Seasons of Creativity

The yard and garden beckon! The quilting season is over. Now to finish up a few indoor projects. Hat off so we don't mark the ceiling.  Can we actually do this???? It may cause a professional to wince but we know the levels of our skill sets and we don't bounce as well as we used to so... We are thrilled! And my favourite part...  I have a very large collection of white dishes and a lot of glass.  Now to arrange things nicely.  ah, I need one more glass shelf.  But I am very happy.  I have a lovely plank to sand and finish.  I'll get brackets to set it above the counter; I'm thinking black. I have modern brass door knobs for the other cabinets.  The feature light in entrance is black with brass accents. And then when I don't need to get my hands dirty I'll be back to tweak and rearrange through out the seasons.  A creative exercise that makes me happy!

Nothing like a deadline to spur one to action.  The Four Patch Fusion top is from a Kayla Alexander Stack a Deck book, New Cuts for New Quilts.  It was published 2006 so the top is at least ten years old.  I really like the way these stack a deck blocks are made.  The constant changes keep things interesting. (motivating)  I spent one day creating a nice backing and choosing binding.  Then another day quilting and binding.  I used neutral for in the ditch and then variegated cotton for the diagonals. Then since I was ahead of the game for a change I tackled a half square triangle top.  The fabric was an old one and kinda art decor piece that appealed to me.  I chose colours from the selvedge colourway and threw in a few close enough to keep things from being too predictable.  It turned out rather small but I do like it.  The quilt show set up went well.   It is always fun to then personalize the show and this years show members did a great job.  an

The first time I took the Briggs Meyer personality test I didn't exactly get it.  Interesting but... I got on with my life and one thing led to another and I circled back to the personality test only this time I had a 'hook' that I could relate to.  I was not quite expecting all the synapses in my brain to spark quite so much!  Understanding how I think/work has been totally validating, freeing and gives me the confidence to just 'Go For It!'. I do think everyone is creative.  Some find it sooner than others and some develop it more than others.  I am a late bloomer who is now exploring all things creative.  I also understand better how creativity leaks out in all kinds of ways.  It can't be denied.  But it does need to be expressed. So.... As I approached my 7th decade I had dabbled in all kinds of creative exercises and techniques.  To prepare for the future I decided to upgrade my physical appearance.  I discovered  an whole lot of

I have returned to quilting with an whole new fresh start. And a few deadlines! Spring melt is fast approaching and I am excited to get back to the landscape plan so I need to get some quilting projects all finished up. Both quilt clubs are inactive during the summer.  Any home sewing in summer is likely to be for the household (curtains) or for me. I brought home homework from the charity quilting because in our exuberance to use 120 blocks we miscalculated how much rose sashing we had.  The plan was to alternate the orientation of the blocks but with adding a burgundy sashing to one side the effect was disturbing.  I took them home to think and spread them all out. I also realized that all the blocks should have been shuffled to spread out all the colour variations.  vbsigh!  The least amount of unsewing resulted in a baby quilt sashed with rose which I neglected to photograph. The wrong orientation blocks became a strippy with brown calico sashing between the vertical