WIP Wednesday: I need 8 hands!

My day dreaming has been inspired by an array of god and goddess imagery lately, statues and bright color swirled images of six armed beauties and fearless beast riders. Which is probably why the idea of having multiple arms has never sounded so appealing as right now!

I have an enormous list of To-Do's as Spring Break has ended and my head cold has dissipated, so of course the temperatures soar into a threatening heatwave! I'll be tackling a weekend long yard sale and massive removal of all clutter in storage and elsewhere. Spring cleaning is for real this year!

In my down time between major cleaning sprees, I've been tending to my newest plants, stitching by hand and compiling my 2014 FAL Quarter 2 list.
Enjoy these visuals and I'll be back tomorrow with a list to share.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced

Happy Birthday Mammal Chupie!!

Today is my lovely littlest dogs 7th birthday! 

Happy Birthday to Mammal Chupie!

As you may have noticed, I've named my business after this amazing dog. 

At 3.4 lbs she's a powerful handful of magical energy and sheer intelligence! 

It's been a blast to be owned by her! 

We're off on a birthday trip to the pet store, her favorite!

Cheers to 7 more years!

Tidy (Tote?), Goal Lists, and Pattern Drool

Twelve years ago, my grandmothers quilt guild got together to make Tidy Tote's (seen here). Unfortunately for whatever reason, my grandma never made her's. The project got tucked into a zip lock and forever shuffled among her sewing things until I happened to unpack it the other day.

I was excited to make one, ready through the instructions, they seemed clear. Except there was one important component missing, pictures and diagrams of any kind. No image of what it was supposed to look like. I searched for some Google images and found very little(see above link), just the image from the pattern front. But I decided to go for it, with the rough idea in mind and my grandma's handy cutting list (without which, this may not have been possible).

The kit had the base, batting, pin cushion, magnet strip and tubing included. All I needed to add were two fabrics, some hot glue, and my stitching, both machine and by hand to finish it up.
Here's the result! I'm so in love with it. I finally used a half yard cut of "Lucky Girl" by Robert Kaufman that my grandmother purchased for me probably around the same time (12 years??!?!) the Tidy Tote project came into light.

Anyhow, it's always been one of those favorite fabrics that I've saved, knowing that the right use would come along some day. Well I'm so glad it has! And in the midst of making Christmas presents, it felt so relaxing to make something special for myself finally.

It's almost time for winter vacation and the end of the year is near. Goal list making is in full swing here and I have to say that I have never felt so confident before. This up coming year feels filled with promise that my dreams of quilting recognition and acknowledgement are fast approaching. I'm not going to bog down this post with my current lists, that'll be a whole post by itself. 

But I do want to share one major goal, and that's this darn blog. I love it, but it definitely doesn't show. I have been so neglectful of this vessel of global exposure. So, first goal for this blog, to finish the year with at least 12 posts, that's one for every month! (How sad :-/ )

I can do this! I fully intend on sharing the brilliant inspirations and ideas I've come up with, but for now, I'll leave you with a sneak peak. The other day, my eyes widened over this awesome quilt that can be seen on my screen below (found here), made by a talented Australian woman named Adelaide. I spent an hour redrawing and coloring the design. All half square triangles mind you. (Obviously the HST bug has not left my system).

And it led to some serious inspiration for my own HST pattern, of which I'm going to attempt to make into my very first quilt along to be host on this blog. Fingers crossed that I can pull it together by the new year! So here's a peek.

Cheers to progress!!

Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop...my stop!

Yay! We're in sunny Southern California! It's my stop on the wonderful Travelin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop! There has been so much awesome English Paper piecing that I spent days just being in awe. I really wanted to try a new E.P.P block, and had spent the first week or so gathering inspiration and pinning it here. It was really hard to choose anything.

I chose to use a picture I took during summer 2011, while in San Francisco. I really like the building color against the sky tone with the character on the building adding even more pop. I feel like the building color on the far left is a bit more greenish than blueish but I am still happy with the palette. The cropped portion of the image was just too shadowy and I didn't want any black in this project so out it went.

The next step was to draft the pieces for the pattern I finally settled on, inspiration from Flickr and also pinned to my board here.

I cut out all the pieces (25 total, not too bad) and laid them out. It's really important to be accurate in your cutting, it helps make everything fit right when you go to sew them all together.

Now for my favorite part...pulling the fabrics!

I apologize for the crappy photos here, the colors are almost true, but I had to use my phone since my regular camera was not at hand. I also put in a more green-blue to match the building than the palette suggestion of a steel blue. I was really happy with the choices I made.

It didn't take me long, in fact I did most of the pieces while watching a movie!

To speed things along, I like to pre-cut the fabric close to the size of the pieces as you can see above.

Then I just trim them down as I baste each piece. It is really important to leave more than enough extra fabric around each shape since I don't pin or tack my pieces in place before basting them. This allows for some sliding to happen but covers the corner folds each time with no worries.

And here it is, all the pieces ready to be whip stitched together. Since it is Sunday, I figured I'd enjoy the weather and sit outside to finish it up. Check back for the finished block, I think it might end up on the front of a new messenger bag!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Please check out the awesome blogger from yesterday, Catherine @ Knotted Cotton and tomorrow a post from Rachael @ Stitched In Color, with many more to follow!

This post is part of the Travelin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop.  From 1st October - 30th November we are hopping all over the world EPP-ing in some fantastic locations.  Check out the full list here and be sure to check out the other participants.

On 30th November it's over to you to link up for a chance to win these fabulous prizes! Sponsored by Paperpieces.com, FabricwormPink Castle Fabrics ,  Marmalade Fabrics, the Fat Quarter Shop, WantItNeedItQuilt, and Aurifil.

Full details for competition entry can be found here.

Goodnight September

A moon full of productivity and creativity. I'm glad September is over. I enjoy it, my birth month and school starting, but I am wishing for cooler weather to hit abruptly. I want to be cozy.
The season is being rather unruly in it's changing. As am I. But change is inevitable. No matter how much you resist.

Here's a sneak peek picture of what I spent my weekend doing. I'm not sharing it all yet because it's going to be a new tutorial! Yes, I said that. I know it's been a while.

I have some exciting news I can share though. I've signed up as a full fledged participant of the Traveling PicStitch Blog Hop hosted by the lovely Laura of Quokka Quilts and Katy of The Littlest Thistle.
You can hop along with us and an amazing list of other bloggers, it's easy.

• All you need an awesome landscape photo as a starting point of inspiration.
• Then go to a color palette generator like this one Play Craft's Palette Builder or various others on the internet and create a unique palette based off the landscape photo of your choice. (Beware, this can be addictive! )
• Armed with this new color palette, pull coordinating fabrics from your stash.
• Now pick an awesome English Paper Pieced block and stitch it up using your chosen fabrics.
• Write a post or post on Flickr with a link back to their main page on either blog.
• Link up Party on November 30th! There are amazing sponsors and prizes! Whoot!

Simple and so fun! I love a challenge and I really love the ease and mobility of doing English Paper Piecing. There's many simply tutorials on this technique that even a beginner could jump in this fun, so do it!

Here are two color palettes I generated as experiments.

A self portrait from the beginning of last fall. (I really love this palette..so much that it will most definitely become a quilt.)

Here's a nice shot I took during this year's Coachella festival.















Here are some links to more inspiration!

The Traveling PicStitch Pinterest Board
English Paper Piecing Inspiration 

I'll be sharing more information and insights on this project through out the blog hop. And it starts tomorrow at I'm A Ginger Monkey! See you there!

A new tutorial will be forthcoming this week!

A Long Step

I imagine being able to document my processes more efficiently. For personal inspiration as well as global.
All I can do is try again. It's a good thing to keep trying. I can already envision what I want. This is good.
I regard my birthday as a personal New Year. It's a good point from which to start anew in whatever direction I wish.
It's been quite a while since I put my ducks in order. Here I go, trying again.
The difference this year, I am far more content than previous years. Minor alterations can and will be made, but I am largely happy.
The reoccurring theme this year, I must work harder. Smarter. By letting go of some comforting crutches I will make this step up. I feel better when I accomplish my goals. I feel enlivened and energized by creating. I am happy to be alive. I've made one more trip round the sun with many more to come.

"It takes a long time to grow young." -Pablo Picasso

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

-Abraham Lincoln

Eclipse Favorites

Eclipse Favorites, a photo mosaic by amandamillar on Flickr.

(see Flickr upload for photo credits)

It was a wonderful day everywhere.

Machine Love

This has put a permanent smile on my face.

Thank you to my dear friends for always thinking of me when they have a vintage sewing machine to find a new home for. I am super delighted.

Happy Monday!

Sunday Inspiration

http://www.retronaut.co/2011/03/historic-wtf/

http://roachesneedlovetoo.tumblr.com/

New Year, Better Blogger.....

The start of this new year has not been as productive as I'd hoped for. I let my brain have a vacation and spent endless days dreaming of the projects I should have been working on.

Weaving Practice. "What Are You Making?" "I have no idea. Really."

It's been over a month now since I last posted here...and to think I was trying to be a better blogger three months ago. Clearly, that didn't happen. So I will try try again. Fall off horse, run after horse, jump back on horse and hold. Something like that.
It's pretty sad that I've been falling off a proverbial horse that hasn't even been in motion.

I have been working on things, new and old. It's been a good mix of chaos. I've noticed that trend in blog-landia among other quilt artists, too many starts, not enough finishes. And I came to the conclusion the other evening, that in admitting to myself that I have a problem with finishing, I could tackle it easily, better yet I wanted to tackle it. For some reason calling it out make it less scary. I love the process and am afraid that when I finish, it's over and gone. Silly, I know.

I have been compiling my usual "New Year Goal List" which I'll share here as a reminder and a source of inspiration.

• Regular & Frequent Blogging// I need to record my progress accurately as well as make better connections in the art/quilt world.
• Revamp of Process// I clearly need to work differently, like from start to finish and not have multiple projects going at once until I master this.
• Finishing of the Unfinished// My first goal of the year is to get all 14(ish) quilt projects that have been started, finished. finally.
• Better Use of Time// The more time i have, the more i slack off. That needs to change.
• Online Store Fronts// I need to treat my online shop like a brick&mortar store. My dedication to it has slacked again. Embarrassing.
• More Book Work// Though I made quite a few mini books this last year, I'd like to flesh out some of my bigger ideas (children's book), as well as a sewing/quilting book and get it pitched to the right peeps.
• First Solo Show// I've done everything but had a real Solo show of my textile art. It's about time.
• Natural Energy Development// Better eating and more exercise. I need to take care of myself better and keep the bad mood mind away. I'm afraid this includes a running routine.
• Connection// Better my connections to the things I am inspired by and love. People, places, information.
• Self Love// I need to give more of myself to myself than to others.
• Travel & Adventure// I need to see new things. Freshen up my perspectives. 
• Inspire// Nothing motivates me more than to be able to see my creativity inspire others to follow their passions.

Okay, really, this list could go on and on. But this morning, these are the points in my mind. Things I meant to share and never got around to it.

I acquired tons of new fabrics over the winter vacation, going on a chance trip to my nearest fabric mecca M & L Fabrics in Anaheim. Plus I received a Joann's gift card for Xmas from Mum and was able to score cotton batting at 50% off.

While out doing last minute Xmas shopping at a local thrift store, I came across this most awesome "Battle Star Galactica" vintage bed sheet. As soon as I saw it wadded up in a bin under a table, I knew I wanted to turn it into my first whole cloth quilt. To make it even better, when I pulled it out, it was saturated with a stomach turning stale urine aroma that took seven washes (4 being vinegar) to remove. Quite the adventure. Leave it to me to have to buy something covered in urine. But totally worth it.

I've also been slacking on my submission to The 2012 Sketchbook Project. Which must be mailed before the end of this month! Eek!

Making good progress on it though and happy to be using it as an experimental zone.

Spent a moment working on this piece as well. "Dangerous Things in Pastels" Thinking about making a series of them, snakes and guns. It warms my heart.

And I leave you today with this next image, what I wake up to, glorious sun rays highlighting the work table in the studio. And yes,  the "Worldly" quilt that I pieced about seven years ago is finally being quilted and will probably be my first 2012 finish. Fingers crossed.

Cheers to a beautiful day!
-M.

In it, like a weekend

Something about the sunsets during the turn of a season. Crisp-polaroid-nostalgic-type of feeling. Now. 

• my ring finger is cramping repeatedly
• there are 14 unfinished quilts in the studio
• recordings last night called "Tranny on a Bike"
• new zines made, workshop being taught next Art Walk 
• slow to start but running downhill

Currently these colors

found here

I have been dipping into finishing some of these neglected projects, like this one, started at least three years ago, if not longer...

can be found here

Friday Inspirations

1. beehive 7, first quarter 2011, 2. Hunting Season (bottom portion), 3. Jellyfish - Adratic Sea, 4. Amitie BOM the circle game - thinking about quilting, 5. Pickle!, 6. DSC_5889, 7. Jellyfish / Medusa, 8. Shadow Play - Brighton - Late Afternoon, 9. Amish Drag Racing in the Southwest

Evening Beauty

Found Here

Found Here

Friday Inspirations on Saturday

1. skull embroidery, 2. Skull Stitchalong, 3. secrets, 4. Elsjes deken - front, 5. swallows in the evening, 6. windmills in the polder, 7. atomic barkcloth doodle block (for cheryl), 8. {returning}, 9. Just Wing It bundle, 10. farfalle at the beach, 11. happy camping front, 12. Double disappearing nine patch, 13. All done!