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Cards and remembering

Ran out of cards to send, and decided that 9 degree weather was a great time to do some collaging and sewing. I relaxed while I combined handmade paper, fused plastic bags, and scraps of hand-dyed and hand-painted fabrics left over from other projects. Even though it is snowy outside, these cards remind me of hints of spring and maybe a snowy beautiful beach.
my second favorite of the bunch – I love the purple fabric with the circles
The cards ended up in two colorways, one with neutrals and blue, and one with pops of green.

neutrals with blue – the center one in the bottom row is probably my favorite
greenish neutrals with citron





One of our neighbors passed away last week. The Muellers have lived on our street since we moved in twenty-some years ago. We would take our daughters when they were young and trek up their long driveway to trick-or-treat on Halloween (and pet their dogs). We will miss Neil; remembering and praying for Charlene as I made these cards.

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Sending love

Truly enjoyed collaging, painting, stamping, stenciling, and sewing this week. Realized yet again that if something doesn’t seem quite right, attempting to fix it is usually a good thing to do!
Here are the results from 2015.

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More valentines

My blogging has been a little slim – my favorite camera was with my daughter for a documentary photography class for a semester! Camera back, I’m trying to catch up with documenting projects and blog regularly.

For fun, I decided to try more valentines in the mode of last year. I’m enjoying the process. Not worrying too much about the final result. Here is the work in progress.

step 1: collage
step 2: add paint, stencil, stamps

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More subtle celtic crosses?

I still love to work small! I needed more cards that were “quieter” so I started with all creamy colors, but quickly graduated to this warm palette. Just love the turquoise with the golds and grays.
collage circles and falling leaves

… collage circles with sewing accents

collage circles done so far…

and a couple of cards

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avoidance or dance?

I find my artistic side balances the science side of me … except, when it doesn’t. Sometimes crafting just the perfect figure for a paper takes extensive use of the creative side of my brain and I find myself enjoying sewing as almost a meditative space.

This Saturday morning as the sun came up I was enjoying a break from scientific writing to audition thread for a quilt in the wisdom series I have been working on. The series has been giving me grief, but I decided to simply finish each of the quilts in progress without agonizing too much, and learn something from each one. These quilts will probably never make it onto a wall, but as I worked in series I found that branching out when inspired makes a more interesting series!

This quilt had a different shape, and different background, and I was ruthless in editing to get closer to what I was envisioning. I’m still not too sure about it, but enjoying the sun coming up over the snow-covered ridge while enjoying thread colors can’t be beat.

Then, mid-morning after ruthless editing of more scientific writing I put the finishing touches on these cards that make use of quilted squares from my unfinished projects box. Somehow the simple squares (the complex bits were all done already) were just what I needed after editing out 100 words from a 330 word abstract!

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memories of summer

The studio is clean, and I’ve been enjoying creative warm ups with small projects. These are the cards I finished. I can almost hear the swish of Lake Michigan and seagulls squawking “mine, mine” “mine, mine.” Unfortunately the only water in Ann Arbor this weekend was the snow, then sleet, then rain, then flooded roads, then slush…

I’m making progress on Kelsey’s 21st birthday quilt – I’m aiming for the top done in time for her half-birthday. The good news is I didn’t ruin any of the fabric she brought back from Italy and all the plus blocks are done!

 Because we didn’t have quite enough fabric, I was able to include one plus of Kelsey’s hydrangea print from her summer printing class. The big question is “Where to put the hydrangea plus?” What do you think?

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Serenity

Serenity. Elusive when aiming outside of your comfort zone.

An artist friend suggested just getting into the studio and doing something. Sew something. Sift through raw materials. Feel your fabric.

I’m trying to work BIGGER. And yet, the rhythm of larger scale is elusive.

So, for myself, just for now, I’m creating SMALLER. For fun. Just to use my hands, cut paper, maybe fabric, a word here, or there. Or entire dictionary pages.

And, its delightful. Had to share it simply because I have such a big smile on my face. And, tomorrow is soon enough to pick myself back up, and aim for BIG again.

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Tangible moments

As I’ve been cleaning the studio, I’ve been enjoying unearthing scattered remnants of creative projects: dresses, duvet covers, pillow covers, altered skirts, vintage recycled throws, and more. Tangible, visible, colorful, all bring joy to my heart.

While I love fabric, sometimes paper with the words and memories is fun too. In the midst of cleaning, I’ve been collaging and sewing paper for cards.

I find the process of cutting, pasting, cutting some more, and then combining a relaxing process. I’m always tickled when you get lively results and then sometimes the serendipitous flow of mood you weren’t quite expecting. Its hovering near zero degrees and yet my design board looks like summer on the water!

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Graffiti into thankfulness

As I created cards from graffiti cloth this week, I remembered people who have encouraged me and Taylor this year, a blessing of good memories and time to be thankful.

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Joy is contagious II

Cards 3 & 4. Joy is contagious. I want to be more joyful, and these cards make me smile! Hopefully one day they will make someone else smile.