Monday, February 24, 2014

Hiatus...

Hiatus
Just for a week.
A revist to a beautiful place.


All arrangements final... Kids taking care of home and pets. Taking no committee work, no things that have to be done. Just some books, magazines, hubby and 6 of my great friends. Laughter here we come! 

Jo

Friday, February 21, 2014

Art and Fear - A book review.

An Interesting Book to Read ...
I was given this book for Christmas from a good friend.
It is not a hard read... and not a long book.
Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland


I really enjoyed this book. I can't even really say why I liked it but I think that it made me realize that all people who are creative have things that they worry about or hold them back. It made me feel normal. So often you see the confidence of people. The ones who seem to have made it. It is not a how to book to succeed but a book which can help you reflect. 
And it is a book that you can read with a group to work through to see how much of the writers observations affect your group and what you do about it. 

Jo 
It is not a hard book to read... but it does make some observations which 




Friday, February 14, 2014

Do you hate having pins stick into you?

I hate having pins stick into me!

That is why I was so interested in buying some Pinmoors. Which look like a great product but are fairly expensive at $17.50 for 50 . Pinmoor's

Pinmoor's are probably a much better long term solution to my temporary solution as they look like a more dense and would hold the pin more securely. The next time I am going to visit my sister I will have to order a package to see how they compare with my local hardware store find.


1 role of foam "caulking" This caulking - as I understand - goes into the crack first and then the regular caulking goes over it to seal a door, window, etc. 

 For less the $6 dollars I got this roll. Which I cut up with my regular scissors into 1.5 cm sizes. 


And you stick the pin into the foam to stop the pin poke you. 



I then took a flower vase I had and through the pins and foam into a container. 


Leah Day of   freemotionquilting shows how to use P'inmoors when she is free motion quilting. 

I know my hardware store foam things will not be as good. But for now they will work. 

Have you used Pinmoor's or foam caulking? 

Jo

Thursday, February 13, 2014

WIP Wednesday.... Williams Quillow.

I started this quillow in the summer. It was going to be a quick project for my nephew who loves fishing.  It started with a panel of fish... seemed a bit to easy... So I recreated a fishing pond to remind him of the local fishing hole at home and when he visits his Canadian Grandparents. 

Here are the fish on the lower depths. 


Starting to applique the fish. 



This is taking a lot of time to do the traditional satin stitch. So I may start to do some free motion to speed it up.

Linking up with the Thread and Needle Work Network  WIP Wednesdays 

Jo

Thursday, February 6, 2014

So what do you do when you are tired....

So what do you do when you are kind of blocked and a little tired. It has been a busy month in Chez Sewinggeek.  I decided to use up some scraps. I pulled out my drawers of fabric and am working on my blues, greens, greys, batiks etc. All the colours you see here. Here is a shot of the two blocks I have finished. 

Here they are closer up. 

I am not sure I like them yet or not. But I am going to make a few more... because as you can see below I have a few to use up. 



And then after making all that mess I got to clean up and re organize them.
So until next time....
Jo


Saturday, February 1, 2014

Something I have been working on ....just for pure fun and colour

It has been a busy month this past January in our house.

I volunteered my services to do a month on one of my favorite blogs... and now am the guest artist for May with all things Lutradur on the and then they set it on fire . blog.

So I am getting myself prepared for this adventure.

Met with 3 other artists and started a group. We enjoyed a play day doing things with Lurtadur so that jump started the ideas for May's experiences. We may call ourselfs the "Fabrigos" It was such a fun day.

Here are some creations.



Our challenge to ourselves was to use what we made in something for next month.

I experimented with making random wonky blocks with scraps I have.... 

Then life happened, Illness of a friend, family crisis, and filling in for a person on sick leave. 

Creative things went down the tubes. 

But I also still managed to start the media notification for the fibre art show I am helping with in the fall. 

Fibre Content 2014 info is alive and out there. If interested in the past show and this one go to Fibre Content 2014 It should be a great one and you will hear more about it I am sure. 

May February be less busy in some areas and more creative... 

Jo