Creative Tuesday: Beatles Song (#67)

It's Creative Tuesday time!  Today's meme was Beatles Songs.  You know that English group that was pretty popular back 60's/70's?  Ya, before I was born, ha!  Well, the challenge is to pick your favorite Beatles song and create a drawing inspired by it.  So, I bet your dying to know what my favorite song is, right? 

Me too. 

I admit I've heard of the Beatles.  I can even openly say I think I like their music.  Then, I pondered about what my favorite song was. 

Drew a total blank. 

Then, I tried to think of any song by the Beatles. 

Again.  Total blanksville.  I admit, connecting music artists and their song names isn't a strong skill for me.  (I can hear the Mister laughing at that.)  Thank goodness for Google!  After about 5 minutes I was off and rolling and couldn't get the song "Love is All You Need" out of my head. 

Perfect!  I had my muse!  I got my acrylic paints out for this one.  I've been wanting to see how they might mix into a multimedia piece.  I started with a base of red tissue paper, pink and green fabric, and that piece of striped cardboard.

Layering is my favorite part, I applied a bunch of acrylic paint with a paint brush and bubble wrap.  The hardest part of using paint for me... is waiting for it to dry.  Who's with me?

Thank goodness for distractions.  While the piece dried I set out to add more texture to the Sammy piece that you might remember from a previous Creative Tuesday.  I will be showing off the finish tomorrow for the Pet's on Quilts parade!!

Once the paint was dry, I glued on a bit of lime green tissue paper, and a few torn pieces of origami paper.  Then doodled around with sharpie markers in lots of colors to outline, trace, or emphasize. 

Totally soothing. 

Totally creative. 
Totally creating without concern or plans.

And I admit, I adore the results of that crazy mind of mine. 

I also adore these two lovable pups who wouldn't let me out of their sight last night.  That's Katie on the left and Sammy super-manning on the right. 

Anyway, here's a better look at the results of my mixed media craziness.  I see many more of these pieces, in this style, in my future.  I have even thought about how I might be able to better bring this style to my quilting. 

And of course I had to instagram it!  I can't remember exactly what filter I used, but I love the way it faded the piece and made it seem like old school rock and roll.  I'm also excited that this is my third piece that I found a way to incorporate fabric in an unexpected way!

And, I'll leave you with a snap of the lake down the road.  It was so peaceful, so calm, so serene this morning!  Sure gets my creative juices bubbling!

Wishing you endless creativity and all the time you need to capture it!

Making a Strawberry Tart

This was the first time I made a tart of any kind.  And what a fun experience!

Good to the last bite!

Hope your week is off to a sweet start!

Instagram-y Goodness {#2}

How about some more instagram-y goodness to round out the week?

::  a cute drawing on a package of candy

::  the dragon that adorns a wall in my sewing room

::  a mini quilt, made for me by my dear bloggy friend Monika, also on a wall in my sewing room so I can see it every day

::  we rented a dumpster and clean out a lot of things!

::  we've managed to really tire out Sammy a million days in a row

::  this is a huge mushroom that was growing out of our veggie garden rock wall

::  Sammy took a trip to the Home Depot with us and loved every second

::  we had the lobster picnic at Stew Leonard's -- it was awesome!

::  the mister got me sunflowers, one of my favorites!

::  pretty flowers that I pass on my walks at lunch
::  fluffy golden tails happily in the air on a walk through the woods
::  Ms. Bambi and baby bambi taking a stroll through the yard
::  our lake in the fog and mist
::  the prism quilt is filling out after getting a tiny bit of attention mid week.  I have a plan to finish out the white spots
::  came home at golden hour... that time when the sun is setting with golden rays.  It was really pretty through this tree!
::  got a puzzle for the Mister while he recovers, forgot how much fun puzzles can be.
::  my messy desk that I still managed to create at this week
::  reading my kindle by flashlight while the power was out last night.  Are you reading anything at the moment?

No big plans for the weekend, just the way I like it sometimes.  And here's hoping that I can sneak some sewing time in!

Ready Yourself for Sewing

Here are components of a good creative mind ready for sewing.

1.  A messy desk.  Make sure you have lots of types of creative materials, like watercolors, that have nothing to do with sewing on your desk and in the way.  And lots of wires too.  The ones in view here are for recharging gadgets. 

2.  A crude plan.  (apologies for the photo facing the wrong direction), when you start out even a simple pencil sketch or in this case a marker sketch can get you on your way.  This is a sketch of week #2 of the Tetris quilt along.  You can see week #1 here.  And I should give myself a few bonus points, because this sketch is at least cut out and glued into my sewing journal.  Less chances of being lost that way, right?

3.  A floor that is clean enough to put fabric on.  I know.  I hear you asking me why I'm not using my design wall for exactly this use.  I'll get to why next.  But, first let's focus on the floor.  If you are going to put fabric on it, be sure it's free of dog hair and stuff.  Mine turned out to be kinda hairy and it took a few shakes of the fabric to return the hairy stuff back to the floor. 

4.  A design wall that's full to the brim.  Hence the reason I had to layout my above pieces on the floor.  A cluttered design wall is just as good as a cluttered desk.  Gives your brain no room to process and forces you right into sewing action since there is no 'holding zone' for something else in progress.  And I still hold that the only way these triangles are coming down is either sew or press them.  Seriously.

5.  Get reaquainted with your sewing machine.  Remember this lovely?  It's been too long.  So long, that I was sewing and the stitches stopped working and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.... turned out to be an empty bobbin.  Wow, this summer is powerful anti-sewing stuff.  The bobbin.  Now, how do you wind one of those things?  Ha, silly me!

Yes, I'm being sarcastic as heck, but what fun to dive back into some sewing time after a way to long break.  I'm sure it'll be smooth sailing from here.

CT: "Christmas in July" (#66) & IF: Carry

How about a mostly wordless Creative Tuesday and Illustration Friday, where I will let the pictures show the process?  The meme for Creative Tuesday's was Christmas in July... hence the 'sandman' and festiveness.  The meme for Illustration Friday was Carry... hence, Katie, the golden on the left, carrying the santa hat over to top the 'sandman.'

Felt so good to get out creative gear and let my stress flow out through my paints and markers.  Proves once again that creativity is very powerful!

Wishing you a lovely and absolutely creative week!

Instagram-y Goodness

I'm crushing pretty hard on my newly found love, Instagram.  Look me up, I'm cwiltex.  It seems like the perfect way to recognize a little (or big) happening in my day that makes me smile.  And it even gives me a way to capture it for sharing and reflecting! 

So, for those of you who don't partake, or even if you do, I thought it might be fun to see all the little happy snips together.

::  Illustration Friday doodle and reminder to myself to remain strong and present.
::  Proof that I finally picked the Sammy painting project back up.
::  Two adorable noses looking back at me and I get all gushy when they love on each other like that.
::  A huge pile of green beans, green and purple, freshly picked from the veggie garden.

::  Katie, upside down, smiling, with her leg up to get a belly scratch.  Can life get any better?  I think not.
::  Working through a multimedia paradise island for Creative Tuesdays.
::  Trying (and liking) a new flavor of hard cider.  Sour cherry is good!
::  A snap from the dogs playing in the baby pool.  Sammy is doing her best 'you don't see me' here.

::  Paradise island is born of fabric, paper, and string!  It's got some great textures.
::  The dogs help with the house work by pre-rinsing the dishing in the dishwasher.
::  Ate the last of the party cake ice cream straight from the container.  Great cool-me-down on a hot day.
::  The first tetris block all pieced and pressed and looking scrumptious!

So much fun!  What do you instagram?

WIP {Tetris & Sammy}

It's been a month since I pulled together all my works in progress and chatted with you about them.  Over due, right?  But I also have to admit that with all the sunshine and warm weather I have been spending a ton of time outside and basically zilch in front of my sewing machine. 

But, let's take a look at what is getting attention.

I recently gave in to the Tetris Quilt Along and pulled out scrappy rainbow charms to use as the game pieces.  This quilt along is already so much fun.

Melissa from Happy Quilting is making the experience awesome by having us actually play the game.. then sew our board.  So, here is my board for week 1. 

I grabbed the proper colors and then laid out my 6x6 square.  I'm using a creamy white linen to represent the holes where pieces don't end up. 

And then I sewed those 5 inch squares together.  Pairs, then rows, then two rows, then the square was assembled.  So therapeutic.  Love the easy sewing element of this project.  My hands and fingers just know what to do and my brain is relaxed and enjoying the process.  What a easy way to ease back into the rhythm of sewing in between summery things.

With the simplicity of the piecing I think I might take this up a notch by quilting each square as I go so I can maneuver the smaller squares for some intricate quilting.  Then I would join all the squares together at the end.  I'll let you know by next week what I decide to do.  Which reminds me... I need to pick up some batting if I'm going to go that route.

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 4
New Projects: 2

Finished Projects: 0 (removed Mushrooms for now)

Total WiP's: 1

Last time, my four work's in progress were: Prisms, Mushrooms, Hawk, and the City/State Landscape.  Funny how things change in a month.  I haven't touched any of those. 

Prism is still on my design wall.  I vowed to myself that the only way it's coming off is to sew it together.  Otherwise it stays.  I lost steam on that one because of all the triangle cutting.  It got to me.  But, I have an idea to get past that.  Which means deviating from the pattern, which I should have seen coming. 

I don't think a hand sewing project is actually going to happen any time soon for me.  So, I'm crossing Mushrooms off my list for now.  Hawk is the next one I am going to start.  I'm happy with my research, my sketching, and just need to pick a size and then pick a pose.  I am really temped to do this one as a whole cloth... sketch with thread and then paint and applique feathers and details on top.  The City/State Landscape was something I wanted to do to join in the fun of my quilt guild.  Some days I can see it really clearly.  Some days it's clear as mud.  But, I think it would be fun to capture some of the places I've travelled in quilts.  I'm still tossing around the idea of one for Aruba or Amsterdam. 

As for my second new project, you might remember I painted my pup Sammy on fabric.  And I'm happy to report that I have made some progress.   

It's sandwiched, basted, and I started some of the outlining.  Lots more to go, but I'm glad I'm getting over my initial fear of ruining the whole thing by quilting it. 

I think the thread painting is really going to add a nice texture and dimension to the otherwise flat painting.

And there you have it.  That's what's going on quilty-wise.  For now.  Until I change my mind a million more times.  We'll see what I actually work on in the next week, if anything at all *wink*

Wishing you gobs of creativity and sunshine!

Creative Tuesday: Paradise Island (#65)

This weeks Creative Tuesday challenge was the theme of Paradise Island.  What fun, right?  I can just picture it now....*close your eyes with me*  Sunshine, sandy beaches, soft blue water, and lots of time to relax with little umbrella drinks. 

I have been wanted to create a paper/fabric collage for sometime and I seized this as the opportunity to try it out.  I started with this handy paper towel that had accompanied me in my recent fabric painting.  I had used it to sop up extra dye as I created and then decided I couldn't part with it.. that I needed to create something with it. 

And it's got the perfect blues for paradise ocean waters.

I ripped and cut a piece of the paper towel and glued it down as the base.  The island and tree trunks are some brown fabric scraps I cut to shape.

I added a light airy, cloudless, blue sky and some wavy palm tree leaves.  I also added some depth of greens and turquoise to the water and browns to the island with watercolors.

And finally a little more definition with sharpie markers and a hammock strung from yarn.

What a little pleasure to put this together!  In my original plan, I was also going to add some stitchery to bring it to life even more, but I couldn't do it.  This piece kept telling me to stay simple and so I did. 

The only thing I might have added to the island, to make it more of a paradise, is either a stack of books to read or my kindle.  You know... that sounds like a sweet way to pass a warm sunny day with an ocean breeze.

You can tell I definitely have the multimedia bug.  I used paper, fabric, markers, watercolors, and yarn to create this piece.  And the textures are just out of this world!

And.. in case you're interested you can read more, see the other creations, and join in the fun if you like!