Safari Déjà Vooooooo

And here's are a few of the new Safari blocks that got put up onto the design board. I don't know how this will go yet but wanted to see a couple of them put together.

Four Block Wonder

Here's a look at the four block wonder that just came down from the design wall.

Choices

So, here are the choices for the setting strips.
I've gone with the red and will use the light brown for the binding.
There. How's that?
Okay, so you have to read the following post first to make sense of this post.
...having a few more of my "stupid moments".

Day #151

Today is Day #151 of my hiatus from buying fabric.

It is not an easy task to find "just the right fabric" to use for a project. Color and pattern enter in and the choices get all fussy. Right now I'm making a four square wonder block quilt using four pieces of identical samples that have been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years. They have turned out pretty fun - the blue parrot's head in the print looks either like a lovely flower or else four fish heads all going for the same treat in the water. The rest have similar surprises.

Now for the task of finding just the right setting strips - something that brings out the design in the best way. In the past - before this hiatus from buying fabric started - I would just go out and pick out "just the right fabric" to do the job. Now, it is a challenge to come up with something from my stash that works. I'm going to attempt to put some photos here with the choices I had:

Well, close. Deb Svedberg needs to come and show me that one step. Okay Deb? I'll give you food and drink.

Rumination

Today I ruminated on friendships. There are some that inspire us in our artistic development and that is what we need as fiber artists; sometimes we need a "rah rah" coming in our direction, sometimes it is artistic advice, sometimes there is a great exchange - or even a small exchange - of ideas that lead to better outcomes in our work. And so this portion of the following prayer really meant something to me at our church service on Thanksgiving Eve:

Continue your creative works among us, and lead us to become more deeply aware of the web of relationships that make us who we are. Teach us the gratitude that dispels envy, that we may honor each gift as you cherish your creation, and praise you in all times and places.

And that's what I'm thankful for. Thanks everyone.

A New Book ... for me anyways

So today I ventured into that dangerous place for me - JoAnn's Fabrics. No, there was NO FABRIC PURCHASED! Remember that year-long hiatus from buying fabric for me? Yup, I'm still clean. BUT - and it's a big butt, I purchased Intuitive Color & Design by Jean Wells.

Oh my, is it wonderful. She shows so much inspiration from photos - sketches - nature and translates it into fiber; her pieces are truly lovely. It's hard to look through this book without being in the studio ready to put pieces together. Check it out: http://jeanwellsquilts.com/index.html

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

And here are some of the finished 5 inch blocks.

And these are the cuts made...

Well, looky here - I got a photo onto the blog!
Here are the stacks of 8 that I started with.

Okay. So last night all the scraps from the Safari quilt started to take on a good form. Using the Stack a New Deck book, I was able to make 48 five inch squares starting with a 6 1/2" square, making four cuts, and sewing them back together. There are still more scraps left to create with, so the quilt just may turn out to be a good "nap" size.

I'm having stupid moments right now. Just can't seem to figure out how to put a photo onto the blog post. Last night I downloaded Picasa and it grabbed ALL of the photos on the computer. Spent most of the night trying to put them in a reasonable order - some were already in albums - no, folders. Now when trying to grab a photo from Picasa for the blog, it just wants to download every single picture of the 6,000 to add to the blog. HELLLLPPPPPPPP.

Here's a little something to ponder and keep in mind by Maya Angelou:

Not everything you create will be a masterpiece, but you get out there and you try, and sometimes it really happens.
The other times you're just stretching your soul. -Maya Algelou

The month of November has been dubbed "Art Every Day" month and that's the challenge that has prompted this blog. I'm going to be accountable for doing something creative EVERY DAY.

Today I took all my scraps from a recent Safari quilt and started to stack them up. They will eventually be a little throw quilt for our den. Here's a picture of the pieces that I'll use:
....well, I'd like to post a picture but right now I'm a rookie and will work on this part.
So. Later on that one. I'll even put some other photos up --- like the Safari Quilt.
Deb Svedberg has helped me start this blog so I'm going for it.