Thursday, July 24, 2014

Creative Blocks


“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” 
 Maya Angelou


This month I had the opportunity to speak at the Westside Modern Quilt Club, a group of quilters who meet at the Pine Needle quilt shop in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The theme of my presentation centered on design and creative process. I spoke about inspiration and how I came up with ideas for quilts and quilt blocks. As I was speaking I passed around a basket of white charm squares and asked folks to write me a message. I suggested it could be a thought about sewing or a statement about inspiration or they could just simply sign their name or draw me a picture.

My plan was to take their creative thoughts and create a series of 'creative blocks!' A few quilters I know have been building versions of friendship quilts: asking for signatures or quotes on small blocks to assemble into a larger piece. I was inspired to make one of my own! I took the blocks from the presentation and added "stitch and flip triangles" on the corners with scraps from my Color Carnival quilt. I first learned this technique from Katy Pederson aka Sew Katy Did.



Going through a creative block can be real and frustrating experience. As a professional artist and designer I have learned techniques to power through those blank moments in order to finish jobs, meet deadlines and still do my best work. Creative blocks are a real thing, no doubt about that. From now on I am on a mission to collect them -- or at least this version of them! 



Thanks Westside Modern for inspiring this fun idea! And thank you to Generation Q Magazine for donating issues for everyone who came to the meeting. That was incredibly generous and folks were super excited about it!

Have machine, will travel.
Michelle

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Color Carnival Row-Along Rows 1-3

I am so excited to have my Color Carnival quilt featured in Generation Q Magazine this month! I put together my favorite piecing techniques, gave them each a little twist and named them after my favorite carnival rides. 
The GenQ quilt-holding team: me, ScottTracy and Bev.

Each week in July the instructions for the next row will be revealed. I arranged the rows in color order which was inspired by Marie from Cool Cottons. All of the blocks were made with Dear STELLA Confetti Dots. I twisted the arm of the uber talented Rachel aka 2nd Ave. Studios to work her magic and quilt it. Do I feel lucky? Why yes I do!

Here are the instructions first three rows:

Row 1: Tilt-a-Whirl
Row 2: Log Ride
Row 3: The Scrambler

GenQ cover pup! (Thanks Tfairy for the great photo!)
How about that cute dog on the cover! That is Ryder - my 5 year old yellow lab. We adopted him after he was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes (Type 1) at 3 months old. Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease and unlike type 2 diabetes there is no cure. Ryder is insulin dependent and gets multiple daily injections. To be honest, raising a puppy was much harder than managing his diabetes! He is a great guy and I am thrilled that he is the July cover model!

Stay tuned for the next rows and a give-away!

Have Machine, Will Travel -
Michelle