wise craft

friday thoughts

First of all, I have to say...

it was stunning. And isn't it nice to have the media, in their usual style of over-reporting, to focus on something happy and joyful for once?

Secondly, thank you all so much for the thoughtful comments on my last post. I am still reading through and absorbing them. As well as thinking about how best to change up my routine to have the time to do, and to be inspired by the every day in my life, as well as the endless amounts of inspiration online. I feel that this is a natural progression of having an online presence, its worth considering. Also, consider this (which occurred to me yesterday), I have noticed that many folks whom I have admired creatively for year do not really have an online presence, like a blog (at least that they write themselves). They have a website, sure, but I get a real sense that they are not online all day, and that they are creating and doing.

In the early days of this blog, I created "Computer Free Fridays" as a way of finding more balance. It worked really nicely for me, even if it wasn't always an actual Friday that I turned off the computer. These days, with my phone and our company, its not practical to say no computer of any kind of Fridays, but without realizing it, Saturdays have kind of become that day. I don't usually do blog posts on the weekends, I get less email, and I am usually hanging out with the family more.

Another way I can be more mindful of focusing on everyday has come along for the month of May. I will be posting all month on habit, I hope you'll follow along. I am very excited to have an "assignment" to keep me focused on the here and now.

curate or create?

Lately I have been struggling with the affliction of taking in too much inspiration. If there is such a malady, I think I have it.

You see, I have certain times of the week (or day, really) that I sit down, look through my blog roll, faithfully pinning inspiration to my pinterest boards. (I allow myself plenty of time to do this.)

Done. Inspired.

However, once that's over, I usually make another cup of coffee and start looking at the physical inspiration around me, in my sewing studio. There may new fabric, or even newly purchased old fabric pulled out again... books on my shelves, new ones I just picked up at the library.

From all of this I get an amazing amount of beautiful inspiration. It often fuels my creative thoughts and gets me thinking about possibilities of endless creativitiy.

Further inspired.

Fantastic.

Although by that time I feel like going for a nap due to mental exhaustion.

I've pondered over this whole idea of information overload before, and never really settled my thoughts on what to do about it. This interesting post on less curating, more creating, got me thinking again.  After reading it, I spent the rest of that day thinking about where my creativity comes from, and how much of it I actually need. I am doing lots of creative things these days, but I can't show them to you on the blog right now. But, the whole point of blogging for me in the first place was to share my creative thoughts, record them. Because they are prolific and numerous, too much for my brain to hold in. I live and breathe these creative thoughts, especially since it has now become somewhat of a job for me. I often collapse on the couch in the evening with freshly bathed kids and think "I haven't even had time to post on the blog today, I should grab my camera!". But that's really no good.

It got me thinking about when there was no internet to peruse instead of making, and I was out to here pregnant with Ian, and decided I wanted to make a quilt of Emma's baby clothes.

I did it.

Didn't stop 5 times to look at the internet.

Just did it.

Did I mention I was very pregnant?

Is this a common malady in today's internet world? Does looking at too much internet inspiration make us feel inadequate, creatively speaking? My guess would be yes. I would love to hear what you guys think.

 

ladies home journal

Several months ago I was contacted about a piece for Ladies Home Journal for contributing to an upcoming article. I am so happy that it is finally out on newsstands, the May 2011 issue. The article, Handmade With Love, is about unique and thoughtful handmade gifts. The particular gift I discuss in the article is one that I never even blogged about (as so many gifts, they are made and shipped in such a frenzy I rarely stop to snap a picture). For Peter's parent's 50th anniversary last August, we wanted to make them something as special as they are (and, after all, 50 years together is BIG). Peter and I were inspired by the beauty of their Colorado home (glimpses of our trips on Flickr) and decided to create a tree ring image, depicting one ring for each of their 50 years together. All done on a piece of rough linen, the rings were painted in gold by Peter, then on the bottom right, I embroidered "Kurt and Kathleen, 50" much like it would be carved on an actual tree. Needless to say, we were patting ourselves on the back for the collaboration.

Kurt and Kathleen inspire us every day with their partnership, love, and life together. We should have left more space for additional rings as I'm sure they will be needed.

On an unrelated, yet just as important, note.- Assemble Shop will be repeating the granny square crochet class I took there last fall (details on their website). (Where I learned to make things like this, and the blanket in this post, then moved on to other things cause I finally "got it"). This is a one day class, Sunday, May 15th from 1-4:00. This is a really fun way to get a group of women (or men) together, spend some time catching up, and learn something new. I really enjoyed every minute of this class, I think there were 8 or 9 of us there, and it was even fun for those who had a harder time "getting it".

back from the water's edge

We spent a gloriously sunny, gorgeous week away last week, on a little island off Florida's coast, a place we visit yearly during Spring Break. A week of recharging ourselves. We read many books, we played many many games of chess, tried really hard to beat the akinator, cheered Ian on as he won a trophy for the ugliest fish caught, cheered for Emma winning at bingo, I had fancy drinks with Peter, walks with my kids, and naps by the pool. I carried my sketchbook with me and found myself scribbling idea after idea. I am completely inspired!

I hope you guys are all well! I have a lovely day of quiet here while the family is away, just me and a kitty who's very happy we're home.

I really needed that.

winners of modern log cabin quilting book and kit

Each of these commenters have won a copy of Susan Beal's Modern Log Cabin Quilting and a log cabin kit put together by Susan herself!

Whistlepea said...

I love that blue / grey quilt and I need a duvet cover so this is perfect!

Reply 15 April 2011 at 06:06 AM

Sarah S said...

Cannot wait to get my hand on this book. That bag is so beautiful!

Reply 15 April 2011 at 06:59 AM

Thanks so much to everyone who entered. More info on this book can be found here.

birdhouse in my soul

The other day I really need to take some time out and make something pretty. My studio move unearthed some projects and supplies that never came to be, one of them being this wooden birdhouse I think I purchased at Michael's quite a while ago. I played around with decoupaging it all over with some of my favorite fabric (I don't like to see my favorite prints folded away on a shelf). I just roughly traced the shape of the front, back, sides, and roof on paper, than traced it onto the back of the fabrics I chose. I coated the wood, one panel at a time, with a generous coat of ModPodge, placed the fabric on it, and then just cut off the excess fabric. So easy. Although I had to snap this picture before going back and doing a little repair work, but that was easy too.

Our little family is officially on Spring Break, and I plan on taking full advantage. You may not see much of me here this week. I really want to hang out, read books, play chess, swim, and just be. Although I may pop in with a picture or two.

 

modern log cabin quilting

Susan Beal has a new book out, called Log Cabin Quilting: 25 Simple Quilts and Patchwork Projects. I jumped at the chance to preview this book (my love of log cabin quilting is well documented). Variations of the log cabin pattern have been around for hundreds of years, and once you sew any variation of it, its not hard to understand why. Once thought of as an old fashioned look, its versitility is now being explored in new, modern ways, and Susan's book is a wonderful example of that. She explains the general method of piecing basic log cabin blocks (which are easy and addicitve), and from there, she takes you through options of playing with pattern and color within the blocks, designing your own blocks, turning blocks into all sorts of projects.

The other thing I love about this book is that is beautifully photographed, and the projects themselves are shown plainly. I know how to do log cabin quilting, but also I am very visual (as many of us are). Seeing beautiful photographs is often all it takes to get me truly inspired.

One project I have my eye on making, a single, supersized log cabin block variation called "Housetop". This type of project is a good beginning quilt project (not too much fussy piecing), and great for showing off larger pieces of your favorite fabrics-

 

I also love this blue and gray combination, very modern-feeling. In this project, Susan explains how to make a quilt version or a duvet cover version (no quilting involved), which is great for anyone intimidated about quilting a large quilt themselves-

 

The book is 10 quilt patterns in a range of difficulty, and 14 smaller projects for those wanting to tackle log cabin but not ready for a full quilt yet. The day this book came in the mail was the same day I had found some pretty blue corduroy while thrifting, and knew I wanted to make a blue version of the Red Cross Bag project. It was the perfect afternoon project that day.

I am so in love with this bag. 4 log cabin squares make up the front and back sides of the bag, and I added a layer of thick cotton canvas in between the lining and the outside to add stability. I used my very favorite Japanese fabric for trimming out the handle. (In the pacific northwest, you can get away with carrying around a corduroy bag like this for at least a couple more months, its crazy.)

Susan has generously offered to giveaway a copy of her book with a log cabin kit put together by Susan to two lucky wise craft readers. Just leave a comment on this post and I will randomly draw names late next week.

In the meantime, you can read an interview with Susan here at Crafter News, the blog for the book is here, and the book is available at Amazon. I am hoping that Susan will come to Seattle this summer for a book signing party, don't you think she should??

Edited to add- Giveaway is closed and winners have been chosen, thank you to all who entered!

i really like it

It took that print a solid month to get here from the UK. I had all but given up. (Where does this mail go?) But now I have it and I love it. I love how white and spacious everything feels in the studio, I'm glad I decided not to put a ton of stuff on the walls. I put the whole set of studio pictures up on Flickr finally. I'm behind, I think I took a little unintended Flickr haitus.

Unrelated... I am going to be one of the panel members at Schoolhouse Craft here in Seattle in September 23-25 in the Phinney Neighborhood Center (a great venue). This conference (formerly under the name of Creative Conference for Entrepreneurs) is sure to be loaded with knowledgeable speakers, classes, and how-to's for those who want to start or grow their own creative business. I will give you more details about the conference as they are finalized (or you can sign up to be on their mailing list to get updates). A little interview with me can be found here.

Also unrelated, my recent birthday gift from Peter is a weekend workshop with Denyse Schmidt at the PNCA, as part of their Summer of Making series. I am so excited to get to take even a small scrap of patchwork knowledge from the queen of quilting! Can you tell I'm excited? I'm excited. I love being a student.

A gift to me from me, Martha's newest limited edition scarf color, coral chalk. LOVE!

Happy Wednesday out there!

xo,

Blair

family crest

This is one of those projects we all have... the one that is so quick, so easy, it just gets put off for, oh I don't know, maybe years! I made black screenprints on cream canvas of the Stocker family crest when I took a screenprinting class at Pratt ions ago, and had big plans of making pillows for everyone in the family. (A little background on this crest, I burned the screen directly from an original drawing done by Peter's sister Jennifer. Its an image that's framed in both ours and my in-laws homes, and Peter even has a tattoo of the exact same image on his arm. So to say its very meaningful is an understatement.)

I did manage to make a pillow for Peter's mom and dad (which I can't find a picture of now, but I really did!), but the rest of the prints sat unused. Then I brought them out again during Erin's pillow week, thinking 'finally, I'll make 'em'. But, alas, the week got away from me.

I decided to pull them out one of the panels today and try to make at least a pillow before I had to pick a gaggle of girls up from school.

So simple. Its in the dining room for now. I'm actually thinking of adding some embroidery to the crest, and add a little color. Or I may just call it good. I used some extra big piping, covered in Kona "Amber" and just a simple envelope back. The piped corners are not quite perfect, but being under the heavy time constraints of carpool duty, I decided to let it live and not let it bug me. Next time it'll be perfect.

playing chess

Recently, my kids have become obsessed with chess. Obsessed. Ian joined the chess club at his school a couple of months ago (at mom's insistence), and since then, he's eager to jump in as a willing teacher for the unacquainted, and happy to help refamiliarize those who haven't played in a while. Currently, our evenings usually end with at least half of the family huddled around a small chess set we dug out from one of those "5 games in one" sets we picked up a few years ago, when Emma took a cribbage class. (Its missing one of the knights, replaced by a tiny clay one Emma made, which you can kind of see on the left above.)

I remember playing chess with my brother when I was Emma's age. During Saturdays and Sundays at my Dad's house (my parents were divorced), my older brother Tony was at times actually bored enough to be reduced to teaching his little sister games like chess and progressive rummy. I was more than willing, I thought he absolutely hung the moon. No computer games (well there was pinball), not much TV. Just card games, pillow fights, and chess.

The fact that my kids have embraced a game like chess, and are so willing to sit for an entire game's length of time, without moving, getting bored, or crying if they lose, speaks volumes to me. While it is fun to play a game like chess with them, I must face the fact that they are growing up. Both kids have always been fiercely competitive, and sore losers. This deadly formula made any sort of game playing super stressful at times, so much so we actually gave it up for a while, save the random game of Go-Fish.

But apparently, somewhere along the line, unbeknownst to me, they matured into kids that can play games that require thinking and concentration, like chess, and can lose gracefully. My theory is simple, there is much more to chess, more thinking, planning moves, strategy. Getting preoccupied with the game makes winning or losing not quite as big of a deal.

And the fascinating side effect of the nightly sister-brother chess games is the complete silence in the house while they play. Its absolutely deafening at times.

Imagine!

Another thing I wasn't aware they were quite capable of.