Sketchbook challenge

This months challenge is flowers.  This is such an exciting theme this month.  I love to draw flowers in a stylised form.  I am looking forward to experimenting with different designs and techniques with this theme in mind.  I think flowers are such a personal gift in a persons life.  Flowers are a part of so many occasions birth , death,  birthdays,  celebrations of many kinds,  wedding etc.  They are such a significant part of our lives and who we all are.  My most favourite memory of my grandma is of her with her nose in a rose.  She loved them and I have inherited her love of flowers, especially fragrant roses. 

This first page has been done using acrylic paints and silver pen.  I used a commercial stamp for the background and I made the stencil for the centre design.

This page was also done with acrylic paint but I used gold pen as the accent. The flowers were also another original stencil.

This last page was done with the same stencils as the previous two pages.  I thought this could make quite a nice fabric.

Getting back on track with my quilting

Thank you for the few comments I received to help me get myself motivated and recharged with my art work.  It has really helped me to re focus and to look at where I am going next. 

So this week I have taken out some old work that I hadn't quite finished and started working on them.  It feels good to work again and be creative.  I love the satisfaction of creating something beautiful and special. 

This quilt I made a while ago wasn't sitting properly.  No matter what I did it wouldn't sit right.  I tried blocking it,  undoing stitching,  and reworking the blocks but to no avail it just 'it's own' way of sitting.

 I had done too much work on this to just cast aside or to throw it out.  I put my thinking cap on and decided I could probably use it for a few things.  So out came the scissors,  rotary cutter and the sewing machine.  This took my a lot of courage to cut into this piece of work :)

I first made 2 book covers for by sketchbooks.

The instructions for these covers are in the Surface Platter work shop by Lyric Kinard, produced by interweave.  They are very simple to make and really beautiful.

I have been wanting to make some covers for my sewing machines for a while and thought this stitched material would be wonderful.  These cover my felting machine,  my old faithful Bernina record and......

......My Pfaff machine. 

I attached elastic at each end of the machine so I can slip the covers over easily and so they fit snugly. 

I have only zigzagged the edges at the moment.  I want to see how they work before I do a more permanent edging on the covers.

I really love how they have all turned out and I feel satisfied that an unused piece of work now has a practical purpose.

Put a little kindness in the world

Lyric Kinard at http://lyrickinard.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/kindness-chronicles_04.html   has written a great blog about being kind.  What can we do to be kind in the world?  She has listed listed some wonderful ideas and challenged us to make an effort to be kind.  So here is some of the kind things I have done these past couple of weeks....

• Told a lady at the supermarket she looked beautiful (this one always embarrasses my kids)
• Made smoothies for breakfast for everyone
• Told a child her hair looked lovely
• Phoned a friend have troubles
• Prayed for a friend in need
• Popped in and saw a friend whose dad is sick
• Did a chore normally assigned to one of my kids
• Sat and listened to a teenager
• Defended a person who was being put down
• Gave away produce from my garden (this one was kind to me too....does this count?)

What have you done kind this month.  Join us on our quest for kindness

Photography this week

I captured some photos of my daughters flowers she received last week at her graduation from the personal progress programme ( a programme similar in length and work to the duke of Edinburgh programme)  I used theme this month form the sketchbook challenge as inspiration-close-up.

Sketchbook challenge

My 2 pages this week are ink and watercolour.  I have a delicious new set of watercolours.  They are made by Phebe and are the watercolour aquarelle fine brand. They are lovely to use.

I love to  get new supplies.  It is fun seeing what possibilities they have and where they can take me.

I also like seeing how they work for me.

What the can potentially accomplish.

I have had fun experimenting with this new set.  I love colour

The fist page I did I based on a shape I found close up in a towel design.  The shape was a long crescent.

I particularly like the top right square and can see some possibilities for future work.

The second page this week is a close up of the view from my sewing window of a yucca.  I love the shapes both positive and negative and the really Strong lines.   

What do you do when you are in a rut?

Change comes and goes through all of our lives.  Seasons,  time, children growing up, getting old......the list is endless.  Some feels good and others not so good.  I think the quote for sound of music describes to me how change can work positively live

'when the lord closes a door somewhere he opens a window'

. For me this is the only way to move forward.  Positively viewing change no matter how difficult it is. 

This week I sent my 18 year old off to university in Palmerston North.  This is a 6 1/2 drive away from where we live.  It was so hard to leave her there and I felt a door close in my face.  I can see some windows opening now though.  I can see that I have done a great job in preparing her for university and she will be fine.  I can see possibilities of a little more time for myself and for my younger children at home.  With that little more time I am hoping to get more art done as well. 

I am struggling though with using this time.  I just want to go to sleep or curl up on the couch with a book.  I think the major issue is interuptions.  Even with this new time interruption's still come so often that I lose momentum and therefore stop doing work in my studio.  I also am struggling with direction at the moment.  I really don't know where to go and what I want to achieve. 

Maybe my cat has the best idea.....curling up in a bag of stuffing and sleeping.  Do you think the kids would find me!

Sam in a bag of stuffing

Fast asleep

He's hiding in here!

Look how high up he is....

It's a shame sleeping doesn't solve all problems.

So I want to ask you all how do you cope with a loss of momentum?  What do you do when you are in a rut?  What goals do you have?   Please can you leave a comment below if you have any ideas.  Could you please ask around through your communities online and invite others onto my blog to help answer this question?

I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Photography this week

I found this little bay that had these amazing root formations. The trees were growing over the cliff and the roots had grown into the silt underneath.

 I thought they would be amazing on a quilt.