Painting again

You know when you just feel stuck creatively?  None of my ideas seemed to stick. Nothing had enough pull to really get me going and give me momentum.  

I started drafting a pattern for a quilt which has me a bit excited but also impatient because this is a huge project that's going to take a long time. 

So this morning I headed out for a walk to the thrift store to look for something small that might inspire me.  I found this little pitcher that just looked fun enough to get me inspired to go home and pull out a blank canvas I had kicking around.  

                               

                                                       The inspiration pitcher.

I started painting a few years ago and had a good year of experimenting with acrylics before it fell by the wayside.  It felt good to pick it back up again.  Here's a little snapshot of what I'm working on.  

                               

I just want to make some fun things to put up in my studio.  So that's that.  Painting feels like a step in the right direction :)

Getting Creative Again

I have my sewing room set up again and I have found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed when I go in there.  It has been when I realize Nico is asleep asleep for his nap.  I step into the room, look around and am somehow paralyzed by the thoughts that I could do anything and my time could be up any minute...

So I am working on focusing and deep breathing because anything I get done is better than nothing.

Here's what I got up to this past week.  I'm working on this English paper piecing toy car idea. It's not where I want it but it's a start and that's what I need right now.

     

Picking up threads

You know when you finally finish a big project and you just don't really know what to do with your time.  You don't quite remember what you used to do with your time when you had time.

I've had tunnel vision for the last 2 months studying in every moment I had available while trying to balance caring for my 5 month old son. 

So this week is about decompressing, picking up some of the threads that I've left dangling in the last few days, months, years.  One of those things is this blog.  I look at the header picture and it makes me smile to think of that time.  My life was so different then than it is now.

When I took that photo I was enjoying a much needed day off from one of my first shifts of tree planting.  I was sitting on a fallen log in my little chosen camp spot that was a ways off from the shared main camp.  Just me and my tent. I brought out my wool roving and just had a relaxing time trying to put out of my mind that I was staying in the middle of no where northern Alberta doing a job that felt incredibly hard and that I was still terrible at.

I've been sketching again and making little plans while I try to figure out my next move. A quilt? Apartment art? Stuffed toys?  Another cup of tea? 

This fabric is inspiring me right now.

                  

  So we'll see where that leads....

Whipped Backstitch aka Covered Backstitch tutorial

This is one of my favorite go to stitches.  I love it because it is fast and makes a clean solid line.
Below you can find a photo step by step to execute this lovely stitch.

Start with your line of back stitches.

It should look like this.

Bring your needle up to the side and at one end of your line of backstitch.

Like this!

Now bring your around under your first backstitch (in the picture I am moving my needle point back towards where I started but it will work from either direction).  Continue this with each of your stitches until you get to the end of the row.

It should look something like this.  Now insert your needle very close to the edge of the end of you last stitch.

You now have a solid line of color and can move on to your next line of backstitch.