Finished quilts to admire

I have been crazy busy quilting on my APQS Millie longarm quilting machine  (aka "The Beast") so it is time to share the quilts with you :)


Western Baby Quilt:

 Kitty Cats Quilt:

 Modern Earth Quilt:

 

 

Quilts for Kids charity quilts:

 



 

 

That was it, more to come soon, including a Quilts of Valor!!

Update on the custom ordered quilts and new designs

This week I have been playing around with new quilt designs and I tested out a star pattern:

 Worked for a little bit to put borders on the vintage flower quilt top which was ordered by one of my customers as a gift for a family member:

Still have to miter the borders, iron and find a backing fabric for this adorable quilt :)

I love the pretty fabrics used in this throw size quilt.

Your Trash could be my Treasure Day

So as my previous post told you I rescued two plants today from the trash :D

As I blogged and talked about this little adventure on Facebook, I had no idea that I would be ending up, getting my arm twisted to go "alley" trash shopping again...
We have sooooo many alleys in this area so I was only able, in 85F, to cover 4 alleys on my treasure hunt.

Well off I went, really 2 steps in the alley behind our house I found 6 picture frames and a "wreath" plastic container box...SCORE. And easy cos I could just turn around and leave it in our garage.

One alley over I found a big(ger) picture frame (no glass though) but some dunes/ocean pic (B&W) in it. Fine, mine!

Walking in the alley, made me giggle especially when I decided why not take all the empty bottles too. I go to the recycle center every 2-3 months anyway, it's cash money baby!! Well, picked up two big garbage bags of empty bottles up while treasure hunting in the alleys :D

I saw a lot of furniture, desks, tables, chairs etc...just needed a facelift.
Oh and all the things you can do with clothing, but that's for next time :D

So guess what I will be doing soon...YES!!! I will start refinishing the frames and use them!!

What a fun day!!! And it was so much fun interacting with everyone on my Treasure Hunt!!!
Thank you for participating!!!
See you tomorrow :)

My new design wall / memo board :)

My new design wall :)
Cheap, no tools involved just Velcro Command (3M) picture hanging strips and the foam puzzle tiles that I got dirt cheap at Walmart.
I use those tiles to to block my crochet/knitting items :)

Design Tutorial: Color (wheel)

Let's continue on explaining a little bit about "color"

 

This is what I use for designing: the color wheel.

I know some of you will say: "how do I use this color wheel?"

It's not that hard so let's start with basics by showing your the color wheel:

 

Here is an explanation of the color wheel I got from this website:

 

The COLOR WHEEL has 12 segments that consist of primary, secondary and tertiary hues, or colors.

The three PRIMARY colors are RED, YELLOW, and BLUE. They form a triangle on the wheel. These colors cannot be mixed by combining any other colors. They are indicated on the color wheel with a P.

The three SECONDARY colors of ORANGE, VIOLET, and GREEN (marked on the chart by an S) are created by mixing equal parts of the primary colors they fall in between; ie, VIOLET is the secondary color produced by mixing equal parts of RED and BLUE.

The TERIARY colors are the colors that result from mixing the primary and secondary colors on either side of them: ie, mixing the secondary color ORANGE with the primary color RED results in red-orange. These colors are marked on the color wheel with a T.

Using the color wheel you can determine color schemes fpr balance and harmony in your artwork, webpages, desktop publishing designs or home decorating.

Hue: Hue refers to the color...red, blue, etc.

The primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, or hues, are these colors at their full saturation or brightness; that is, there, there is no white, gray, or black added.

Value: the lightness or darkness of a color, or the relative amount (percentage) of white or black in a hue.

Luminosity, or Lightness: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance, or value.

Tints: white when added in increments to any color results in a lighter value of that color, called a tint. Blue and white make light blue, which is a tint of Blue.

Shades: black or gray when added in increments to any color results in a darker value of that color, called a shade. Blue and Black make dark blue, a shade of blue.

Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue.

Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. Iintensity maybe lowered by adding white or black.

 

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Colors opposite of each other on the color wheel are COMPLEMENTARY colors, this means they work very well together (complement each other/balance).

Like red and green, blue and orange etc...

 

 

This is just a brief explanation about color and we can incooperate this into our "designs".

For example:

http://www.iceyarns.com/scarf-yarns-ballerina-red-multicolor-green

 

Red and green

 

I am trying to show you that this is just a tool to help you in designing...

 

You can also decide to use the rainbow colors, like my blog header of my own hand dyed yarns:

 

Or like I used the "rasta" colors in my design below:

 

There are so many ways that I won't be able to cover them all but know that working with the color wheel rules you design will look "balanced" and is "easy" on the eyes...

Be free, it's art so let those creative juices flow...

Have fun and feel free to ask questions!

 

 

Design Tutorial: INSPIRATION

In my previous tutorial about designing, I have been talking a lot about things that can inspire you. Today I want to show you that even "fellow" artists can inspire you...

Look at colors, compositions, objects, material use, forms, shapes, texture, techniques used etc...really look look

Source: flickr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: feltedfantasies.com via DREAMTIMEMAKES/Katy on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Connie on Pinterest

Source: echidnahandmade.com via Manon on Pinterest

Source: ravelry.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: meme-rose.blogspot.com via Sumati on Pinterest

Christmas day in our house...

Right, it's Christmas Day and I had these great plans to work on my poppies wall hanging, relax etc..but...nope, not yet so far.

Since we moved last month into this apartment, I kinda put some in places and said to myself that I would make it work better soon. Well, today was the day!

I was so fed up with looking at some bags with fiber in the dining room that I knew that I didn't have any space in the guest/design room to put it. So the only solution to put my mind at ease was to tackle this problem right now big time! This includes moving furniture, reorganizing the transparent big plastic boxes (in the hope some will end up being empty LOL) etc...

First thing to tackle was to unpack the 3 piece large bookcase in the guest room...ugh...I moved the 2 side pieces by myself to the dining room but I needed my hubby to help me with the big piece that goes in the middle. That done, I had to reorganize the bookcases and walk back and forth with stacks of books from one room to the other.

In the mean time, my hubby and the dog decided that they would be better off to go have a coffee at Starbucks instead of staying around in the house...:) which was fine with me! More "freedom" to move things around and less watching out that I don't trip over the puppy. He likes to know what's going on and check everything again which is very challenging to not step on him.

Now 5 hours later, I am kinda satisfied with final looks of the guest and dining room. Let's see if it's also pratical in the next few days. Here is the (temporary) end result picture:

We didn't exchange gifts this year because we decided that moving back to living at the beach was our Christmas present. It's so good to be back and being able to hang out with friends, visit the beach and enjoy our lives out here. I am pretty sure that our puppy Dr. Snuggles thinks the same.

The Verizon Unit (cable/internet provider) is still peeping it's head off since Christmas Eve, screaming that it needs a new battery, that will be fixed hopefully tomorrow by one of their tech guys that will come out and fix it.

From all of us here:

Inspirations for designing tutorial

I am pretty much a "loner" or a very quiet "observer" as I like to call it myself :)

I don't like to call myself a "designer", I will leave that decision up to you... 

Love to be by myself, mostly, especially when I feel creative inspiration that day...

On top of that, I have an amazing, loving husband that supports me and encourages me daily.

 

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I first like to say that I dislike people that think that sharing "information" on how to design in our "trade" is like giving away a TOP SECRET document.

Well, I believe in sharing and these days the internet makes it possible for everyone to just "google" about everything you would like to know so why not share?

So I don't mind sharing my "top secrets" it's a free world so if you still have questions just ask me!

 

Some times I just like to sit somewhere and observe...soon enough my head starts working and the first thing that happens is that I picture the sketch of my new design in my head.

Second I draw out my little sketch book and sketch it out roughly. I might use or I might not. If I forgot my sketch book...well, I write down some notes in my phone.

 

Some times I just start thinking about all the places/countries I visited throughout the years and try to picture what first pops up as a memory. Than I try to write that down, just words no sketch. At home I will sit down and read through my notes and start translating them into colors or sketch some designs. Some will be executed...some won't...some will sit for a while and some sit for years...

 

Some times it's one of my friends/customers that tells me something they need/want and ask me to translate it into a design.

 

Some times I just take pictures from wherever I am or whatever I like.

 

In the end, there are a lot of ways to get inspired, in my opinion.

Just a package of a product or color combo's used in advertising, magazines, books...anything, you just have to "train" yourself to look different at things. It works for me...

I use these "inspiration" techniques for my knitting, crochet designs, my paintings and sewing.

 

Today, I have no idea what happened or inspired me but I drew up 22 sketches of designs up...

The only thing I can think of is that I "lost" the stress from the last few months since in the past, I worked way too much, had to orchestrated our move over 150 miles and unpack/settle in our new place. Or as I like to call it "life happened" :)

 

The sketches I drew up today are probably going to be a combo of crochet, knitting and/or sewing. I just have to work on each one and tackle all the details.

I start with determine the size, material choices, base colors/background colors, subject and finally detailing/accents. It's a process that takes a while, some times days/weeks/months/years. I have a bunch of sketches that just need detailing or a sample that I need to finish but I am married too LOL. There are only so many hours in a day :)

 

One important thing I learned while starting to design is:

"I can't "force" myself in being creative...I need to let "it" just happen"

"open yourself up to new ideas"

"think outside the box"

"relax"

 

Maybe this little "tutorial" on how I get to my final designs helps you...good luck!!!

Need help/second opinion or....? Just ask...

 

 

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Remember for those who don't know...

I wasn't born here so...

I will make grammar mistakes or misspell words or..., I don't think I need to apologize for them, since English isn't my first/native language. Just picture yourself living in a foreign country...you will never be a native speaker :)

thank you for understanding and just know: I do my very best to keep them to a minimum!!! :)