creativity or fixing a mistake or poor planning

Wow!! you know that feeling you get when you start knitting a new sweater and you think, yes its going to be good. Just a nice little cardigan that you can wear everyday with your jeans. You go through your stash and pick out a few colours that you like--they are ok and I am using only my stash--.
And even when you have to do a little( about thirty rows!!) unknitting when you start the sleeve and realize that it's way too big so you recalculate and keep going. You know the feeling.


So now you have two sleeves and the back done--and that's when you KNOW that there is not enough yarn to make the two front sections. You kind of knew yesterday but you wanted to sleep on it before you went frantically through your stash to see if there wasn't just one more ball of the blue --one that you missed when you started the project.  So after a good sleep and breakfast, you go have a look, ever optimistic that perhaps the yarn fairies have been spinning away all night and its going to be right there on the top of your stash. you know the feeling, I am sure.


And your husband asks what are you going to do today--and you say--oh I want to work on my sweater and get the fronts done. And he says OK. I am going to go out for a while. you know that feeling. you think ok he won't be bothering me today, I have all day to knit away!!


And now you think--well what should I do. You could just throw it all into a bag and put it in the closet--and walk away.You could think about it again for a little while. You could go to the yarn store and get another ball. Or you could just finish it up with a new creative front panel--maybe you can think of something really creative--that will look like that's what you had in mind anyway. You could rip out one sleeve and make a wide stripe with a new yarn- and then use that yarn to make the front so that it looks like that's what you had in mind from the beginning. HMMMM


You wonder if that's why you did the back and sleeves first--maybe you had this in mind all along. So now you are thinking What to do!! What to do You know the feeling!!!
So now your only option is to figure it out and JUST DO IT!!
Have a good day. thanks for stopping by!!
karenwhothinksyarngrowsontrees

winter trees

I took this photo a few weeks ago. I was a passenger in a car going about 30 kmh(which is often the case only most of the time the car is going faster). It was just after we had had a surprise- winter- is not -over- yet snowfall and I wanted to have one last try at capturing ice on the trees at Niagara Falls.


 

Today, I made a little framed fabric art of my picture.

I printed the picture on fabric transfer paper and ironed that onto the back of my backing fabric. Then I stitched the outlines through the backing, a piece of batting and my chosen fabric which was a grey cotton. Because I was stitching from the back, the bobbin thread was the top. Capishe??I hope you can understand.

Then I printed the pic again onto a white sheer organza that I had basted to a piece of printer paper.

I stapled the quilt sandwich to a small frame, and then loosely stapled the sheer over it but a little off.

I am going to explore this technique a little bit more and will take some pics as I go.

we weren't the only ones checking out the snow!!

P.S. My Tribute to Vivien Maier

Oh the inspiration!

I have come to realize that after almost 50 years of drawing, painting, collage, quilting, textile art and Fiber Art, I still have a lot to explore!
I recently ran my 2nd annual Fiber Art Retreat and while I had an intense programme planned for my students ( all of which had attended the 1st retreat) it soon became clear that what I learned from them was just as exciting and innovative!
From the very first morning they were filled with things that they had discovered while exploring the techniques I had exposed them to last year.  They came with their samples and ideas for new pieces ready to build into even more exciting things.
They truly were a breath of fresh air!
We talked about our life experiences and how without knowing it at the time they WILL  show up in your art.  Each of us could relate to a situation that we depicted in our work.  Sometimes it was therapeutic, other times it was venting anger and often times is was meloncholic.
I tried to relay to them that although it was informative to explore things on the internet such as techniques it could also be very discouraging.  How many times have you looked at an artists work and immediately decided that you could never be that good?  Many times I have been excited about visiting a gallery only to become so intimidated and feeling like my own work was not worth the time I put into it.
STOP IT!
You only need to look around, notice the things at your finger tips, the things in your life, your own backyard!  Paint, draw, sew, write for YOURSELF!  You ARE the artist!
It took me years to verbally say out loud that I was an artist.  It wasn't my job. It wasn't because I had the papers to prove it. It was because I felt like an artist! I am an artist!
Yes, appreciate the things you read in books, magazines. Enjoy what you see on You Tube or Pinterest, but use your own knowledge, your own experiences, your own visions.  Don't be afraid to celebrate your talent.  Every piece you make will be a work of art.  Your work of art. You don't need to justify it or even explain it.  Not everything has to scream with a story.  Let the viewer make up their own story.  Every piece should tell two stories......yours and theirs!

More Postcards

Meet Up

The fabrigos had another meeting yesterday. We met at my house with a little bit of a printing project in mind after a photoshoot in Niagara Falls.


The photoshoot got a little bit late in starting-and the afternoon printing projects didn't happen but we had a great time.

I am heading to Kingston next weekend for workshop with Lorraine Roy -artist extraordinaire--and tree hugger.

I am hoping to start a not so little project about the upper river and that's why I took my friends on this photo shoot. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great time.

We watched the birds.

We talked,

We got a lot of great pics,

                                                                  We channeled Vivian

This is not a machine gun. I think its Jo's tablet.

And we had a great day.

I cannot tell you what fun it is to be in this group. We laugh so much when we are all together. We support and nourish each other. We bring our gifts and willingly share them. I highly recommend that you, dear reader, find you own little group. Well maybe not find--but create. Two years ago, we did not even know each other in any more than a passing acquaintance and now we have all become such good friends.

thanks for stopping by

karenwhofindsstrengthinnumbers

MAKING FABRIC POSTCARDS Step Three

Step Three Stitching the layers.

I start at the top. I use a straight stitch and just follow the raw edge of the fabric and stitch layer by layer. I usually use the same colour thread. It would be too distracting and annoying to try to change threads. I just choose a colour and go. This time I am using grey.
I try to work for side to side, just moving down the edge and turning back and forth. I don't have a machine that cuts my thread so the less time I spend cutting and moving, the better.
I do work all the way across, even though I know my piece is wider than I need. you will see what happens with the edge scrap when I do the next few cards.
I finish each card as I go. I just move the foregrounds a little bit so that I can get all of the pieces stitched down.

I make sure that it is large enough to fill the photo. I trim off all of the threads. A little pressing now. It's better to make this the last pressing. Once the photo is attached, the iron can damage the photo's plastic finish. Ask me how I know this.

Then place the photo onto the base, with the  picture side inside. You are using the back of the photo for your address and message on the card. Make sure the photo is completely covered and stitch around the edge. I check the placement of the card by holding it up to the light. This is where the wavy lines come in. If you did only straight lines, the placement of the card would be very important. You would have to be very precise in lining up the edges. The wavy lines make placement easier. If you have all straight lines--and put the card back on crooked, it will be disturbing.

I trim of the edges and I have one postcard finished.  I save all of the trimmings because I use them in the next three or four cards of this series.

 These little trimmings become the mountains in the next three or four cards that I make. They are already sewn together. I just layer the cards in the same manner, Start at the top with the sky and work my way down.

These cards have a new level of complexity that the first three do not have. The small snippets will make non strip sewers wonder how much patience and skill you have as a quilter.

Keep going with the same method and you will have a great series of landscape postcards.

I timed myself to see how long it took me to do these cards. I started just after two o'clock and  was finished 7 cards by three thirty. This included taking the photos and waiting for a few minutes for battery recharging--which if I had been smarter, I should have done that before I started. It took me longer to write about it, than to do it.

I made seven postcards in an hour and fifteen minutes. not bad. If you make some cards, mail me one. I love getting mail. if you send me one, I will return the favour.

happy card making. Thanks for stopping by.

karenwholovestogetmail