A Thread Runs Through It Or Not ... Journey Within To The Creative Spirit

A Test for Creativity

capellita — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:10:57 +0000

According to this test I am 49% right brain and 51% left brain.

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

Posted from WordPress for Android

Marketing Muscle for Artists

capellita — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:50:46 +0000

Last night I attended a workshop at the Arts Center called Marketing Muscle for Artists. As its name suggests, it was about marketing strategies for artists who would like to sell their artwork. I enjoyed it and thought it was very informative. The speaker, Dianna Fritzler, gave us a reference that I thought I would pass on to all of you should you be interested. It’s a book by Alyson B. Stanfield:

I’d Rather Be In The Studio! The Artist’s No Excuse Guide To Self-Promotion

Alyson also has a website and a blog that I will also give you:

Website: ArtBizCoach.com
Blog: ArtBizBlog.com

Artists who attended the workshop were at various different stages in their careers: some were full-time professional artists, some were part-time professional artists, and some were at the beginning stages of their artwork. I even got to see my two drawing class teachers. It was fun once again to drive into the Art Center parking lot. It felt like I was coming back home …

Posted from WordPress for Android

Hardanger Update Jan. 8, 2012: Completed Interior Eyelets and Cable Stitching on Small Lacy Edge Doily

capellita — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:35:54 +0000

I completed the interior diamond eyelets and the cable stitching.

Now I can do the interior cut work, bar wrapping, and filling stitches. After that … the lacy edge!

Glorious Blossoms II: Construction of the Center Panel

capellita — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:09:05 +0000

Below is the current layout of the center panel – the panel that will have the fabric folded flowers on them.

In this next picture I placed the printed fabric next to the panel layout so that you can see the fabric that I used to determine the colors I chose to make the blossoms.

Keep in mind that in the layout, the blossoms aren’t open yet. They are still folded closed. Opening them will be the last thing I do because it is easier to work with the rest of the quilt while the flowers are folded closed. When they are open, they will look like this

People ask me how I decided what order to put the flowers in the panel. I just put all 131 flowers in a big bag and mix them around

Then as I layout the center panel, alternating flower squares with background squares, I pull out a flower square and put it in the panel when required. I work from thet top left of the panel to the bottom right. When I am finished, I step back to see if there is too much of one color concentrated in parts of the panel. If so, I swap it out with another flower color in another part of the panel until the flowers look fairly evenly distributed.

Since I didn’t think I would be able to sew the panel right away, and I wanted to get it off of my floor, I numbered the rows and took a picture

Then within a row I stacked the fabric pieces in order from left to right with the first block of the row on top and the last block of the row on the bottom of the stack. Then I wrapped the stack in tissue paper and taped the number of the row outside the tissue paper wrapping. I did that with all 29 rows. That way, when I’m ready to sew, I know the order of the rows and the order of the blocks within the row. If I get stuck, I have the pictures to guide me.

This quilt is a modification of the quilt “Glorious Blossoms” designed by Rebecca Wat that appeared in her book “A Fresh Twist on Fabric Folding”.

Clown School Beaded Amulet Bag

capellita — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:18:29 +0000

The evening before New Year’s Eve I went to Hobby Lobby and found a display frame for a beaded bag that I made quite sometime ago. Unfortunately, in the frame you can’t see the back of the bag, but at least it’s encased in something that enables me to display part of it without me always having to handle the beads and risk marring them up. Inside the display case was what appeared to be a stiffened piece of batting. Because the beaded bag didn’t look too great on the batting, I covered it up with some blue suede material that I bought at Joann’s. Then I laid the bag on it, front facing up. The front of the glass display case has a snap closure on the side.

The back and front of the bag was designed by Deb Bergs and is made up of delica beads.

Because the front and back of the bag were joined together in a tubular fashion, the construction easily lends itself to a two-sided fringe, which I designed. I tried to fan the fringe out in display case so that you can see the detail. The back side of the fringe was made up of remaining delicas that were used in the construction of the body of the bag. I also used white hex beads, metallic blue AB charlottes. copper colored seed beads, metallic blue seed beads and bugle beads, and some fish-shaped beads. I tried to make the front fringe look like sea coral. I used various different coral and orange as well as green colored delica beads.

I also made the strap using the same types of beads I used in the fringe to give the bag some unity and I added a few different other beads that I had in my stash: some sand colored chips, #8 blue seeds beads and some red ab faceted crystals

This was the first beaded bag I ever made. It was a ton of fun. I’m trying to decide which bag I want to do next.

Hardanger Update Jan. 2, 2012: Completed Eyelets on Small Lacy Edge Doily

capellita — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:31:09 +0000

I completed the eyelets on the outer border of the small lacy edge doily

Posted from WordPress for Android

A Wish for a Happy New Year

capellita — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:03:43 +0000

Wishing everybody a happy and blessed new year – I hope all your dreams and wishes come true!

Posted from WordPress for Android

131 Fabric Folded Flowers

capellita — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:18:22 +0000

When my Dad visited me for Christmas, we spent a lot of time just hanging out. While we were talking and watching movies, I finished folding the fabric flowers that I will need to make my second glorious blossoms quilt.

For the Children :)

capellita — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:18:38 +0000

Several years ago I made a friend that helped me out during a difficult time. I promised myself that when I was better settled, I would somehow give back to her by supporting the cause for which she fights. That time has now come. And this year I chose to contribute to the youth program where she works and checked out their wish list. So …. I packed all of this

in this box.

That’s 22 sketch journals, 10 12-colored pencil packs and 10 24-color crayola crayon packs. I did pretty good don’t you think? I was quite proud of myself that I could get all of that in a single box. There was only one problem …. it wasn’t a flat rate box. So the next morning, I decided to get two large flat rate boxes and see if I could fit it in them. They all fit with room to spare. So since the youth program wish list was also asking for paints and brushes, I packed acrylic and watercolor paints and paintbrushes, some more sketch paper and some watercolor paper :) The boxes were really heavy, but my sweet Dad helped me carry them to the post office :) My friend should receive the packages today :) I have learned that packing a box is an art form :)

A Wish that All of You Have a Merry, Merry Christmas

capellita — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:07:26 +0000

I hope all of you have a peaceful and joyful holiday with your loved ones :) Merry Christmas! :)