Week in Review 2016 - 04/29

Isn't this fun? I discovered
a collection of apps that
create all kinds of surreal
effects. 

I just have the bottom
6" and top 3" of Sunrise
Abstraction left to quilt.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Serene - that is precisely how I felt yesterday while quilting Sunrise Abstraction. How I wish I could wave a magic wand and tap into serenity at will. It is so easy to get caught up in the demands of daily life. The to do list is invariably longer than the done list. It feels like such a luxury to sit down and spend hours free motion quilting. What made yesterday different? It may have been because the motif is second nature for me to quilt. It certainly helped that I had zero thread issues. It didn't hurt that this was the second week of no traveling. It always takes me a while to get back in the groove. When I do - serenity...

I wasn't so mellow that I got nothing accomplished. Here is how the week went:

Close-up of the free motion quilting done this week
on Sunrise Abstraction. This is what had me
feeling so serene.

1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Create and attach the label either when needed or when I have a second label to print at the same time. - I printed the label, finally!

2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction - Done!

I managed to quilt around 60% of the quilt in just two studio days. I have approximately one more studio day to go and the quilting will be done.

3) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

Remember last week's
daffodil images. Here
is the same photo, but this
time manipulated through
Drawing Pad.

My work on Sunrise Abstraction is doing double duty here.

4) Do some surface design work - Done!


Lesson 3 of Art on the iPad had me exploring several more apps. This week the apps focused on drawing. 

5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

I never did learn how to do cartwheels or headstands as a child. I'm not sure why these were so difficult for me. I do hate the blood rush when I am upside down. This past Tuesday there was only me and one other student in Yoga. She is 36 to my one week from turning 63. She wanted to work on headstands using the wall for support. I just wanted to cry or least do my own thing when the teacher went with this suggestion. Instead I tried. I didn't manage a full headstand but I did, very briefly, get two feet on the wall above my waist with my head resting between my forearms on my mat. 

Another drawing app experiment. This was super
easy and fun to do.

I'm looking forward to next week. I love all aspects of quilting. Still there is something exciting about squaring up a quilt. This is when the piece truly comes alive for me. I should be at that point with Sunrise Abstraction next week. So, that is one thing I'll be working on. Here is the rest of the plan:


1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Attach the label 

2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction

3) Free motion quilting practice

4) Do some surface design work


5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open



I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.

Week in Review 2016 - 04/22

Spring finally came to
Appleton, WI, my home
town. Maybe that is why
I've been a tad distracted.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques

I've returned to working on Sunrise
Abstraction. 

So many apps, so little time. The second week of Art on the iPad has me making art, or at least starting with a photo and manipulating it through various apps to transform it. I feel like one of my grandsons (ages 5, 7 and 8) let loose in a children's museum. They are at an age when they dash from station to station, pressing buttons, twirling handles, competing with themselves and each other to see who can get their whirligig made from a cone shaped paper cup to fly the highest in an air current. I'm dashing from app to app with that same gleeful "what does this button do?" attitude. Focus, what is that? I'm too busy having fun. 

I came up with and
tested a free motion quilting motif
to use in the water section of
Sunrise Abstraction.

I didn't spend 100% of my week playing with apps, as you can see:

When I look at the lake in front of our home, if there
is any wind, it is broken up by choppy water. It makes
sense to use echoing undulating lines with densely
filled "pods". It nicely replicates wakes and eddies.

1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Create and attach the label either when needed or when I have a second label to print at the same time. - I didn't get to this, BUT I do have a second label to print so I'm betting this will be off my list next week.


2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction - Done!

3) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

4) Do some surface design work - Done! 


That is what all that app play was about. I'm counting it as surface design work, since the ultimate goal is to create fabric and/or blueprints for future work.

Recognize the daffodil from up above?
This is the same photo after it has
been run through the chalk scribble
feature in Imaengine, one of the
apps I've been playing with this week.

5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

One of the apps that was recommended in class just wasn't impressing me as something I could use to create fabric. Sure it was fun to go from photo of an image to a watercolor like painting of it, but so what. I tried to keep an open mind. Finally, one of the other students used it to create a background splashed/wash type effect. Now that is more my style. I see another app in my future. :) Good thing I stayed open.

I'm sure there will be more app play next week. I hope to pry myself away sufficiently to attend to the other items on my list, as well. 

1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Create and attach the label either when needed or when I have a second label to print at the same time.

2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction

3) Free motion quilting practice

4) Do some surface design work


5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open


I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.