Sanity Check

In the midst of all the chaos of my current life, I have relied on creativity to keep me sane.  

Or to allow me to express my insanity.  Something like that.

I found this recipe that seemed interesting, and I sent a link to my daughter to see if she wanted to make it for her upcoming birthday.  She was very enthusiastic, so we decided to do a trial run.

It's called a rainbow cake, and it uses no fat in the recipe. But it was so sweet that all three of us found it difficult to finish even one slice! So, we decided to make the recipe but bake up cupcakes instead.

I also decided to finally make a project I've been thinking about for some months now. A case for my crochet hooks.





I've seen many different types of things like this, used for crochet hooks, colored pencils, and other similar items. I was inspired, but sometimes it takes being under stress to make something like this happen. All in all, I'm happy with it. Now all my hooks are in one place and I will know right away if one is missing.

After these creative bursts, I felt that I wanted to draw with pen and ink. I'm also itching to use my colored pencils, but I haven't gotten to that yet.
To mix things up a bit, I decided on white ink on black paper. And I just sat and drew without any plan or idea of where I was going.




After I got to a certain point on this one, I decided to try and add some color with the colored pencils, but I wasn't pleased with the result. So I went back later and drew this one.



These are highly reflective of the craziness and indefiniteness of life right now, but drawing them was keenly satisfying. They are sort of sprawling doodles which I drew as fast as I could and let my instincts guide me. The first one seems sort of like underwater life to me, while the second one looks like plant life. The state of mind the work put me into in process was one I really yearn to enter again, soon. It was restful and challenging at the same time. Especially when my family wasn't interrupting me....




And lastly, for today's post: the Leetle Birdies have been spotting in cyberspace! Cuteable has included them in her latest post. Let's hope that generates some sales!

Going Off The Grid

It's been a while since my last post, and this week being Spring Break, I suggested to my daughter that we should go off the grid, i.e. stay off the computer.  But since I've already neglected my blog audience for so long, I felt I should make a post.  

Even tho my mental state is somewhat wonky these past weeks, I am still making things.  I have found crochet to be a very relaxing medium, and since we have no winter clothes to speak of (and will undoubtedly need them in our new habitat), I have been making warm fuzzy cuddly things.

I finally finished this scarf. I showed the start of it a while ago. I thought it would be longer, but one of the skeins ran out so I just ended it there. I'm happy enough with the length: it keeps my neck covered. And it's so soft. No more wool scarves for this girl!



This is a little hard to reconcile with the climate here in Singapore. Consequently, it looks totally dopey to me. But it is so soft and warm that I know I will overcome feeling silly and will wear it.



Or maybe I'll just enjoy feeling silly.

Actually, this hood looked so great on my daughter that I decided to make one for her, using white fuzzy yarn where I used blue for mine. I got started, but then I had to stop for a while because I was having a sore arm. That's the first time that's ever happened to me. Crocheting too much, I guess.

So, this is Spring Break Week, as I mentioned, and my daughter and I have planned the week out. I don't think I'll find any time to sneak into my studio, but who knows? She is planning on a sleepover tomorrow, so that might be my day. I'm thinking that the current quilt is going to be filed away for a time. I have all these great ideas of things I want to sew, and the UFO is just making me feel guilty. Maybe I'll finish that one, maybe not. But for now, I gotta follow my creative impulses. Soon enough the whole studio will need to get packed...yipes!

The Stress Monster Who Ate My Brain

I have discovered that stress really is a damper to my creativity. And the funny thing about it is, I don't really notice the stress. I notice it's effects. Not only does my creativity dry up, but all I wanna do is escape.

I'm tired all the time, my digestive system doesn't work properly, my sleep cycle is off...

but other than that, I feel fine!

Well, this weekend, after my daughter and I were viewing this blog, she got creative and decided to make this little guy.

Kerfuffle

Fleece with polyester fiberfill

Of course, being the meddlesome, overbearing mother that I am, I helped her do it. And it reminded me of some important things:

Even tho I don't feel like it, working on my art is an excellent way of working through the stress. It allows me to feel some control over my situation, and gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

Creating something beautiful is also very calming and stress diffusing. And it's not as painful as exercising, altho I really need to do that too....

So why all this stress?

Because we are planning a move this summer. Out of Singapore. And there's lots of unanswered questions like: where are we going? What will we do there? How will we make money? Where will my daughter go to school? And so forth and so on.

So yeah, plenty to stress about. But can I do anything to answer these questions or settle these issues? Not yet. And we're looking at June or July - months away still. 

Today I'm getting my haircut, going grocery shopping, and I have choir practice. I don't know if I will have time or energy to get into my studio. But, I did go for a long walk this morning. That was good.

And while I was out, I did a toy drop! My first in Singapore!

I made this guy last month, just for fun.

I wont say where I dropped him. If you watch the Toy Society's blog for the next couple of days, you will probably see him there, with his location disclosed. This also gave me a feeling of getting something accomplished this morning. I have wanted to do this for a while now, but have been a bit timid.  Don't want to get in trouble with the authorities...

So that's what's up with me.  What's up with you?

Does This Make You Happy?

Yeah, me too.

I have been so distracted lately with all sorts of different things. I had to chase one particular rabbit down a very long and involved hole just to see where it would go, and I'm so glad that's over!

So yesterday (yes, a Sunday!) I started a new quilt. It felt so good, so right, to be working on this. It's like I really know this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

Not that I can't do other things, too.



This is the beginning of yet another scarf I'm working on. It's sooo soft!

And then there's other things that I want to do, because I'm awesome.



These are red blood cell cookies and white blood cell marshmallows with coconut. They are for a science project my daughter is doing at school today. Aren't they crazy? Aren't I awesome?


And the house is a mess and I have choir practice today and I must go grocery shopping. Mountain of dishes left over from the weekend. But this quilt is going to get made.
It's making me happy.

D.I.Y.

click on the pic to see how pretty these beads really are

OK, long story short: I needed a necklace for an outfit that consists of a white dressy tunic blouse over a floor length straight black skirt. It's for the spring concert the choir will give in May. I just bought the blouse yesterday, and wandered for hours trying to find just the perfect necklace. I want something to tie the black and white together, but pulls in lots of colors since it's a spring concert. And, besides that, I just love color as you all know.

So I looked at umpteen stores and found nothing that really did it for me. I was set to give up and go home; I was at the bus stop, actually, when I got inspired. My vision was for a necklace similar to the one pictured above, but with jewel-toned Swarovski bi-cone crystals. Ding! I left the bus stop and went immediately on foot to the bead store in Holland Village (which is where I was already).

I was surprised to find out this store has never carried Swarovski beads, but I made do with these Czech glass beads. It isn't exactly what I had envisioned, and I may still make that necklace, but I'm much happier with it than with anything else I saw.

This is the best part about knowing how to make different things. You know how they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? I've never found that to be true (except, perhaps, in the area of theology. I'll leave that to my DH) - rather being a Jane-of-all-trades can be very satisfying, and certainly costs less than buying something someone else made that you could have made yourself.

I tried the necklace on with the blouse this morning and it looks really great. Now I just need to make earrings....

Family Craft Time - Part Deux

For Christmas this year, my family bought me the materials to make this candle set.

It was a tube of lilac scented gel wax with wicks and the three jars and stand. And they also included a bag of small river rocks.

We each took a jar and put whatever we wanted in it. I contributed beads, sequins, glitter, and paint pens.


I chose a very simple, uncomplicated design. Just some square purple beads, some glass beads, some few sequins and some glitter sprinkled on top.
My husband decided to use the river rocks, some of which he painted with a silver paint pen, some sequins and some glitter on top.


Can you see the smiley face?

Here's his from the top.


Of course, my daughter really outdid us all. She added so much stuff that I was worried it was going to be, well - really busy.

 You see, I suggested before we started that we might be able to layer the "ingredients" within the gel, and so we put some gel in, added some bling, added more gel, and so on. But the gel wasn't thick enough to support the beads and sequins, so they all just piled up on the bottom.

Here's the top of her candle. As you can tell, she was having a glitter overdose.

And being the mother that I am, I figured that hers was always going to be more flashy than mine or my husband's.


But she proved that her way of doing things was really the right way! Having all that stuff in there to catch the light when the candles are lit makes her candle the most interesting, the prettiest one of the bunch.

I think it was such a nice idea for my family to get me a present for Christmas that would allow me to express my creativity - and them to express theirs right along with me. I hope they think to do this for me another time. We had fun.

Beating One's Head Against the Wall

Yesterday was a day of failed attempts. A day of not quites. One of those days where one must spend the creative energy that is building under the surface, yet every creative enterprise leaves one wanting.

So, I started the day making a batch of cookie press cookie dough. Standard Christmas cookie recipe, and it needs to be refrigerated so I thought I'd just make the dough and my daughter and I would cook them later. So far, so good.

Then I decided to make a cookie from Gourmet's site. They have the most popular cookie for every year since 1940, and there were some that looked interesting, so I wanted to try. The cookie of choice was the Cranberry Pistachio Icebox Cookies. Here's their picture.


I think you can see why I wanted to make them.

Here's what mine looked like:



Ahem. Not quite.
Well, the recipe has to be chilled for 2 hours, so I spent lots of time goofing around with them, and then I wasn't happy with the result.
Why wasn't I happy? Well, the dough is so crumbly, and you have to chill it and then slice it, but those are whole pistachios and cranberries in the dough. Not very easy to slice with crunchy, chewing stuff in there. So it was a total mess. Those two cookies up there are probably the only ones that looked like that. The rest are not very pretty at all.
I realized, too late, that the problem was that I substituted shortening for the butter. I also substitued equal for the sugar, but I don't think that made the dough much different.

Moving on...

While the cookies were baking, I attempted a paper craft.
I have this picture on my desktop currently:


And I've been looking at these star lanterns thinking I could probably figure out how to make one. I had a failed attempt two days ago that left me better educated and more determined. Then I found a pattern online, and after running out and buying more red paper, I made a template and tried again.


Sure, it looks pretty good here. But it's not.


It's in the gluing of this last spoke that things are coming apart at the seams. Literally, I have a tear somewhere in there.


And then there's this little bubble.

Sheesh! Can't I have one thing I attempt work out?

So, by now it's nearing 3:00. I haven't showered yet, let alone brushed my teeth. So I took a break from the creative stuff and when I came back, I decided dinner was going to be the thing that worked out.



Ratatouille's Ratatouille worked out just wonderfully, even though I cheated on the recipe. Instead of all the rigamarole with the tomato sauce, I just used some traditional Prego with some red wine and balsamic vinegar added.



And it was delish.

Phew!

Ugly Christmas Lights

I was surfing around on the web this morning, trying to find a nice picture of a house decorated with Christmas lights to put on my desktop for the holidays, when I happened on this site. Well, an hour and several LOLs later, I finally had to do something else. Enjoy!

Progress is Slow

I've been beating my head up against the wall on this latest quilt. But that's ok, it turns out. It just means that I am breaking through - or trying to break through to a different level in my art.

So, I took my sister's advice and just starting making motifs in my chosen color scheme, and building the quilt on the pin up wall. Seems like every day I make a few motifs, place them up on the wall, and then I feel overwhelmed and have to go away until the next day. So, yeah. Progress is slow, but I'm gonna keep plugging away.

Here are some photos showing my progress:





This last photo has a lot of white space, I know. I will fill it in later with different little things. That is, if I decide to leave it this way.

In order to feel some sense of accomplishment, I have also been cooking a lot. I made a caramel apple pie the other day. It was delicious!



For the first time, I made the pie crust in my Cuisinart. It was so easy that way, I can't believe I never tried that before. If you haven't done that before, go to Crisco's website; they have a short video and everything. Easy as pie. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Then I just sprinkled the apples with cinnamon sugar. I didn't want too many flavors since I was using caramel. And the apples were very tart and a little dry.

For the topping, I had about 18 caramels which I melted in a small sauce pan with a little water. Then I stirred the caramel into chopped peanuts and oatmeal. Working quickly, I spread that concoction over the top of the pie. Quickly because once it cools, it ain't going nowhere.

Then I covered the pie with foil and baked it for a half hour at some temperature. I don't remember what it was. I took the pie out and poked at the apples to see how done they were. They were quite soft, but really still dry, even though I put several dabs of butter on them before putting the caramel topping on. So, I got the caramel topping for ice cream out of my fridge and squirted a bunch of that on the pie, covered it and let it cook another 15 minutes. It smelled so good!

Afterward, when I'd had a taste, I decided I wasn't getting enough of that caramel and peanut flavor that I wanted. It tasted a lot like oatmeal. So I think I will do it differently next time. But it still got gobbled up by my family. Yum!

Over Thinking It

You know how, when you look at a word too long, 

for example,

the word AQUEDUCT, 

it begins to look like you've misspelled it?

I had a similar experience recently. 

After the last quilt, I knew I wanted to continue working in this series, but the ideas weren't quite crystallizing in my mind. So, I set down to do some sketching.

I really liked the idea of these eggs or bubbles or whatever, the motif, overlapping. But then what? I continued drawing, but it wasn't coming together. So I tried again.




Nope, that's not it, either.
Naturally, I'm skimming through all my art quilt books to try and get ideas. And I'm being bombarded with ideas for layouts and color schemes and it's kinda confusing me. So I press on.




And now making these sketches is becoming a bit tedious because of all the detail I'm tempted to include. So I leave the detail out and go for a sort of shorthand, and even that is not making me happy. I'm beginning to get a little panicky. I don't feel like making any of these sketches into quilts would be fun or would be worth the effort.

Keep trying, I tell myself.




Now the big doubts are starting to surface. Why did I think I could be an artist? And other mental junk like that. I ignore it. Mostly.

In desperation, I sent all of these sketches to my sister.

Her advice?

It's only fabric. Start playing around and see what you come up with.

Playing around.

Playing.

Around.

Why do I insist on thinking that making great art is going to mean grueling, frustrating work? 

Well...I'll be in my studio. You know what I'm doing. I'm having fun.

The Next Bit

Well, after I finished the first section, I felt that the second section needed a difference more than just scale. Too much of the same color scheme in a quilt bores me, I guess. So I decided to make it more about pink and green, with a little yellow.

I was really stymied over the weekend trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I discussed the options with my sister, and she reminded me, "it's only fabric." I'm so glad to have that reminder sometimes. So I went ahead and made this next bit, and it just came together like pie.

When Timothy Botts was here last year, I bought a print from him that says:

"The freedom to fail is the essence of creativity (just as the prevention of failure is the essence of conservatism). The creative act must be uninhibited and marked by supreme confidence. There can be no fear of failure. Nothing inhibits so fiercely, or shrinks a vision so drastically, or pulls a dream to earth so swiftly as fear of failure. Albert J Sullivan"

For me, there has to be an element of play in creativity. That means, also, no fear of failure. Just do it, maybe it wont work, but that's no reason not to try.



And so, I move onto the next part of the quilt, and I intend to have fun!

Not A Sketch

My daughter was doing some watercolor paintings yesterday while I worked on the quilt. For her last painting, she used a straw and blew blobs of paint around on the paper. It got me thinking about doing that with ink, a project I did in high school. One inspiration led to another, and I wound up with this:



I stopped coloring on it because I didn't want to anymore, not because I felt like it was finished. But it was fun. I was doing the coloring after the ink had dried, after dinner, actually, and my husband and daughter kept seeing things in the blobs and in the spaces between the blobs.



And we are now into the yellows. Almost done, actually. I'm liking it!

Close Value

As I begin laying the background down under my hand, I am feeling that the colors are too close in value. Does this stop me? No.

There are many things I can do to fix this: I can rip out the background and use different valued colors, which I do not own, so that isn't really an option.

I could use a bleach pen and draw lines on the background pieces, thus reducing their value. I haven't ruled this out, altho it's risky: I've never tried this before.

Or I could try to lighten the background with the color thread I use to quilt it. I would have to quilt a lot to make the background seem lighter. That's ok with me; it seems like I'm into a lot of quilting these days.


But as I add more pieces to the background, I'm feeling like the best course is to just wait and see what happens. I may wind up with a different solution altogether.

Isn't being creative fun?