting and drawing... with some creative cooking going on too. (we'll not talk of chores also done)  I cook out of necessity but it does not bring me joy... although now and then I notice something artistic while cooking like this swirl

boiling buttermilk, cocoa and butter to make icing

I wrote a short essay with the prompt "stay curious" yesterday and would love you to read it and add your two cents  (HERE IT IS)

While thinking about the curiosity factor in art making, and how I love each medium I use to express myself, I compared how much quicker it is to paint than to stitch art... I focused on emerging grasses this week... here is a painting I did in about 15 minutes... with large flat brush, KOI paints, small dagger brush, and inks... the colors are delicate like new grass, with subtle blues and green behind.

and I stitched grasses... I have a plan for these in their own work of art

It all started with small green scraps for the color of the month at RSC... and careful cutting and insertion of little strips of color. It's been a fabulous way to discover how the concepts of  "line" "shape" "color" and "contrast" work together, and very satisfying to piece in such narrow strips. 

I start with a concept, and am working simultaneously on three projects of wall art at the moment using components I make... and make and make... like the geese, and crocus. I love the mix of color and pattern in the fabric scraps!!!! Already many components have been sewn together and there are more made than I'm showing today. You'll see them all in the finished pieces!

 This is growing, so to speak... components come together to make something greater than themselves

I tried Karen Eckmeir's technique to make free cut leaf blocks... but do not like the process or look of the reverse applique method, so quickly changed to free cut leaves but pieced in. If you try that form of curvy piecing, don't worry that your block gets a bit distorted, just trim at the end.  

Nature is not worried about it, and neither am I

The big leaf to the right is the one I embroidered during the last workshop. I like the squares sewn in little rows but the improvisational bits next to them show how things turn to organized chaos. 

Two painted compositions are on the wall for fun alongside the three projects... will they make their way in this time? 

For my hand stitching friends... and I also love hand embroidery, piecing and quilting... I wondered how to contain a skein of floss, and saw a bunny holder online... 

I cut mine from a yogurt lid, marked on it with sharpie, and cut the slit to hold loose end

I tucked the package into the back in case I ever wanted to know the color number

I watched this video too this week, and fast forwarded to see the actual antique quilts

 he  gets around to showing the Paris exhibit of 18th century embroidered quilts, around the middle but wowie! Gorgeous use of stitching

 so this week I thought about my different media to see how each one is done and compared them. Painting on paper is much faster than stitching, but speed isn't everything. Sewing is so satisfying and I lose myself in that process as well as listen to books while doing it. I can't hear noise when I paint or write. 

Writing helps me discover what I think and feel, and can communicate with others. I can write about emerging grass, how each moment seems to change the landscape of a yard in Spring, going from brown to greens, how my dog likes to nibble on emerging delicate seedlings, how the black birds commuting through look as they hunt for worms. I can paint with color, watching my gentle lifting and pressing of a brush changes a line, or captures a color with just the right mix. I watch as sewing the thinnest of strips into a square of fabric no more than 5 inches big, changes the whole feel of it. How I must be confident as I slice through, that the end will make this slight sacrifice worthwhile. 

I think I can finally admit I am an artistic soul with all that entails.

Linking to

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

https://wendysquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2022/04/taupo-quiltmakers-exhibition-im-guest.html 

patchwork Sunday                    
oh Scrap Sundays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays 

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

Midweek makers wednesdays  

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/ 

off the wall Fridays 

tgiffriday 

finished or not