Tricky

 

I have a number of errands to run today and I could use one of these wigs the grand kiddies tried on at their local thrift shop.  My hair is at that in between stage that makes smooth coiffures tricky.

Creativity 101 featured the booklet we'd made last week. My gal painted most of the backgrounds green, her favourite colour.  The theme has now been decided and it'll be Christmas.  First technique was to spread some white stuff on all that green grass.  ;)  Lines were laid down for snow banks.  But green still figures prominently in our first pages where the hunt for the perfect tree will be portrayed.  Trees are just lines that have been enclosed, completing  a shape.  Lines also give direction and we talked about moving our eyes around but not out of the page. Using the shape of a triangle we exaggerated it to make three spruce trees in different sizes.  We are also learning to practice a bit before we commit to the actual page. ;)  Next week we commit.

I have challenged myself to use a blue monochromatic colour scheme for this week's scrapbook page. "The range of different blues is enormous, and using too large a selection can end in disaster.  There is a vast difference in tone and atmosphere between a greenish blue, like turquoise, and one that veers towards mauve.  The wisest and safest course is to experiment with different degrees of one shade, using it deeper or lighter as needed or adding one of the gray-tinged neutrals as a highlighter."  I don't often use blue.  If I do, it is usually  robin's egg blue which is heavily influenced by green.  "Turquoise is the trickiest of all the blue-greens. It is really in a color class of its own and rarely blends well with other blues unless the very lightest or darkest shades are chosen."  My favourite colour!  :O

 So I deliberately steered clear of my blue-greens and tried my hand at regular old blue which I don't have very much of. I don't have many embellishments either.  I'll need to be creative to use what I have for a successful layout. 

I continue to move fabric around the wall hanging as I chase those tricky bits of sunshine and shadow.  Blur is good for the squint test but I think I am needing a new camera as it is slow in some light conditions and the on button is very tricky and needs a deep press on one side.  :O  Hey, time to treat myself!

Today's trick will be to get my errands successfully completed and back before the colourful grand kiddies arrive for supper. Another treat!

Blue?

I have finally figured it out! 

Some things stay the same.  These little blue flowers come up every year in my Secret Shade garden.  But some things also change.  The lime green ground covers spread and some even revert back to regular green.  :(

This little guy, whose very common name escapes me, starts out blue, fades to pink and finishes very pale, almost white. 

But things don't stay the same.  They are ever evolving, changing.  So I shouldn't be surprised to find I'm changing and what I like to do changes.

 

The Rooster pointed out that I kinda sink into a slump come spring.  He is likely right.  So I need to remember to take the green juice before I waste too much time! lol

This spring quarter has seriously gone awry.  I will not, even with a good and productive week  make all my goals.

So, or should I say sew...

I shall give it my best shot and we will see how much spring I have yet left within me!  ;^)

The books will be the first to be set aside.  I took the first,  Photography & the art of seeing,  when I was away.  Next time I will travel much lighter as I had no time for my good intentions.  lol

I don't want to rush this so I will continue it and press on into the digital photography in the summer.

 

I want to learn good creative habits that will lead to developing my own imagery.   To do that I need to be  

S E E I N G !

 

Now I hope I've chased those blues away.  In fact, baby blue is my least favourite colour. 

Look out!  It may be a late spring in a lot of respects but I'm still hopeful!  Let's sing,  "Blue skies,  smiling at me.  Nothing but blue skies, do I see."   :)

PS the bathroom

 Hmm, PS may not have been a good choice for the title.  LOL

But to do a quick sum up:

This is the inspiration for a custom shower curtain.  This family is all about flowers and growing things.

While the sewing is going on, I've past on an old favorite from many years ago.  Actually, I'm thinking that my daughter, Cari, is behind me about 15- 20 years in her decorating so a lot of my older stuff works great for her.  Isn't it neat how our style evolves and becomes age appropriate.

It is very hard to nail teeny tiny nails in a tiny recessed spot.  They could use adjusting.  I had two dancing geese but I managed to knock their heads off in one fell swoop!  I tried, and tried, AND tried to glue the heads back on, even with stabilizing  green tape but I realized I was wasting time on a minor while the majors were standing at ease.  So there will be no cute dancing geese even if the gal's periwinkle bonnet matched the paint perfectly.  The other pair has ordinary blue.  vbsigh

comforted

The oomph was there to get through the funeral week and now comes all the rest. It seems a bit over the top to have to deal with fritzy appliances: microwave, dishwasher and now washing machine. And we are in the middle of a heat wave. sheesh

I had a fan blowing as I stitched the binding down.

The comfort quilt is now a designated crying towel.

There are lots of memories in the quilt which was the 'nothing' that I was doing when I was asked. Trees, river, flowers, pastures, favorite horses, colours, etc. I hope it brings comfort.

Basically Blue

I had an unscheduled baby quilt to make for hubby's work mate. I thought I'd use the other piece of gridded fusible for this one as I did on the pink quilt whose grid is on the diagonal. (darned if I can find that post, sorry) I might have to revise my opinion of this fusible as I did find things went fairly fast. This might also have something to do with my new 57 foot which is a quarter inch foot with an edge. Quite slick and fast.

I also think a tutorial on digital cameras might be a help as colour and perspective are quite changeable.

So here is a photo focusing on the various prints which are thirties and blue.

One that does show the rectangular shape, 37" x 47". Definitely some shrinkage as I was using the full 45" width on the back. I also did the quick inside/out edge finish.

This photo is probably more accurate colour wise.

And the backing is a very old but great quality fabric I got for a good sale price many years ago. So very not me and I'm glad to have most of it out of my stash now.

Now I need to get the 2 small quilts for my grand kiddies machine quilted as they are actually on my list. hum, hum, hum... happy holidays!

Following a blue line

After all my careful preparations we only went as far as the Canadian Tire/Wall Mart parking lot in Kenora. That's where the tow truck deposited us when the car failed to start at our first rest break. :( So we arranged for the friends on the other end to come get my friend and then I made my way back home.

The VERY Great news was that I found this wonderful glass jar for parfait dyeing. It will be a reminder of the old axiom that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. But I can't help but adding that all good things come to he who waits. And I have been looking/waiting for this jar for quite a while.

Blue Line Day

Fall and I'm falling behind. But I am getting a grip on the realities of what is involved in my procrastinating.

So I am actually aware of some of the approaching deadlines.

Now to do the next thing first!

Blue Monday

Monday, the beginning of the week. Time to make the plan, consider the options. Let's be calm, cool, and collected.

All the options are laid out on blue lines with a blue pen.

Will the ol' work ethic kick in or will the procrastinating tendencies win out?

Blue, a calming colour.

A playful colour.

A refreshing colour.



A rare flower colour.

A colour with lots of options.

A colour to use creatively!