Creative Roads are Rarely Straight

So in my last post, I had been crocheting squares of scrap yarn with the intention of making an afghan. While working on the squares yesterday, I decided to make them into a bag.

I don't really know why, because I was excited about the idea of a scrappy afghan. The little knotted yarns just asked to be made into a tote. You can find the tote on my Etsy shop:




I love the way this came together. It is not too big and is perfect for summer.


When have you been creating and found your project move you in an unexpected direction?

Yarn Scraps

I had one tangled, hot mess yesterday afternoon. I have been trying to organize all of my crafting supplies and work space but had been avoiding a particular bag of yarn. It had been my catch-all bag for a while now.

No excuses! I told myself. Time to face the mass of tangles head on.

It only took me about an hour, but I created several neatly wrapped balls of yarn (stored safely in their correct plastic bins. And was inspired to start using some of my scraps to make a scrap afghan throw. Here's what I started:

I think with a variety of colors and textures, once this is all sewn up it will be a cute and quirky afghan! I love it already!

What do you do with your scraps?

Vintage Apron Window Decor

I have always loved the style of the 1940s and 1950s. For my bridal shower years ago, my mother listed on the invitation for guests to wear heels and pearls to the shower. It was a surprise bridal shower for me. She had been secretly collecting vintage aprons. When the guests arrived, they got to complete their 1950s housewife look! I walked in to a room of heels, pearls, and aprons!

I have had those aprons for over a decade now. In a few apartments, I hung them all on hooks above my washer and dryer (I could at least look at the vintage aprons and appreciate that the chore I dislike most is easier now than it once was). I thought of different ways to display them. Sometimes I even wore them (I have my real kitchen apron- I don't want to ruin the vintage ones!).

In our new place, we have space. I love the space, it inspires. In the kitchen, I decided to finally make use of the aprons:

My dining set is also "vintage." The table belonged to my great-grandmother.

I could never decide which apron was actually my favorite.

Gingham! Rickrack! Polka dots! All of the vintage!

I pinned the aprons to the curtain rod, creating a valance out of the past. I also used my Fiesta wear mugs as plant holders (I am still in the process of plant-collecting, so they aren't all used, yet.). 

Fiesta-wear as plant holders. A perfect compliment to vintage aprons!

I love to walk into my kitchen. The colors spark the space and it makes me smile. And I am glad I finally found a way to display my aprons!

Oh-My-Stars!

All the stars! I wanted to make some red-white-and-blue decor pieces to jazz up my house for Independence Day. I found a star pattern and got my yarn ready when I saw the Love of Knitting/Love of Crochet tweet about a collaborative yarn bomb event.

We've already received some stars for our #FourthofJuly #yarnbomb and #giveaway! You still have time to enter and... http://t.co/LQFqfiK4i7

— Love of Crochet (@LoveofCrochet1) June 20, 2014

Love! I already had started experimenting with star-making! This was perfect!

My initial experiment of star sizes/rounds

I finished off each of the stars and added the loops like requested so that the stars can be hung. I am excited to send these in for the yarn bomb event! I'm not going to lie, I am also crossing my fingers that I win one of the ten prize packages, too... :)

My star "contributions"

Then I started piecing together other stars to decorate my chairs in my kitchen:

What else can I do with these? Do you have any other decorating ideas?

Check Meow(t)

I finally did it! I opened my Etsy shop! Find me here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbyekg

You'll find all sorts of fun stuff on there, from paintings to crocheted items to bags to earrings.

Here is my very first item I "stocked" in my shop:

Find this treasure in my Etsy Shop!

I am still listing things, so keep checking back for more fun stuff!

Bad Math = Opportunity

I used to do well in math. I suppose without constant exposure to geometry, one can lose those skills (like a language learned in high school). So I drew out how I wanted to use a stack of fabric. I counted, I added, I multiplied, I did it all again. This will be great! So I began cutting it all out. I love this Dick and Jane fabric!

I made two sets of open nine-patch blocks, one with blue and light pink and one with green and a red-pink. Hot diggity, the blocks came together nicely! Then it was time to lay out the blocks. At this point, it was probably 11:30pm and I was feeling giddy. I love it when projects are closer to completion than beginning.

Wait a minute. I had done bad math! Or miscounted! Or ahhhgkkghh! I made too many blue and pink blocks and not enough of the green ones. So the alternating pattern I had in mind wouldn't work out! Gah! Should I make the top and bottom just blue blocks? Should I make a throw-size quilt and a baby quilt, instead? (I had intended this to be a twin-sized quilt). It was time to leave the miscounted blocks laying there and go to bed.

The next morning I got up early and took a moment to appreciate the day and drink some coffee. My dad's coffee is near thick enough to have to cut with a pair of scissors. It surely will kickstart anybody's day. With a breath of fresh air in my lungs and caffeine surging through my veins, I decided to do some rearranging. 

Half of me loves the new layout (with a different design within the blocks). Half of me knows this is just a cover up for bad math. Ultimately, I ran out of time to piece these together, so I put them in a box for the next time I venture up to my mom's. Maybe by then, I'll have completely come to grips with the new block pattern and will complete it. (Or maybe I will just go ahead and make two separate quilts).

Qualitative brains, unite!

Cheers to Generations!

I have been in the process of moving and settling into a new place. While in some ways it has been exhausting work, in other ways, it has been freeing. I have been able to purge unwanted stuff. I am now in a better house and the layout is inspiring. I discovered some forgotten stuff. Like painted plates.

I found buried in a box some fragile, hand-painted ceramic plates that my great-grandmother painted. She painted ceramics and canvas and had her pieces throughout her house. I loved to visit that West Texas house, a pale yellow structure resting on the rugged, rolling plains. Pulling these pieces out immediately flooded me with memories of my great-grandmother, trips to West Texas, and visiting family.

This is one of my favorite pieces of my great-grandmother's work.

Dogwood was Nonnie's favorite flower.

I love the vibrancy of this bird.

Amazing detail!

Nonnie's signature on her painted pieces included a "V" and "A" for her initials.

Nonnie grew up the eldest of eleven children. They made a life on the nearly-barren landscape of West Texas. She loved to read and dreamed of going to college. She didn't quite make it that far in her formal education, but she passed down her creativity to her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Do great-grandmothers realize their impact on the future? Mine certainly impacted me.

I know today is Fathers Day, but I think in a bigger sense, it is a day we can appreciate past generations and how they have impacted who we are and who we have become (and even, who we will be as we continue to grow). Dads, granddads, great-grandmothers: they all have impacted our lives in one way or another. Cheers to generations!

Painting Squirrels

So I don't always quilt. Sometimes I do other stuff, too. Like paint.

Last year, I decided to paint a squirrel for my dad (a gift for his birthday). It is an abstract squirrel.

 Wait. That's not it, that's just how it started.

That's it.

I watched half of the first season of "Bates Motel" while painting this squirrel on a lovely, rainy afternoon. The squirrel is on our family crest (if we had one). My dad rather enjoyed the painting, I think. My husband liked it so much he wanted one, too. Except he wanted a brown squirrel with a camo background. I love the guy, so I obliged.

Initially, I was hesitant to paint camo. But it turned out well. This squirrel is almost more of a cartoon squirrel, the brush strokes making him more rounded. I also had to trial-and-error the painting of camo. I painted it while watching the last half of the first season of "Bates Motel." 

The camo squirrel now hangs in our office space. 

Scrappin' Log Cabin-Style

My mother brought me a bag of scraps during my time working at an isolated park (in rural, south Georgia... in a cabin). She mentioned I might have time (since I had no cable nor internet connection) to iron some of the pieces out and "do something" with them. She was correct. I had time.

So I ironed and cut. I did not have a sewing machine, so I just laid the blocks out. On the kitchen floor.

Kitchen floors *can* serve as a work space.

Log cabin-esque seemed appropriate, as it could accommodate various sizes AND I was living in a cabin (although, it was not made of logs). I stacked them neatly in a box for when I had a chance to use a sewing machine. (I cut out enough for two quilts... incidentally, I still have a box of scraps in my closet). That chance was at my mom's house a few weeks ago. So I headed up to Cumberland City with my box-o-scraps.

A table, mat, and ironing board prove better work surfaces than kitchen floors.

I pieced the blocks together as I had originally intended, then laid them out into rows (the blocks varied in size, so I laid blocks into rows with similarly-sized blocks). I pieced together the rows, then cut the edges so they could lay together.

TA DA!

The finished product!

It came together quite nicely, if I say so myself. I chose to quilt it with an all-over larger stipple, as I did not want to take away from the funky of the scrapness. So now I have a scrappy, log cabin quilt (that was born in a cabin). I have more pictures over at the Cumberland Quilting Co.'s Etsy page, if you want to take a peek.

Fun with Owls (and Quilting)

I had a chance to visit my Mom's yesterday and finish up some projects we started together a while ago. We completed three baby quilts for the Clarksville Downtown Market (of which she is at currently!).

She pieced these puppies while I quilted them. My favorite turned out to be the owl quilt. A combination of the cute fabrics and panels provided for fun inspiration.

"hooo hooo"

all the quilting! 

stars and swirls

ribbons sewn in the seams provide tactile stimulation

I had a blast working the longarm these past few days. I also finished up a scrap quilt (for another post!). Now I turn to my next project. Hmmm...

here we go

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -Mary Oliver

I plan to keep living. And while I enjoy writing, I also enjoy creating. Writing is a form of creation, but I like to change up my mediums. I like textiles and canvas and ink and yarn and well, anything tactile. So I will use this space to write about what I create (and blend the two). At the end of last year, I completed a quilt from a stack of fabric that I had intended to use as complimentary fabric for a cut of cloth with an ocean motif. As the fabrics came together, the ocean fell to the wayside and I began cutting strips with the intention of making random blocks:

They came together nicely, in fact (although, I kept having to cut down pieces to fit... spatial planning is not my strength).

I chose a continuing abstract, replicating square and rectangle quilt pattern (quilted on my mom's long arm machine).

This modern quilt sold this past week at my mom's quilt booth at the Clarksville Downtown Market. I was sad to see it go, but I am glad it has a new home and a cozy bed to keep warm!