Author: ragspaperstitches

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More on Those Lovely New Threads

I am continuing to have trouble keeping up with my planned daily and weekly projects, mostly because I keep allowing myself to goof off with other things and run off schedule.  Well, not everything that I get distracted with could be considered goofing off, I have many time consuming interests.  I’m simply ignoring my own goals for scheduling and time management.  I have been working on my art and craft… here are some of the sides for a series of pink and brown mini boxes:

These box sides are commercial print fabrics that I stamped over with acrylic paint, using rubber stamps and antique wallpaper stamps.

If you’re attempting a daily creative commitment, don’t overlook the obvious: start small.  Take ten or fifteen minutes a day at first.  When you can keep that up without skipping for a couple of weeks, add five more minutes.  I recently embarked on a daily stitch project that takes no more than fifteen minutes daily.  I am creating a series of postcards to document each color in the House of Embroidery line of perle cotton.  Each group of three colors stitched out in chain stitches, three color groups per card.  I am nine days into the effort:

This is a nice way to warm up into my creative groove, and when I finish the project, I will continue to do three lines of stitching each day on some crazy quilt squares that I assembled a few years ago.  One thing is certain, when I complete the House of Embroidery samples, I will be great at the chain stitch, not to mention really tired of it!

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Lovely New Threads

A NOTE ABOUT PRODUCTS IN THIS BLOG:  I do not receive complementary  products to review, nor do I receive any compensation for reviews or mentions of branded items.  Any products discussed here I have either purchased on my own or are items that I sell or use my art and sewing business.

I have done it again, the end of last week has rolled into the end of this week, and I promised to talk a bit more about House of Embroidery perle cotton threads.  It might be better to share what I am playing with this week:

Don’t those look luscious?  The words luminous, splendid, brilliant and elegant also come to mind.  They are a delight to stitch, take a look at this little sample:

This is definitely the librarian/archivist coming out in me, I am starting to stitch out a series of postcards that will have a line (in chain stitch) of every single color.  I will have these threads at upcoming quilt shows, and the company allows retailers to create custom color combinations!  As I have been working on my own color blends of dyed fabric, the ability to have matching thread packages is wonderful news for me.

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Shopping Spree

I just returned from my annual trip to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo, and as you can see, I had a lot of fun!

The best find of the day was four back issues of Uppercase Magazine for $2.00 each from a local guild’s used book sale booth.  I really must subscribe to the magazine one of these days, though it is quite expensive for a quarterly magazine – however, if you make something, or want to be more creative, it is well worth the price.  Uppercase is an eclectic blend of artist profiles, inspiring ideas collections of interesting vintage items and histories of craft, design and manufacturing processes.  Highly recommended!

Other stuff that I couldn’t resist: a complete collection of House of Embroidery perle cotton threads, a Dia de los Muertos decorated spray bottle, a set of Tsukineko inks and supplies, a funky sewing machine clock, a thread stand from Superior Threads, several small packs of funky yarns that I have never seen before and a few more yards of fabric that will go perfectly with some collage series of mine.

Check back to see what I have done with some of my new “toys.”  I am taking the inks to my art journaling group tonight, and I will have more to say about the House of Embroidery threads later in the week.

 

 

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Time Flown Away

Where is 2019 going?  It is April 2, and I am looking at my list of goals and looking for evidence of progress.  I am not finding it.  Sadly, I have missed all of my planned entry deadlines, but I still intend on finishing the collages that I started or planned… someday.

I have written about this before, but I will keep bringing it up, being creative is not easy.  I struggle to balance creative time with everything else in my life, and the creative time itself does not always go well.  Most of the fabric collages that I make go through an incredibly ugly stage that I have to fight through to keep working on them, and eventually, they usually work out in the end.  When I reach that halfway point, it is a huge challenge for me to keep going, and I often have to put the piece aside for a while.  This leads to missed goals and deadlines, but I am not letting it discourage me from learning more and trying to continue in my creative journey.

While I am grumbling about my lack of progress this year, I must address my plan to create an 8 x 10″ art quilt each week for the year.  No, that project is not going as planned.   I have managed to finish this little riot of texture:

Pink and Brown Something

I am going to revamp this project slightly.  In hopes of helping myself with this goal, I am going to attempt to give myself more direction and go back to the projects that I have flagged in my collection of Quilting Arts magazine, and use those as a means to create the 8 x 10s and reach two goals at once – the regular production of small pieces and trying all those techniques that piqued my creative mind.  I’m off to figure out the first project.  I think I will start with the earliest issue.

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Warren County Historical Society Quilt Show

Thank you to the Warren County Historical Society for hosting this long running show, and thank you to all of my new and repeat customers!  This was my second year as a vendor at this show.  I really enjoy this show, as I lived in Cincinnati for a time, and Lebanon was a frequent day trip destination for me.  Not only was the quilt show enjoyable, but it was good to get back to favorite places like LaRosa’s Pizza, The Golden Lamb, Jungle Jim’s International Market and The Breakfast Club Cafe.  If you head to the show in the future and are traveling some distance, I recommend staying at the Shaker Inn motel.

Just a quick post today, I really am trying to get back on schedule yet again.  Here are a couple of photos of my booth from the show last weekend:

Lebanon Quilt Show 1
Lebanon Quilt Show 2