Crafty Goodness

Lots of fun and craftiness going on around here! Daughter 2 is home for a few more days before heading to North Carolina for a summer of Pharmacology research. She and her roommates for next Fall decided to each make a framed button initial to hang in their apartment. They'd seen something similar on Etsy.

She drew the E on a piece of freezer paper, cut it out, and ironed the template on the fabric. Then she sat down with my button collection and sewed, and sewed, and sewed button after button. It took her most of the day, but was worth every single stitch!
I had finished quilting my house quilt over the weekend, so while she sewed buttons, I hand stitched the binding and sleeve, finally finishing last night. Yay!
I did simple vertical line quilting.
Do you remember this project? I was working on this applique portrait of Mickey last year. My heart wasn't in it and I put it aside.

Last Fall at Houston, I joined SAQA. So now I receive the SAQA Journal. I read through my latest issue and was very inspired.

First there was an article entitled, "Keeping Your Work Fresh," by Ann Brauer. This really spoke to me. It talked about stretching yourself, letting your work say new things. It reminds me of something I heard Margaret Miller say: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."

There was an article about Eric Maisel (written by Elaine Quehl), a creativity coach. It was all about getting through creative blocks, and tending to our art BEFORE anything else. Oh my, I'm bad at that! I need to give my art a higher priority.

And then there was an article on Raw Edge Collage by Ellen Lindner. Hmmm. Maybe this would be the way to stretch myself!

So I have a plan. I'm still going to do a portrait of Mickey. BUT, I'm going to start over. I'm going to try the raw edge collage technique. I can't wait to get started!!!