The Orange Effect

"Orange is very blatant and vulgar. It makes you immediately start having feelings." -Wolf Kahn

Newest Mod Square Quilt:


Psychological Effect: Orange has been shown to have only positive affects on your emotional state. The color orange relieves negative feelings such as self-pity, lack of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive. Orange uplifts your emotions and is a terrific antidepressant.


Physiological Effect: Orange has been shown to have a positive effect on one's libido and can be beneficial to the digestive system as well as strengthen the immune system.

I love the color Orange!

Avocado Green and Harvest Gold

Funny how something that once looked fresh and modern, then oh so dated and old, can in time start to look fresh and modern again.


Such is the case with that great retro color combination of avocado green and harvest gold from the 1960's and '70's! I'm sure I'm not the only ones with fond memories of growing up with this color scheme. As a kid in the 1970's, the appliances in our house were indeed avocado green, and the wall to wall carpet was harvest gold!


So if your craving some retro color love, my newest Mod Square Functional Art Quilt in Avocado and Gold is now available in my Silly Boodilly shop. And below for your viewing pleasure are some wonderful avocado and gold retro kitchen images!








You can see more of these great retro images at Retro Renovation.

Drive by Inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere, and happily quilt ideas pop into my head like Jiffy Pop popcorn over a campfire.


This modern studio art quilt was inspired by the colors of yellow taxis cabs, school buses, roads and road signs, thus the name, "Drive".


I love the minimalist modern design and bright colors of this quilt. Makes me happy!


Drive measures 20" x 24" and is available in my Silly BooDilly Etsy shop.

I also would like to thank everyone who left a comment on my Wonky Star Tutorial, for the Bushfire Quilt Project. I am delighted that it was of help! I've put a link up to access it over on the side.

Have a delightful weekend everyone! xo

Spring Quilt... Two Stitches Forward, One Stitch Back

If this quilt had been a baby, it would have been born breech, because it was a difficult quilt to birth.


Don't ask me why, as I have no idea. The piecing was a simple piece of cake, and the quilting should have been as well, but for every two stitches I took, another one had to be ripped out.


If it could go wrong it did. Broken threads, mysteriously faulty tensions, me getting off track from spacing out, (or more like glazing over in pure fatigue).


It was a true exercise in going with the flow, and keeping my sense of humor, (which at times I didn't do so well with. Good thing it's winter and the windows are closed, otherwise the neighborhood kiddies riding their tricycles outside may have been somewhat traumatized by hearing the slew of profanity flying from my mouth.) Maybe it was just the universe's way of reminding me that as much as I might wish it to be spring, it's the dead of winter and I better just except that!


But seeing as this quilt is suppose to be a celebration of spring, I tried to quilt it as such. Stitching horizontal points above to represent blades of grass, and straight rows below to represent the farmer plowing the field behind our house.


The majority of the quilt is stitched all over in my new favorite wavy stitch to represent the fluttery path of butterflies, and new growth emerging from the awakening garden beds.


Remember the piece of yellow from my previous post, that I had hacked off the front when piecing the top? Well, waste not, want not. It survived and was added to the back of the quilt!


I am happy to say the pain and frustration was all worth it in the end as I am very pleased with the final outcome, (but I am keeping my fingers crossed the next project goes more smoothly!)

Spring Quilt is currently available in my Silly BooDilly shop.

Winter Quilt

I had planned to be a sewing whiz this weekend, completing all of my unfinished quilts. Great plan but I got side tracked a bit when I slightly threw my back out, (from lifting up Molasses)... she may be short in height, but she is long in body... and 45 pounds of wiggly Molasses may be good for my soul but not for my back. All I can say is thank goodness for heating pads, pain killers and Mo's sweet face!


I was determined to get something done though and did finish this quilt. It looks very nice against the bare robin's egg blue walls of our dining room, which need a little something, so I plan on hanging it there. I especially like the big F & M , (do you see it?) on one of the feedsack strips. Hubby and I got married in the F & M College chapel, so the quilt has a bit of personal symbolism in it, which makes me happy!


The colors in the quilt remind me of winter, so that's what I am calling it.


Here's the back side. You can better see the various quilting stitches I used all over the piece... zig-zags, wiggles and straight stitches. (Wiggles... now there's a very technical term!) xo

Shades of Pink and Coral

This is my latest piece.
I find it very calming and decided to call it "Early Sunday Morning".
Sunday mornings around my home are generally very low key and easy going. Early in the morning there's a feeling of tranquility which even seems to translate into the light that shines in through the windows. I get the same feeling from these gentle shades of coral and pink.


I love how the quilting turned out. It was one of those splendid accidents. I had just oiled my machine and was sewing a piece of scrap fabric through, something I always do after an oiling... it helps to get all of the oil distributed... and my hand accidently hit on a stitch that I never use, and as I moved my hand away I wound up accidently swiping the stitch length control. Because I was just doing maintenance, I went ahead and started stitching on the scrap fabric... And to my delight I loved what I saw being stitched! Amazing what a little adjustment in stitch length and width can do. Note to self: Explore more stitches and variations of the stitches on sewing machine.


I am putting this one in my functional art quilts category, because I think it works equally well on the wall and on the table.


Early Sunday Morning-Modern Functional Art Quilt measures 23.5" x 36.5" and is available in my
Silly BooDilly shop.

Note: This quilt has been sold.

Goals for The New Year and Study in Blues and Red - Utilitarian Inspired Modern Art Quilt

Yay! Over the holidays I did find time to finished the quilting and binding on the quilt from this previous post.



I've named her "Study in Blues and Red".





Back...

This utilitarian inspired modern art quilt is available in my shop for anyone interested!

(For better viewing click on the pics!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been thinking, as many of you have, what my goals for this New Year will be. I narrowed my focus to three things, which I hope to apply to all areas of my life:

Explore More
Fear Less
Simplify

Keeping these goals in mind I am hoping to apply them to my quilting by...

~ Exploring more with color interaction, construction and quilted stitch.

~ Not being afraid of what people will think, or fearing whether or not the finished work will be liked and accepted. (This is a hard one because obviously one always hopes that ones work will be liked and accepted, but thinking about it can also be a real roadblock to creative exploration.)

~ Simplifying the creative process by not over thinking everything, and allowing things to come together in a more random way.

I hope to be creating and posting lots of new work throughout this year, (I have some more pieces already finished and waiting patiently in line to be photographed) and am looking forward to discovering what I learn and where it takes me!

New Years and new beginnings are so exciting, don't you agree?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS. Don't forget to help save Handmade for our Children! Check out my last post for more information, or click on the Handmade Toy Allowance link on the right.