Glad For That Extra Yarn

I have had so many distractions and diversions and things to stress out over, little time to unwind in the studio. So the other night I pulled out my knitting again, knowing I didn't have too many more rows to go to finish the second sleeve of my wool sweater. I was so right to think I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish it and so lucky I was able to get more of it. The arrow points to where the last of the originally bought yarn ended and the additional bought yarn was added in order to finish the top of the sleeve. Of course, you also need a bit of yarn to join front and back and sleeves by hand and also more to knit the neckline ribbing. An extra skein was definitely what I needed. As the shop owner commiserated when I told her my sad story of being sure I wouldn't have enough, "Don't you just hate it when those yarn amounts aren't right?" So I guess it happening must not be rare.

By the way, still enjoying autumn colors. Though some trees are dropping leaves, many more, like the cottonwoods and birches, are clinging on. Had to make the hour drive to the "almost big city" yesterday which is mostly through the countryside and thoroughly enjoyed seeing so much brilliant yellow along the way.

Creativity and Cottonwoods

As I've journeyed through my quilting career, I've soaked in so many bits of advice to the point that I rarely run across anything new to me and frankly have even stopped clicking into most of them. But I couldn't resist checking out this one due to the title: "I've studied creative people for 40 years: They share these 6 habits." Hmm - I think of myself as a creative person. How do I stand up? Well, I don't quite have them all but most, and especially the outdoor habit. I hardly miss a daily walk where there are many opportunities to study trees. Read the article here and let me know if you have all six habits.

So with a cold front due to move in with rain the next day, I needed to get out somewhere in the great outdoors before it arrived, but I decided not to make the 45 or so minute drive to that new trail I discovered. Instead, I headed into town to check out how the leaves were turning and had a choice between City Beach or the Bay Trail. I didn't think I was up for the Bay Trail so settled for enjoying the lake front from city beach. Lake draw down has started and most boats have been pulled from the docks, but it isn't down all that much, still beautiful views. From the spit I could look across at the Bay Trail which is lined with cottonwood trees, now showing their colors. I wasn't sure if they would be, but gazing across I was almost sorry I didn't take that trail. It's lovely walking beneath that golden canopy.

I spotted some rather scraggly flowers next to the walkway, but pretty all the same.

The cottonwoods have finally amped up their color, and the birch trees are following suit. I took these pictures along the service road next to the dog park.

They are at their best when the sun hits them.  

And they are sooooo tall!

I don't have pictures but have noticed some trees that have turned color in what seems an odd way. At least I don't remember noticing before how some trees have both yellow and orange leaves in different parts of the tree. And one tree at City Beach had yellow leaves close to the trunk while the outer leaves were orange red. You really had to look closely to see those yellow leaves hiding underneath. And while many trees are at peak, others have leaves that are stubbornly staying green. What are you observing in your neck of the woods?

Organizing

You might remember that my resolution word for this year is organize. After the first big push early in the year, I haven't thought much about it as I've just delved into various projects. Well, maybe I've thought of it a little bit as I note things I've continued to stack on the end of the work table. The filing never seems to end. But here is another part of my procrastination problem. I see things I might want to print off to place in a journal or my book of quotations, or something short enough I could just copy into one of them by hand, but instead of doing it on the spot, I end up saving the image or link to one of several places. If it is found on Facebook, I save it to a file I've titled "When I have time" because that is exactly when I think I'll get to it as well as articles I want to read but right now I don't have the time. Sometimes I download it to my computer where it can sit for a very long time, sometimes just waiting until I have enough to fill a page when I do get around to printing them. It would take just a few minutes to deal with things like this as I run across them, but I so often procrastinate until I think I'll have more time.

Well, this past week or so, I decided to take the time, and I've been doing some organizing of files and photos on my computer and going through all those Facebook saves and getting them printed off. I'm down to the last page in my quotations book and am looking forward to transitioning to the Celtic Weave book I made. My Gratitude and Memories book hasn't been touched in a long time but some of the saves definitely belong in there. There was even directions and photos of a transfer method I've been meaning to try for a very long time, but I needed it printed out to make it happen.

While in the midst of this, an e-mail directed me to some hiking trails a bit south of me that I was unaware of. I've been wanting to go somewhere new so maybe I will try one of them. For once, I did not save the link to Pocket under the Hiking tag but printed off the info right then (upper left). Pretty proud of myself for that!

Now to get them trimmed to size and glued into their proper places. Let's not procrastinate there too . . .

More Trinket Bowls

You may think the above photo looks familiar but it is not a re-posting. I was emptying my studio wastebasket when I spotted the long strips trimmed off along the selvage when making the pillowcases. They'd gone immediately into the trash because the printed area next to the actual selvage was so narrow - no reason to save these. This was before I caught on to the idea of using up scraps from the quilt to make trinket bowls. I did a quick measure and there was exactly the width of print that I cut for strips to make the bowls. There were usable scraps from the pillowcase cuffs as well as 4 inches of raindrop fabric (seen at left) to continue cutting up, so it all looked like enough for another trinket bowl.

And indeed it was.

I decided to look a little deeper into what was in the bag where I'd been tossing fabric scraps I thought I could use for bowls. There was quite a bit of a fabric used as backing for another baby quilt I'd made for a nephew's baby, one where the mother had a specific pattern and fabric choice in mind. I never really liked this fabric - too kind of 60's pop for me but at least had teal in it which is a favorite color of mine. One nice thing about these narrow strips that wrap around the clothesline is that much of the print becomes indistinguishable so I knew this was a good use for this fabric I'm not keen on. You'd never guess what it looked like before being cut up and it pairs well with the raindrop fabric.

I also found more pink strips in that bag, puzzled as to where they came from but they will go into yet another bowl with this floral, still working on making it all go away. But this is reminding me too much of the biblical fishes and loaves story where no matter how much they gave away to the thousands of people being fed, there was always some left over. Quilters and their scraps apparently have the same problem. ;-)

Thoughts on Creativity

Leaves seem reluctant to change their colors in my part of the world, that is, save for a group of maples in a park I frequent.

They are a rich red which draws me over for a closer look.

The cottonwood trees, though, can't seem to muster their usual bright golden yellow I love, if they are turning at all. Their hearts don't seem in it, any more than my heart has been into what waits in my studio this year. Oh, there have been splashes of interest, bursts like those maples, but the interest and drive I once had waxes and wanes. Age? Health? Shift of priorities? I don't even take as many inspiration photos as I used to. And yet, I still study clouds on my walks and couldn't help but try to capture some stunning ones yesterday, having no idea how I might work them into a textile piece - clouds are really hard to capture in fabric and thread! Not even easy with paint!

I went on a bit of a rant in my last post, and confessed I'd managed to confuse myself looking at all the videos previewed during a taster offering.Why am I looking at all these painting sessions? Why am I not working with textiles? And then found this quotation in a recent e-mail from Laly Mille, one of the teachers and someone I've been following and taking free lessons from for awhile:

“You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.”

– Nate Berkus –

Well, I did allude during my rant that I do like a challenge of mastering something new and this quotation reminded me of that. Some of my earliest memories involve needle and thread, fabric and yarn, constantly challenging myself to learn a new stitch or make something slightly beyond my abilities. And this need to learn has never been limited to any one thing. That's why now I joke that I have too many interests, I can't keep up!

Ah well, I suppose there are worse problems to have. I can't disagree with the above statement. Back to work . . .

Sucked In Again

Someone should create an app that blocks all e-mails and websites offering free things, at least things related to art and crafts. I was going to make more trinket bowls but the free Year of Light Taster sessions I'd signed up for a few weeks ago out of curiosity suddenly started, and there I was, committing myself to nine days of art videos that would then disappear. I checked out how things were set up and found it very much like the Sketchbook Revival I participated in twice: A host artist (who I was familiar with from her videos on Sketchbook Revival) and 4 different artists a day presenting their classes in videos lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. At least with Sketchbook School we knew we'd have a week or so following the last presentations to catch up or rewatch videos, but this taster kept stressing that all would disappear after the last day of videos. Not to worry though, the host said, just purchase the year-long "Year of Light" and you would have lifetime access to these videos plus all the other videos that would be shown during the year. I didn't check out the price of that but you can believe it is hefty, and hefty enough that the host was offering a 25% discount and payment plan. Wow . . .

Well, I got to watching. Techniques taught were predominantly watercolor with a few using acrylic paint or pastels, and a few teaching drawing skills with pencil. There was a little collage and mixed media that I found interesting, and my fave Laly Mille showed a transfer technique unlike what I'd seen before (and am anxious to try). The quality of presentations varied widely, some very fussy and having you sit through slow application of paint and layer after layer to reach the desired result, something I had no patience for, some I skipped because I'd been exposed to them in Sketchbook Revival, some good but could have been edited down, and some very well done and informative. I fast forwarded through a lot of them, and the ones of interest I watched clear through, taking notes on the printouts provided. Unlike during Sketchbook Revivals where I watched and did almost every lesson over the two weeks, I had no time to actually do any of these lessons, but would like to try the ones I took notes on eventually, hoping I can remember and make sense of the notes since I won't be able to re-watch any videos.

My brain was reacting differently from other times I've watched videos like this, it seemed. When I'd run across videos either too lengthy or not well done, I'd question if this was a good use of my time. Even on ones that interested me, I caught myself thinking how much easier some of the effects could be done using fabric. In fact, one session painting a night sky with moon and bare branches stretching across and over the moon, I HAVE done in fabric, more than once. And one showing how to paint bubbles with acrylic paint reminded me of the bubble prayers quilt I made using sheers and metallic thread for the bubbles. Feeling confused, I started to question why I was even interested in wielding a paint brush, except that I have all the supplies and it's a newish, unmastered technique I have dabbled in.

And all the while, I felt the pressure of time, knowing these videos would be going away, and feeling a certain anger at something presented as a fun, get a "taste" of the real thing which was simply a marketing ploy. Whenever someone shared that they'd been sick or busy with work or other life intervening things and "behind" or even not having been able to watch a single video, the chirpie Host would say, don't worry, just buy the year long class and you'll have lifetime access to all, or to those saying how overwhelmed they felt, you don't have to do every lesson, just pick a few. Nope, you certainly don't have an understanding of the people who would sign up for this sort of thing. We would want to take full advantage of such an opportunity for free classes. 

Granted, Sketchbook Revival is a bit of a marketing tool as well, but it is giving the opportunity to artists to showcase what they have to offer should one decide they'd like to pay for a class from them, but the main thrust is to get people using their sketchbooks again and giving them ideas of how to do that. This taster didn't feel that way to me at all; no, this was buy my pricey class, gains for you secondary.

By the last day which was yesterday, I have to say I was pretty burned out, watching or skipping through all those videos for nine days straight, and losing interest in the last set, asking myself the important question of how would I use what I might learn here and am I even interested in learning how to draw or paint the object shown? (No, I do not want to paint a fox. No, I do not want to sketch a bird.) I did watch two more but was glad I was done. Also getting overloaded with so many people posting their renditions of the lessons in the Facebook group even though some were quite good. In fact, I had to chuckle that a few came out better than the teacher's. In the end, the host relented to the cries of give us a few more days and did tack on 5 more days of access to the videos. Good on her. But I've seen all I need to see I think. Back to trinket bowls . . .

The Trinket Bowls (Or Baskets)

When I started the first of these trinket bowls, I wasn't feeling very well, but I thought well enough to sit at the machine wrapping fabric strips around clothesline and slowly stitching the coil together. And in fact I did feel well enough to do that, that is until I had to make a decision about changing to a different fabric. Where I stopped to take a picture for this blog post was where I could switch to, say, the blue fabric or continue up the sides in the raindrop fabric. I wasn't sure how far the blue strips would go and in my muddled state, I simply couldn't make up my mind and walked away . . . for over a week until I felt better. By then I'd thought it over and had a plan to just continue up the sides and switch to the blue for the last two rounds. And was disappointed with the look, plus the bowl was slightly larger than mine that I was using as a guide, and I'm not sure why. Was the clothesline slightly thicker, or the less wide zigzag not pulling together the coils as much? Whatever the reason, I forged ahead, deciding the next one would use up all the pink fabric and it pretty much did. But was smaller than the first - go figure! I had some orangy pink for the center of the last bowl, filling in the gap to the place where it shapes up the sides with raindrop fabric and doing the final 4 rows in the blue now that I knew how far each strip would go. In size it falls somewhere between the first and second one. I think I like it best although the pink one is very likable too. 

There's still maybe a 4 or 5 inch selvage to selvage strip of the raindrop fabric plus other wider lengths that run parallel to the selvage but otherwise, the rest of the fabric that went into the quilt has been used up. I like the way the raindrop fabric worked up in the trinket bowls so may put it in the bag where I have other fabrics suitable for bowls. in the meantime, quilt and pillowcases and bowls are now boxed up ready to send off.