Showing posts with label RSC hexies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RSC hexies. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2025

creatively speaking this week, some brown scraps, some handwork, some Halloween finishes

 

Happy to report two finishes this week! 

Above is a close up of the smaller Halloween scrap quilt. I did machine binding of a batik, adding a zig zag with gold rayon thread. I quilted it best I could with my teeny little machine, and mostly the walking foot. 

I took most of this out of the other one that got finished.... the busiest bits.... and it's the size of a big placemat. I think I'll either use it for my lap when eating in front of the TV, or as a cover for my bedsize table. 
I love the mix of prints. Here is a picture of both on the design wall
the one on the left originally included most of that on the right.... but I like this pared down version of rows. I started with bits and pieces, like freeform geese, 4patches,  odd triangles, just sewing to see what came up.... then when I got down to the business of order.... it turned into rows. Some closeups
I've hoarded that row of kids for years.... see the crystals I ironed in place at the end? They are scattered along the length of the quilt. It's quilted with some metallics, and some rayons, some coton threads. Rows sometimes added improv fashion and curvy
I had fun with thin inserts, waving ghosties, crystals around Trick or Treat at the top sparkle. Metallic blue threads  lend movement. All fun to do
I keep my fusible crystals in bead holders, and pick them up with those cool bent tweezers! I love a tool that is whimsical. I made a stamped bag to hold all the crystals in

stamping on fabric is fun

hanging by the back door


I am sewing the basted brown hexies together at night... the focus color of the month at rainbow scrap challenge is brown scraps.... 
my friend Cindy said they look like a cup of cocoa with cream swirled in! I like them! 
a few are sewn together, I tend to try new ways each time to sew them, always by hand with a whip- stitch. I liked the previous colors in pastels, so I went ahead and cut out lighter browns (tans) to make another spiral of those to go with the previous pastels

a sewing funny for Halloween

(personally kids wouldn't be thread worthy for me, LOL. I'd give them a quarter before I'd give up a seam ripper!  Another funny


don't be a dinosaur
this guy is wearing brown as he works the cemetery... 

view of a neighbor's display... the lantern keeper is wearing brown

Made me giggle this week

Fat Quarter girls....


til next time, I'll be arranging the QAYG Halloween hexies and sewing the brown ones together

enjoy the process.... 


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Saturday, August 9, 2025

creatively speaking.... watching paint dry and sewing fabrics together by hand (and by machine)

 

This week I spent more time in studio sewing, but also painted again. Above is my finished hexie spiral block in aqua/turquoise/teal 

the color this month at rainbow scrap challenge is Aqua and my scraps hold  blue green colors but not a lot of aqua itself. I picked the best of the bunch and love this block. Here are all the blocks done so far

they will not be laid out like this at the end but they are so pretty!
Blue-green plays well with everybody!!

so you can see some individual fabric choices...

I sewed these components together this week, from the parts dept. I love the way these colors play together, yellow, turquoise, fuchia, purple

looks like a journal cover to me!  

I made some more random squares too, not fussing about the exact sizes but they came together



I arranged them on my design wall, then sewed pairs of two that were the same basic size.
When it was time to sew pairs together I sometimes needed to trim but not often. Then a strip set fell off my table and I put it in this line up
what do you think about this pop of pink to go with the prints that also have pink? I kind of like it in person but it stands out more in this image

I think a border or two and it will look good on the family room console

aqua pen holder
I got this pen holder/mug at our local plant store when we first moved here, and not a day goes by but I smill at the happiness of a little ceramic whale! 

As I walk the neighborhood I look to see the color of the month... and noticed this in the road
It stands out in person!
While I chatted with Joy this week, and it's always so good to share my life with her, I mentioned not painting or drawing.... to me painting is mindful and goal oriented more than scrap sewing. 
I often sew to quiet my mind and to see one color next to another, then make something out of it. 
Joy said, can you do that with your watercolors? 
huh.... so I wet the paper, and dropped in inktense colors 

and this one came next
colors all around Aqua 

then I took out markers to doodle on the top one....just because.... no goal in mind other than enjoying layers of color appearing
ahhhh I do love painting....


The world seems upside down lately. Chaotic, valueless, lonely. 
 
when I  make art, I can watch colors blend whether on paper or in fabric. 
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Saturday, July 19, 2025

creatively speaking, so many decisions, purple focus, a lovely gift, seeking focus

 

it's time for this week's creativity round up.... things I worked on rather than finishes this time

I take the RSC challenge to focus on a color each month, to heart. I not only pull out the purple scrap bin, but think about the shades and tints of a color, it's relationship to other colors. 


I did finish this month's hexie block in purple. It's so satisfying to finish the block press it and see it all together. It starts with choosing the shades and fabric patterns, which ones to put next to the others, moving the little basted hexies around til it feels right. Sometimes I baste the whole set and don't like how they look in the block and choose another fabric. 

no project too small to dither over

I now have 7 blocks done, and am already worrying over how to set them. Do I put black between each block? just sew them together into some shape then fill in around them to make a border? 
just on the sewing table for a picture
 will it have too much movement if just set next to each other, too much to enjoy seeing on the wall? 

And how will I quilt it? there are so many seams here. 
My granny hand quilted every quilt she made, or tied them with little tufts of thread on top. She followed the seam lines. I seldom do that, and this would be difficult to hand quilt. 

that's another decision for another day

I walk a lot lately, and on walks I often notice things in the RSC color of the month. this month it's purple so I notice what is purple on my walks.... 

clematis is purple
I started a pair of hand knitted socks, in a summer yarn, that is stretchy and so variegated

Knitting is soothing to me, and I do it at night. Stop the day's demands, slow down, turn on the TV
the colors really blend and blur with this yarn
I do like the meditative aspect of handwork. Slower, more chance to observe color, repetitive stitches add up and like in meditation my mind can ping pong or quiet down and I go with it. 
I worked on this project, curvy improve joins of tiny mosaic fabric pieces to each other, then strips to strips, tidy order made from the chaos of a pile of scraps. Like tiny pieces of glass in a kaleidoscope. 

I'm also working on the table scraps challenge to use purple scraps and focus on the word blossoms
I'll show it next week... it's turning out well so far
 

in between studio projects I turn back to just what a small shift in shade will do to this journal cover. 
 


The circle in the center was a scrap square I cut into a circle, changing the whole feel of it. 
I plan to do stitching by hand over this for a texture addition

My good sister friend Cindy sent me a box full of treasures. 
I LOVE a box of things to go through. She said they were from a studio cleanse but I see nothing but treasures. The fabrics are so pretty, so useable
she said she wouldn't use them but knew I would, and she's right. 
It's good to have a friend who knows you isn't it? 
She sent it for my birthday meaning there is a second gift in being remembered and being "post office worthy"

notions, beads, ink blocks.... needles to try, bead scrapers, a lighted "un-stitcher" and omg

 

Joy sent me a birthday box with flamingo fabric, in happy colors along with a journal in pink which lifted my spirits so much! 

Pat in NM sent a big box of tiny scraps that gave me hours of sorting fun, and some of those are in my current purple work.... it's like a collaboration between artists to receive the fabrics they chose to use, and now I will pick up the gauntlet and carry on in my own way. 

I am so grateful
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Saturday, June 7, 2025

creatively this week.... drawing, learning, progressing on my spring/summer green quilt


2.5" squares cut to baste to EPP hexies
I have a few things to share but it's been like walking through mud this week.... 

The color of the month on rainbow scrap challenge is orange. I do like orange and it's energizing. I cut colors to make this month's spiral hexies, and will baste them this weekend I hope. 

the orange bits and scraps ready to use
I hand sew at night in front of the TV but in the studio I'm trying to finish the green spring leaves top, and find myself having trouble making decisions.   I pulled some fabrics including this one I hand dyed years ago....
so I cut strips of them and auditioned them for setting the piecework.... 
I know I'm depressed and fearful and it's sapping my energy right now
a morning doodle painting
but I thought making art and working with color would lift me up.... but even it's become harder daily
(thanks for listening) 
I spent time this week learning while watching Sketchbook Revival lessons but concentrating was hard
 
One of the lessons was on brush lettering, writing then adding lines to look like caligraphy so I wrote "Energy" as an intention, just wrote it with a fountain pen, not doing the actual lesson
then filled in with color from my ink set and a brush, using also some old gouche colors on the palette. 
I quite like how cheerful it is, just on printer paper, like the flower with word stem

back to the green piece....
I forced myself to commit to fabrics and at least the bottom half is sewn in making it look tidy
I love the leaves. I am adding slips of tiny fabrics now and then, laying it on, then stitching over the scrap grasses, you can click on pics to enlarge them and find the additions

I don't mind a bit of fraying, but the stitches stop nearly all of that. 
My plan was to applique seedlings when the top was together but might save that for doing on a simple background later. 

I banked back and forth from lessons on Sketchbook Revival this week, to studio time sewing. Plus
ICAD is back, prompts every day for 61 days, making art on an index card....
https://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/icad-2025-1-7

I've done this challenge for years and it's amazing what comes of it!!! I'm behind of course, (no energy from depression) but did the first one.... what would you make to represent glimmer? 
I found this online search of glimmer, printed them tore it off the paper, surrounded the image with metallic paint that shimmers in person. Just a glimmer of paint. Light is a glimmer here. The quote gives me a glimmer of hope...
I've been walking a lot, and on this day wanted to find some orange in nature. I like this tree's mix of orange and green. (just a glimmer of orange lol) 
One lesson I watched had  us drawing a portrait starting with four lines and one watercolor pencil
draw, then add water, and voila! I love her, and kept this journal page open to see all week

another lesson had us using many supplies in black to make an abstract garden
start with plain pencil in non dominant hand, scribble. Move on to stabilo crayon, then eraser done over areas, then water soluble pencil again, markers, ink and voila! I love it too. I did this lesson before when she first showed it and this shows that we bring our current lives and what we've learned to the table. 

speaking of black and white, I tried sketching a portrait from a historical photo again

and realized how much I rely on watercolor paint... and how difficult a line drawing is to do
My journal has some old printer papers in it and I enjoy reclaiming them this way

It was challenging to draw downcast eyes, and that hair... I am always learning
this was a morning doodle.... watersoluble colored pencils traced my coffee cup, then blend with plain water.... I see some zendoodles or mandalas in the centers or quotes I might need to remember.... 
that's it for now, go check out the Index card challenge, it's free and a great site to explore
here's a gratuitous orange/pink flower in honor of the focus color this month

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