Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

A place for Artistry, Crafts and Needlework; Decorating and Holidays.
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Harriet
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Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Harriet » Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:21 pm

What's doin' at your house? Are you finding time for your creative outlets? Hurry, get those dailies done and sit and create art with friends here - we enjoy your work!

The last quarter of the year lies before us. It's October, and the chance to give a holiday gift we created or hang a holiday decoration we created looms large this month!

In September:
BookSaver attended sewing group day camp. Will a gadget help hold her cutting ruler steady for cat pads to donate?
Nancy worked on puppets, dish cloths & a jeans blanket for ddog. She hopes to mail small gifts to family members.
Harriet stitched up 3 of the 12 small quilt blocks needed for a wall hanging, and enjoyed drafting patterns smaller.

Put away the self-doubt and connect with the creativity you were born with. Forget about whether anyone actually likes the work you do, the projects you make or your vision of creativity. Who cares? You're doing what you do for yourself, to satisfy that viseral creative longing you were born with.

You're a creatively independent grown-up now. Color where you want and how you want, and everybody else can kiss your patootie. So, make a plan today to grab your tools, make your art the way you want to. Own your creativity. - Mark Lipinski


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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby BookSaver » Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:14 pm

Results from sewing camp Friday & Saturday

The Good:
* Great conversations with sewing friends. It's always fun and inspiring to see their projects.
* Cut 228 cat mats so now I can pick up any number I want to sew any time I have a few minutes free. They are not needed by the animal shelter until next spring and I probably won't have time to sew them until after Christmas.
* Cut cotton print fabric for the Origami Market Bag to test that pattern as a possible gift for co-workers.

The Bad:
* Did not get anything else done. Took in my machine but did not have time to sew.
The organizer had changed the times for the event. We used to always rent the room 9AM to 9PM because there were a couple of us night owls who were willing to stay that long. This year the new organizer cut the hours to stop at 7PM on Friday and 5PM on Saturday. I needed more time, and other attendees told me they would have been glad to stay later as well. Next year I will lobby to go back to the previous times, at least on the days I attend. I'm willing to take responsibility for locking up.

Anywho ... I'm glad I went for the 2 days as I really did have fun chatting with everyone. I'm very grateful that I could use a raised table to cut those fleece cat mats!

The handle gadget for the ruler did help. It's called The Original Gypsy Gripper and I bought it with an amazon gift card.

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Nancy » Tue Oct 02, 2018 9:37 pm

Got 2 more colors of yarn it. And to. Green shades. Four more dish clothes will be next. I am doing inktober drawing challenge as well this month. Sewing camp is so tempting but I need to keep up on the house. Maybe in Dec. If we are still here. If so I will do some bags.

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Harriet » Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:42 pm

Inktober - found out just yesterday what that is, Nancy. Dd is doing it and showed me her sketches for 1 and 2. I hope you enjoy drawing a sketch a day.

Not having enough time is frustrating, BookSaver, and it was just because everyone's feelings weren't taken into account. 9 p.m. is certainly a sensible time to end something - every group who ever meet in the evening have to go well past 7 or they would never even start. I'm sorry you had such an arbitrary end to each day.

Just finished a slightly simplified Eastern Sun, also called 1904 Star, so now I have 4 blocks complete.

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby BookSaver » Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:52 am

Last night I finished knitting a hat on the XL round loom. I started this one a couple of weeks ago when my great-niece helped with a few rows. I had to pull it apart, though, because I started with only 1 strand of yarn and after a few inches I remembered/realized that 1 strand makes a pretty, lacey look but isn't very warm.

I used gray yarn and variegated purple/lilac/white. That's a nice combination.

The next hat will be just gray.

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby BookSaver » Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:09 am

Thanks, Harriet. I really felt bad for the member who could only come Saturday because she's a teacher working full time. We started cleaning up and putting away tables at 3 so we could be out of the room at 5. Once time for lunch was deducted, she only had half a day to play with her fabrics. She's one who mentioned she wished for a few more hours.

If anyone read my original post, I apologize. Yes, I came back and erased several sentences. It was too much negativity in a place that is meant for creativity. :oops: I kept the complaint about wanting more time because, really, don't we all want more time to play?

One reason why I like the round knitting loom is because it's so easy to use that I can knit while watching shows and riding in the car. That's almost like having extra minutes in the day. ;)

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Nancy » Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:15 am

I completed the last dish cloth in this batch last night! Yea for that progress. I have 2 more yarn things to make up.
I have one more tea shirt bag to put things to declutter I had made them up from hubby's work shorts they worked great this summer!

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Harriet » Fri Oct 05, 2018 11:10 am

The yarn projects sound so satisfying. Creativity that can travel along with you. My sewing doesn't lend itself to that so much. Most everything is too dependent on all the supplies at hand. For these blocks now, I do have a basket handle to applique by hand, and just a few more touches on another block that will be handwork. So I'll be thinking about whether I could do those as carry-alongs.

BookSaver, you don't have anything to apologize about. When a group decides to set aside precious time for creativity, those moments should be protected by the whole group. If anyone is doing things that spoil it, or trying to change them around, that's not acceptable. Nancy has also mentioned problems in a group before, getting off track of the happiness that was supposed to happen. It can drive people away. We are sure you are a good advocate for your group, BookSaver.

Well, I do have a fifth block made, but not as expected. :?

I was making a Double Windmill block in 5-inch size. My math was off somehow. What I got was a simple Windmill block (same as most of the Double, but too big to be turned diagonally, so it has to stay straight). I had to do some quick math as I was finishing piecing, to cut a new center square to fit the rest, and then it somehow finished off as this simpler block, and at the right size. :?: I have no idea why that happened to work, and I'm not going to try right now to figure it out or my brain will hurt.

It matches the other blocks at a nice 5.5 square. (but how?) It lies flat. So in a way it's a success, even if it is probably my least favorite block at the moment, because it's not the pattern I wanted, and also has a lack of contrast. Update - I can see that if I add triangles at the corners in a contrasting fabric it will look better, so maybe it's redeemed!

Observations about working small :
contrast between the fabrics becomes even more important.
prints need to be even smaller scale than you think, especially background.
lighting in the room where you work becomes more important. :shock: :)


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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Nancy » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:25 pm

I have given up on anticapating group metings here our group cannot get along. With my inktober I am loose with the prompts but still making progress filling the blank book with unlined pages is filling up. I have flower drawings in it as well. I am not a fan of Oct. Spooky stuff.

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Re: Art, Craft and Needlework, October 2018

Postby Harriet » Tue Oct 09, 2018 1:52 pm

Another block is sewn - a Sparkling Jewel variation. So now 6 out of 12 blocks are done. This one was more tedious than I thought it would be in the small size, and even with pins the points kept shifting in the last few seams. I had to go to the ultimate trick of hand-tacking to get the final seam right, joining the two halves. Maybe I'll try one that's a little less demanding next, to kinda "shake it off ". :)

Looming on the horizon is a promise I made ( :roll: ) to do a craft with about 15 children on Nov 10. A community thing at our church fellowship hall. One lady suggested I look up turkey crafts. Problem is, these are all ages, from those who could probably handle little scissors, for instance, to those who should not. I think I will go to the O riental T rading site like my dd38 does and see about a foam craft.


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