The more I learn...

                                                             KEEP IT SIMPLE SWEETIE!

Elizabeth has started the next session with design principles.  Everyone lists the elements differently.

I like the HUB acronym and then the ps.  This page not so much, but then I probably am not done with it either.

The theme book I started has limited pages so I'm reviewing and documenting in another book.

This is NOT a work of art.  Neither is it my style.

This is a workbook.

Harmony:
It really is a good exercise to learn about the design elements as if this was the first time you heard of them.  The resources are often given different approaches and one commentator's description may clarify or enhance anther's.

Unity:
I definitely got a better handle on both harmony and unity although there are similarities to each.  Two down and three to go.

What a fun play day.  I do believe what 'I got' has stuck and I am much more comfortable with the whole creative process.

Friday Furniture Finish

I got my reupholstered chairs and foot stool back. I am thrilled with the wonderful job.

The foot stool will be in the sitting room with the two neutral chairs.  One reclines for a tired rooster and the other is for this chick to nest in.  I was always sorry I never got the matching foot stool. Now I'm not sorry at all.

The two recovered chairs will be in the front dining room.  They can be drawn up to the table or they can be available for serious thinking as they are not quite as comfortable as the over stuffed chairs.

As each choice is made it fine tunes the over all design plan.  The new chairs are best on either side of the stove and my original ideal for glass fronted cabinets that keep the dust out  may be too deep. I may have to revert to bookcases. WAIT, they could be shallow glass fronted cabinets that are the same depth as the bookcases.  Blogging my thoughts is the very best thing!  :)    The door in the sitting room leads to the bathroom and kinda needs to be there but needs upgrading.  I'm seriously thinking of putting  a door with glass panes in it, probably white.  They would then relate to the sliding doors with wooden inserts that are behind the curtain.  In summer I switch my chair with a gate leg table for easier access to that door.

I am really trying to stay focused on finishing the bathroom and then into these two rooms for painting and finishing.

Styling

I like aqua.  I just don't want aqua to be more than an accent.

The front hallway, which is our only entrance, needs to carry the colours of the rooms downstairs.  On a meander through Canadian Tire I spotted this rug.  Bigger than I envisioned but the price was right.  hmm  The Rooster was also meandering and meandered by.  We consulted.  He felt it was kinda dark but I asked him what colour did he bring in on his work boots!!! ;^)    So we wrestled it into the car with the understanding we could bring it back.  ???
 I like!   It adds an up to date touch to the old time feel of the house.  It has lots of the colours I am leaning towards and already have happening. It also brings in my accent in kind of a bolder way which works in the entrance.

It is very much my new found style!  I luv the asymmetrical aspect of the pattern and the stylized leaves and flowers.

I'm looking forward to styling the front hall and exploring my design style.  I'm also hoping the Rooster steps on the dark parts!

wow - a leaf

In my attempts to help Nina with her bobbin ache, I have inadvertantly given her a tension headache so I shall definitely be taking her for a spa day and me for an advanced class on the Bernina 820.  God bless helpful dealers!

In the mean time I am trying to turn over a new leaf!  Monday's Refresh post documents my thoughts for focusing and developing my own style.

I am no artist but if I think in segments I am able to do a reasonable facsimile.   I just draw the section, pause, and draw the next section.  The size is arbitrary and it is not a traced copy.  These would definitely be jumping off places for all kinds of quirky leaves.

I think these would be great to try some fusing on small art quilts.  I've laid in a supply of fusibles and I'm ready to play.  Green leaves will be on the new page for today!

No place like home

If you came through the front door you step right into the heart of this home. 

 Welcome

This is what you would see.  Lots of dialogue on the picture placement.  I am surrounded by symmetrical people.  I'm okay with any changes that are made after I'm done and the almost empty paint cans are available for the odd touch ups.

The kitchen is very visible.  It is amazing what a coat of fresh paint and new door knobs will do.  It was while I was doing these cupboards that I smacked myself for taking on such an ambitious undertaking.  ;(

This hutch was placed last and I wish I'd more time to style it.  I'm not feeling the luv.  Painting is not an option as the home owners don't want painted furniture. Painting the window  trim was done because the window insets are white as are the baseboards and doors.   I'm also leaving the decision to mount it to the wall to my kids.

It was 10:00 PM and I was switching things around and thought enough already.  But this is a house with little people.  The 4 cupcake plates I bought a couple of years ago are for tea parties.  But I wanted to add some fun and casualness to a house that is taking on a bit of a formal touch.  The cloth covered stool by the sofa will indubitably be denuded and moved to under the window for the kids to monitor the school playground across the road.  Same with the table cloth as play dough rules here.

This bathroom saver cupboard was to add storage and as my Rooster was putting it together Sunday afternoon, I realized his pantry addition in the basement probably made this unnecessary but we/he was committed. lol

If you came through the back porch this would be what would greet you on a perfect day.  :)

Maintaining two places is exhausting.  Dear daughter's house may look great but mine has serious gaps from missing furniture and saggy piles leaning all over the place.  I'm happy to be home and restoring some order.  My Rooster is wanting something other than chicken scratch for supper tonight and clean socks for tomorrow.

Yikes, I see paint on that chair above!  Here's hoping that only the grand kiddies will be seeing things down low until I can get there, drop my spoon and surreptitiously scrub it off!  

So enjoy the tea I promised when you came for a visit. Sit, sip and sigh while I gear up for one last dance with my vacuum for this week.

Can't see the trees

That's because they are sideways. ;^(

I wanted to make a quilt that kinda looked like you were looking through a clump of trees. No sky or ground, just trunks. I had changed the colours in the veranda so that quilt wasn't needed so I made a runner to ' get it out of my system'.

I took my runner to sewing class and brought home a couple of giveaway fabrics. On checking them out when I got home I see that I wasn't even close to what I'd envisioned.

But in the interest of 'doing my own thing' I plugged away on my new colour palette for the veranda. A tree in each block.

The more 'trees', the more I felt like I needed an axe. LOL

Here is what I learned:

I needed many more prints. This was a stash quilt and I think the print fabrics were a give away to which I added mostly tone on tones or solids.

I think I need to work with either all solids and TOT's or all prints and 1 solid. I don't seem to appreciate the old rule of 1 large scale print, a couple of medium prints (geometric), a solid and an accent.

I also need to remember that the quilt shrinks, particularly up when I am sewing it all together. I wanted this quilt square or at least long looking. It is 5 feet by 5 feet 6 inches. awk!

It is good to push the colour palette, but not too far. I left the few trees in the light brown but quickly saw the backgrounds didn't work so I only had to rip out the first one I'd sewn into a row.

And I need to stay home but I have NOTHING for a backing. I persevered to stay on top of this project and not have another ufo but a whole cloth coordinating print is gonna be preferable to spending days on piecing some kind of backing and nothing is looking at all promising.

Now I need to add that bit on the bottom corner, square it up, find a backing and get it quilted. I'm leaning to straight lines, more trees. Not a real crowd pleaser but I learned a thing or three! AND- it is kind of an outdoors quilt, a lawn blanket!


But I think I like it best- SIDEWAYS!

One day ahead of schedule

The rain is ahead of schedule, it is not due till tomorrow. I'm still behind schedule and I've lost count of how many days.

When I began designing garden beds I had the graph paper and the flower/shrub info and a dozen helpful books. It did not translate to the black dirt. Now that could be my measuring but I've decided I don't like jam packed. Now close is good as it means less weeding but my successes tended to be elbow to elbow and the 'no shows' tended to represent vacant lots. I'm trying to even things out and to let the majority be self sustaining. This white bed comes down to a black arbor and bench so I repositioned this tower and I'll need to find some hardy climber to cover it. But here is another job that isn't finished. But its, sob, not my fault. vbsigh The agricultural paper says our area is one of the top 3 areas in our province hardest hit with all this rain and high winds. What's a gal to do?

I had a privacy lattice behind this front to separate the front bed, which is my most formal area, from the side yard. This is the part of the yard I wanted to keep pretty natural, kind of a cabin at the lake feel.

Well, he who does the grilling wants to do it on a deck so I tore down the lattice, laid the black hose for a lawn edge and flapped the old plywood down to see if this would work. The steps down should cover that lower window. I'll have to fill in where the lattice used to be and along the grass edge with shrubs. The good news is less grass and trimming and hopefully not too much weeding.

I do not want much to ruin the view from my comfy chair in the sitting room, thru the large patio doors and into the north bush from which I've cut out the ugly dead stuff and filled in with cultivated varieties of the native shrubs. I'm also waiting for my new round sitting room rug to be delivered. This is my neutral spot in the house. A quiet place with the big windows inviting the outdoors in. A place to forget about weather forecasts, budgets, to-do lists, bad news and tiredness. A peaceful place.

It is a finish

I am so impressed with myself for keeping up with this BOM project. I must have a lot on my mind because I did have to do some more reverse sewing on the final border. It didn't help that this green looks similar on the back as on the front.

But the dark blocks are back in the right order. That definitely bothered me so absolutely was worth all the hassel of redoing.

I don't care for symmetrical layouts so I did offset the blocks. Then I needed a bit of the periwinkle to pop things. I used a log cabin method to add the borders which really worked against me for taking apart the top to fix the mistake I made. I had to finally remove every sashing piece.

I also wanted 2 greens in the final border. I had thought about making one wider than the other and that could still happen but for now I'm pleased with how things look. The photo looks like the top is wider than it is long but the measurements are showing it really is square.

oops, except that the bottom left hand block is very light and might benefit from a motif to be appliqued to it. I did add a bit of something to one of the earlier pictures so the difference can be seen.

Okay, something is crossed off that everlasting to-do list. What is next? Right! Under all the stuff on the table are some pink baby quilt blocks that needs connecting. And 2 more babies have left the hospital!!! But the sun is also shining today and I have an old shed to empty and a newer one to fill so we can remodel the old one. CHARGE!

Setting BOM Jewels

I'm taking a break from the more physical stuff and I'm setting the BOM jewels in their setting. They really are bright, glowing and multifaceted.

I can't find the setting I had in mind. Darn files; what good are they if you can't find your bright ideas. So I drew out a rough plan and began to cut and sew.

I thought squares of the very dark secondary theme fabric would be perky.

But after a few are in place I'm not liking them beside some of the blocks. I auditioned a few sashing possibilities with yellow a strong desire but I'm thinking green. The final choice really is a new one and not in the blocks.

Now I'm not liking the fact that some blocks will butt directly to the thin enclosing border.

I am also NOT a fan of those solid chunks of fabric for a final border so I am resisting that theme fabric on the outside. I'd hoped for dark of night or at the least some some early morning inspiration. There doesn't seem to be any forthcoming so it looks like another play day today.

Texture two

The smooth surface of the solids and the hills and shadows from the quilting on the whole cloth quilts. The light bouncing of the smooth shiny satin keeps us bemused and enchanted as we reach out to stroke the surface. Texture doesn't stand alone.

There has to be the interplay of design elements. I am particularly thinking about contrast. I tend towards a preference for low contrast but puffy quilted feathers on florals is texture on texture that is so low contrast as to be negligible as far as impact goes. But I'm also not quite ready for Sashiko! It is a learning curve.

This Magic Tiles quilt, made a good number of years ago, is all about texture. It is also about MQing. I controlled the fabrics with a colour palette of browns and greys. I relied on texture to make the fabrics stand out but still be relatively low in contrast. Then to push my machine quilting skills I determined to do each little patch with a different free motion design. My skills were developing so I wanted them to hide in all the texture as I practiced.

Now I am experimenting with a new medium. The Technique of the Month TOM over at Three Creative Studios is about painting quilt batting. I have 3 examples. The first and second is too smooth; just done with wide foam brush strokes. I want more texture. The third is a dabbed surface and I like it much better. Now to finish them up I am thinking contrast. I'll add texture to the relatively smooth surface with some Shapes. Then the 3rd is already textured so I'm thinking I'll add some of the first design element Line. This is starting to get kinda exciting as I place parameters around my projects so I can focus and have the freedom to fiddle within the boundaries.

Texture

Texture comes from textura "web, texture, structure," from stem of textere "to weave," hence textile. Every single, solitary surface has texture. Smooth as in glass, marble, mirrors, chrome, satin, etc. or rough as in bark, cement, stucco, burlap, etc. Texture is the surface quality of an object.

In the above photo, the white melamine surface is smooth, shiny and hard while the fabrics are smooth, matte and soft. The fabrics themselves look like textured items but they are two dimensional. These give the illusion of touch. They are examples of visual texture, created with the material that we use.

The photo below is very tactile. The objects are soft, hard, shiny, dull, flat, rounded, and very touchable because they are three dimensional. Physical texture is the texture that you can actually feel with your hand.

Texture is what gives a design the feeling of surface. It is the tactile sense of the elements in the design. It is a supporting player in design. If you have good colours in appropriate values in a project but something isn't just right, try changing the visual texture. This is best understood by comparing an unquilted top with a finished quilt. What happens is that a variation is introduced that varies the pattern of light and dark areas on an object.

It may help to understand texture by looking at food. Compare smooth cream of wheat with crunchy granola. Soothing macaroni and cheese as opposed to tantalizing Thai style stir-fry. Different textures for different occasions. Can you feel the difference?

The Eye

By golly! I'm getting it. I am working on Texture in Design for the Monday night class. I needed an example. This web site is loaded- http://www.smashingmagazine.com/texture-gallery-fabric/ Then I looked around for my own image. The peacock feather and the blind reflection on a smooth melamine surface! hmm, I shoulda shifted the eye a wee bit, but ... At one time I'd have hardly noticed it. yay!

Peppermint Stars

This is a smaller version of a large bed quilt I made for my mum who wanted a red and white quilt. Making a two colour quilt in one block pattern is boring but this was what my mum wanted. I did mix it up a bit. It has my version of plaid quilting.

This is also a good example of negative space. It is interesting to listen to how people see the two spaces. Which one is the positive space, which one is the negative?

Forget backing

We now have another quilt happening, reversible! vbsigh The yellow was sliding off south and the finger was beckoning for something. Half my stash has been kerfuffulled and it is coming.

Oh, I also have a young assistant who likes to see all the strips waving and dancing.