I’ve been sewing this week, and intend to do a bit more before July ends. Inspired by my own fabric stash, tutorials and inspiration online, the book Quilt Improv and the fabric swap I’m in of course.
I opened my plastic boxes of tiny fabric scraps and threads, and started to piece things together randomly – no plan. Just using my ground sense of colors and what goes together well. I just love colorful scraps, collected mostly from my mom or from thrifted finds over the years. Continue reading
Let’s have some cut and paste fun together, shall we?
My friend Tammy asked me to do a guest post on index cards for her annual summer challenge, ICAD: Index Card A Day last year, and then again this year! I said yes, brought out my scrap inbox of pretty papers and recorded a quick video to inspire you guys to do some cut-n-pastin’ of your own!
In the video you can watch how I pick out papers, and without any plan glue them down on the blank canvas of an index card! I go with green and pink, use some washi tape, some tissue paper and a lot of tiny pieces of left over collage material. I really like how the lines of these ordinary index cards peeks through. I think it gives this the perfect “everyday practice look”, the mundane transformed, daily life documented on a card.
Here are some details of today’s index card collage:
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I don’t like following patterns even though I sometimes do, to learn something new. I prefer to freestyle my projects. I also love inspiration as you might already know. I collect inspiration in just about any form, books included. So when I spotted the title Quilt Improv on Amazon I knew it would be a book I’d enjoy a lot. I bought it promptly, and I must say it’s a fab quilting book!
The subtitle of Lucie Summer’s book Quilt Improv is: Incredible Quilts from Everyday Inspirations. I love improvisation! I think it is what I enjoy most when I create: to have no finished plan!
Lucie Summers lives in a farmhouse surrounded by countryside in Suffolk, UK. And that’s where she finds her own everyday inspiration. Summer’s shows us how to take inspiration from simple objects to create 12 contemporary quilts. Or you can just dive into this book and “steal” inspiration from it. I love that you get to follow along in the process from inspiration photos to sketch and then see her interpretation of that inspiration as a finished very modern quilt. Her inspiration comes from what’s around her, from barn houses, windows, or pavement texture to the patterns of pretty shoe boxes on her shelf.
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If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.
Dolly Parton
Some new fabrics in my stash… The Dangers of visiting a Quilt Shop.
I think summer is perfect for sewing projects. Don’t you agree? I want to sew skirts, quilts, softies and tiny broaches that looks like flowers. I want to cut into all that pretty (newly bought and in the stash vintage) fabric and sew sew sew. You?
Tutorial for a Perfect Summer Skirt
A Photo Project often start with one simple idea that spark your interest. The idea does not have to be genius or innovative, but it has to be something that interest you enough that you want to return to it from time to time (or else it won’t become a project). Ideas that I am drawn to often involve things that makes me happy, that sings with inspiration and joy in my heart.
Like pink flowers, for example.
Variety’s the very spice of life
that give it all its flavour.
William Cowper
This time my idea/project started on instagram as I photographed a spring flower earlier this year. The flower was lush pink and it had me thinking: Maybe I should document all the pink flowers I see? I gave it a hashtag, #pinkflowermission, which has became the project name. Spring was the perfect time to start, because this summer I’ve kept my eyes open at all times to spot pink flower for my mission to document and share them on instagram!
The Pink Flower Mission is such a joy. It has made me into a #gardenstalker, leaning over fences of neighbors and strangers. But most flowers I’ve found in my parent’s wonderful garden.
I have found several favorites flowers. Maybe each new one I bend over to document becomes a favorite. Like this beauty:
The Kalmia bush in my parent’s garden. I think it’s most beautiful as a bud…
What about some paper weaving, fabric appliqué, making your own twine and then decorating some envelopes? Today’s link love will lead you to five artistic craft ideas that I think are awesome and worth your time. So remember:
Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
Mae West
My previous link love posts with other great ideas was about blogging and creativity and then journaling and writing. If you need more links to get inspired check out those too.
Now, go create something – anything!
We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don’t think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you’re hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.
Art Buchwald
Dear Photo Diary, a yellow bird lives in my window… Continue reading
We have a heat wave in Sweden. It’s + 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and more, right now, and that people is what I call a real summer! I’ve been enjoying the shade of the apple tree, camping out on a blanket with my gear. Can’t be bothered to think when I don’t have to. With me I keep my box of watercolors, my art journal – and a bottle of water (for drinking). It’s too hot to do anything much, except doodling. But I like it.
I love right now!
One of my biggest Summer Crushes has always been Coloring Fabric Outside! Using paint and dye in the grass makes cleaning up a breeze! In summer, when ever the weather is good enough to bringing tools and materials outside, I bring tools and materials outside. I love being outdoor, and when I can I bring my creativity with me…
Anything drippy and messy is always fun, but with a tiny kitchen I avoid things like spray painting and dying fabric until the Swedish summer hits. And now it’s here! So let’s go outside and be creative, messy and stock up on fabric for future projects.
The paints we used are sun colors from Finland, that are sold privately, but I think you can find similar colors on the web. Sun colors give the best results outside, because the light of the sun is what makes the stencils “print” (bleach of the color) on fabric. Let me show you!
You mix the colors with an emulsion, wet the fabric in water entirely and then apply the paint anyhow you want. Then you lay out the fabric flat on the ground, to dry, and apply anything that you think will make a print… Buttons, twigs and stones, leaves, pre-cut stencils or any pattern you can find or make up! Continue reading
Sharing two of my latest blog crushes today, and some thoughts on documenting your days, weeks and years – and life in general.
A while back I found, via the colorcolor-tag on instagram, photographer and videopgrahper Xanthe. She creates these amazing short videos about her everyday life and family. They are so wonderful, full of light and beauty and inspiration. And awesome, happy music! She calls these music videos Time Capsules – and isn’t it a beautiful name? I ♥ that! I’m calling my new video series that too, but in Swedish.
I’ve been looking through her time capsules and I can’t help but smiling. This kind of documentation project always makes me happy.
Her videos totally made me want to compile some of my personal video snippets into something grand (I made the first one filled with creativity snippets in April). I made a similar video project about happiness a few years back, but the youtube rendering/video quality on those makes them horrid to watch. Especially after watching Xanthe’s videos!
Check out my latest blog crush and watch Xanthe’s Monthly Video snippets from 2013!
Also via Instagram, I stumbled upon someone who, like me, has made a Week in the life-photo book. Her name is Suzanne O’Brien and she is a professional photographer and book designer, so she has a lot of yummy inspiration on her blog. I fell in love with her series of posts called Photo Book Friday – so many pretty books, layout ideas and photos there! I’ve been looking back through her extensive archive and again, having a real blog crush. I love her WITL-book, and feel inspired to start my second one about 2013 in fall.
If you’re into any kind of memory keeping this summer, you will find inspiration at Suzanne’s blog! For example check out the Summer Travel Documentation and her Road trip photo book. Yum!
A video documenting a small piece of your life doesn’t have to be long, perfect or elaborate.You don’t need advanced techniques either, most phones these days can record moving pictures. Just catch a few snippets of movement, and compile it into something for the future! And a photo book doesn’t have to have all your photos in it, just a book about a special day or latest trip – how awesome is that?
What will you put in your “time capsule”? And what blogs are you crushing on right now?
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