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Seeing the Future

“I’m just not creative.” We all hear this from time to time- not usually in the crafting community- but from friends, family members or acquaintances…. and usually it’s when we’ve mentioned what it is we do with our time.

Honestly, it drives me crazy when people say it.

I have a friend who insists she’s not got a creative bone in her body. I tell her she may not be ARTISTIC, but it’s my opinion that we’re all creative. Every single one of us.

I believe we were made to create.

It could be a quilt… a piece of art.. a song… or a sermon. You can be creative in how you organize your pantry… or your schedule. You can manage employees creatively, or teach a class in a way that is new and exciting for your students.

I think the heart of creativity is seeing potential in a place where others see none. It’s our way to see the future- what COULD be. It’s finding a solution- even when a problem doesn’t exist!

Creativity comes from looking a little longer, spending some time and not throwing out an idea just because it’s ‘crazy’, or ‘not much, or ‘stupid’. It could be that you just need time with it to make it into something great.

‘Crazy’ color combos become striking quilts.

My daughter’s graph paper explorations = possible quilt patterns

Stupid doodles = future fabric designs

Let me encourage you to draw some ‘stupid’ doodles today, try some improv sewing, or take a closer look at your garden… especially the ‘unpretty’ parts. Then take the time to play with those ideas, change them, and make them into something that’s uniquely, amazingly yours.

Speaking of seeing the future… here’s one of my fun upcoming projects!

When I look at this stack of fabrics, here is what I see:

I see my niece this coming July, nine months pregnant, touching this quilt and imagining wrapping her baby boy up for snuggles…

I see him this coming winter bundled up in his car seat with it while running errands…

I see him at one year old sitting on it in my sister’s yard while Mama feeds him a picnic…

I see him at three dragging it behind him while he tears around the house…

I see countless snuggles, kisses and lullabies…

I see Mama washing it and packing it up when he’s outgrown it…

And I (hopefully) see him pull it out as a young man and know that his great Auntie loves him very, very much.

This may not come to pass as I imagine it, but because I am choosing to make this quilt, it COULD.

So I guess that’s my point.

Happy Sewing, ~L

Happy Spring Market- Secret Quilt

I can finally show the secret project I was working on last month! Here is the quilt I made for AGF as part of a group of scrappy denim quilts for their Market booth.

I was sent the denim and cotton scraps and left to my own devices. I wanted to show how well the quilting cottons work with the AGF denim, so I decided on small patchwork sections set into a background of denim. The patchwork sections contain denim as well.

IMG_7564_2 (There is one denim print that drove me crazy. Can you find it? It’s like a wonky checkerboard, and no matter how straight my piecing was, it still looked off!! In the future, I would use that one for garments!)

I went with a thinner batting than normal and quilted it like crazy in order to make a thin quilt that I would use for a beach day. AGF is based in Florida, so I just kept thinking about Florida beaches as I made this.

I used several shades of blue, white and yellow for the quilting. I love the quilting on this, but I did get more wonkyness on the patchwork sections than I wanted. I do like how the quilting creates almost a wave design on the denim sections. I would love to try this quilting design on a whole cloth denim quilt….. Someday! Lol

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I pieced the backing from my scraps and made a scrappy binding. I wanted to really bring home that ‘casual beach weekend cottage’ feel by making it scrappy and unplanned.

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I had fun ripping and fraying the denim for the quilt’s label. It reminded me of being a teen and cutting off and fraying my jeans into shorts when summer finally rolled around.

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If you are at Quilt Market and want to see it, you can go to the denim display at the AGF booth. It’s in a basket with several other denim scrap quilts!

Happy Sewing! ~L

Color Play Friday: Zen in Seattle

It’s Market week! I’m not there, but Trina is keeping me up-to-date on all the fun!

Color Play Friday is hosted by Trina from In An Otter Life and me. If you’re new to Color Play Friday, head over to my Color Play Friday page to see the rules and my palettes and bundles from previous weeks.

I must admit, I chose this picture this week for a very specific reason. The picture coordinates very well with the secret sewing project I was working on last month and will FINALLY be able to show later today!

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You may notice that all my fabrics this week are from Art Gallery Fabrics- Gee, I wonder why?! LOL

I planned on using many of the fabrics from my secret project, but seemed to be drawn to other prints and denims for this bundle. I’ve mixed Some of the Art Gallery denims with some of their cotton prints.

Here are the fabrics I chose:

Sharon Holland, Tapestry, Tracery in Ochre

Bari J, Millie Fluer, Miss Thread in Ashen

Bonnie Christine, Forest Floor, Maple Mill in Fog

Pat Bravo, Dare, Thread On in Delight

Pat Bravo, Essentials II, Streakly Business in Azur

Pat Bravo, Heartland, Unn Cross in Pine

Art Gallery Denim Prints, Pointelle Rings

Art Gallery Solid Smooth Denim, Indigo Shadow

A note about scale:

While I believe scale is a very important part of fabric selection, the fabrics shown in my Color Play images are not always perfectly to scale. I do my best, by you should always double check scale before ordering!

Don’t forget to head over to the other blogs and see what they came up with! The fun of Color Play Friday is seeing the differences and similarities between everyone’s bundles.

Participants this week:

Laurel and Pine (that’s me!)

In An Otter Life

123 Quilt

Next week’s photo is titled Late Summer in My Garden.

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Are you enjoying Color Play Friday? We’d love for you to get in on the fun and create your own Color Play post! You can create a bundle of fabric, select yarns or embroidery threads, or create a project inspired by our photo. Be sure to let Trina or I know so we can link up to you. You can get in contact with us at colorplayfriday@gmail.com

Click below to sign up for the monthly Color Play Friday newsletter. In it, you will find a recap of the month’s bundles from Trina and I, updates from both Laurel, Poppy and Pine and In An Otter Life, and announcements about upcoming special events.

I hope you can join us next week!

Happy Sewing, ~L

Modern HST- Catching up

I’ve been feeling bad about my lack of blog posting lately. All you’ve been getting from me the last month and a half is Color Play Friday! I honestly haven’t been sewing much since finishing up my secret sewing project (more on that tomorrow!), so there’s not been much to show.

But yesterday, I spent some time trying to catch up on the Modern HST Sampler from Blossom Heart Quilts. It’s been a really fun sew-along, and I was disappointed that I got behind on it. I finished three blocks and have one more to go before I’m totally caught up.

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Pointer Block

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Intersection Block- I loved getting to use so many fabrics in this block!

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Diagonal Block

I’m hoping to finish up the last block this weekend so I’ll be completely up-to-date.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Sewing! ~L

Color Play Friday: Salmon Creek

It’s starting to feel like summer around here! My kids are doing their state testing for school and all our end-of-the-school-year events are starting to fill up the calendar. I’m looking forward to getting more time to hang out with them once they’re done with school…. only 5 weeks left!

This photo was taken at a salmon creek near my home. We have a little park with a bridge going over the creek, which is where I took this picture from. A couple of days ago, I went down there and there are wild roses blooming along the creek. They smell so good!

Salmon Creek

I was surprised to find some pink and purple in some of the leaves in this photo. I was tempted to use lots of those pinks, but I wanted the bundle to still resemble the photo. So I restrained my pink-loving self and only included the one burgundy print.

Here are the fabrics I chose:

Robert Kaufman, Spot On, Small Spots in Brown

Robert Kaufman, Quilters Linen Metallic in Chocolate

Alisse Courter, Enchanted, Cross in Olive

Carolyn Friedlander, Doe, Sharp in Yarrow

Kim Anderson, Good Hair Day, Bobby Pins in Cherry

Kimbery Kight, Lucky Strikes, Strikes in Gray

A note about scale:

While I believe scale is a very important part of fabric selection, the fabrics shown in my Color Play images are not always perfectly to scale. I do my best, by you should always double check scale before ordering!

Sarah from 123 Quilt mentioned in her post this week that having grown up in the desert, a salmon creek was a foreign concept to her. So, for Sarah and any of you who have never seen a salmon run- here are a few extra photos with descriptions.

They sort of chill for a while and then get a big burst of energy where they try to get upstream just a little bit further.

It’s amazing how high up a very shallow stream a very large fish can get! I watched this big guy for a pretty long time and he never made any progress.

This one is over exposed, but you can see here how many salmon we get on a good year. You have to approach the water’s edge slowly and talk in whispers so as not to disturb the run. Messing with the fish at all is a big no-no. Sometimes of you get right on the waters edge and crouch down really low, you’ll be just inches from a very large salmon.