revealed

revealed, originally uploaded by jckirner.

The green didn't take over everything!

I am most surprised and pleased.

Potential

Potential, originally uploaded by jckirner.

Looking at the back, the splotchiness had me thinking the whole piece had been overwhelmed by the green mixture. (two shades - one bluey-green, one muddy yellow green)

And impatiently scraping away a bit on the top reveals potentially interesting bits!

Phewph.

Panic subsides.

And the Spring Breaker sleeps still...

The problem with impatience

Now, I've muddled through some days of nurse-care with multiple family members coming down with dreaded lurgies and then repeat dreaded lurgies. And that's all pretty boring stuff.

And then packed and accompanied ten girl scouts on a camping trip - and partially unpacked.

Yet, it consumes mental space, and at some point the need to create on a personal level surges forward, no doubt inspired by too much gloomy wish-I-was-doing-that blog browsing. Not that I haven't been doing creative - with the weather settling down into wonderful Spring-i-ness the front garden area has been revamped and refreshed.

Yesterday, in recognition of the passing of time and having got enough of the Shoulds out of the way, inspired to battle on with something after viewing this

I plucked the above painted/stamped fabric out of the cupboard and started to try out the flour paste resist overdye technique.
Did I reread any instructions from blogs or that Quilting Arts article from awhile ago?
Uh..nope.
Did I wait for daylight to pick overpaint color?
Uh...nope.
So I sit with this drying on the patio...

Quite interesting in and of itself.
But the color choice??
Feels horrendous!!

Impatience - when will I ever learn???

Yes! Creative Content

a coarse roof, originally uploaded by jckirner.

OOoooffff - managed to get myself creating this morning.

A fused fabric collage used to practice free motion stitching, (yep - went for all the most obvious sea/water related icons) chopped into 4"x6" postcards

 then seamed into a tripod.

Leftovers were patchworked together with random zigzag stitching.

A coarse roof perhaps? All very tent-like.

(There's a Girl Scout camping trip coming up.)

Impulses - and spoke too soon

(Last nights sunset)

(Reflected on the work van)

Being the type to gaze too long at very many blogs (it's far better than TV!!) I have found myself impulsively wanting to create one of everything. Just recently it was Jude's quilt here and Melody's quilt here. Or getting lost in the inspiration from Alexandra's set here from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, then there's always Beate's creations here. I could go on and on...

This does, of course, lead to too much spending and not enough doing. And since I've vowed this year to concentrate on doing and completion I've had to quell those impulses for making-what-others-have-made.

I'm getting a feeling for continuing work on this, now that I've procured a background fabric.

And speaking too soon, perhaps, in my last post - those local germs have reared up again, this time in the junior sewist - under the weather for the weekend and today. Will they ever be gone? (Again I head to the Cold-Eeze and Airborne to fend off any germs heading my way)

The dreaded lurgies and a trip away

It was our turn, I suppose, to host the local batch of germs. Enough, even, to get hubby to go to the doctor and MISS WORK. (both events are a shocker in themselves). We are happy for recovery at last.

A weekend visit, then, to my Mum's in Melbourne (Florida, that is, not Australia - tho' that'd be a welcome trip too!). Chilly weather for thrifty browsing and bookshopping.

Chatting by the (faux) fire in the living room while watching

  and ,

Mum shared her frustration with her declining sewing skills. Neuropathy in her hands, an after effect of chemotherapy, makes hand stitching uncomfortable. Her dressmaking training back in the UK demanded perfection and she is dissatisfied now with her results in piecing quilts or hand quilting.

So I shared with her Gwen Marston's book

.

 AH! She is excited now to proceed and not worry about perfect 1/4" seams and matching points and straight lines. She has been given permission to be imperfect ;-)

The emerging junior sewist was surprised with a package in the mail from her Grandma (above) and has shared her new passion with her friends - giving them lessons, yesterday, in sewing on the machine.

And me? Domestic stitching (more oven mitts for gifts). And setting up swaps for Girl Scouts. I'm creatively frozen.