The quiet formlessness of Sundays often inspires me to a tender and soulful place. I was telling my kids that last night, after yet another of our many sessions of watching Shark Tank as a family together, I emailed their casting team and applied to be on it. As I told them I laughed and said, yes, of course the odds are very slim. But, no matter. And then I explained to them why:
Time for a blog party to celebrate my new DVD with Interweave, Art Techniques for Quilt Design! woot woot! No matter what we do as creative people, we all need some reminders, tips and techniques to help us enhance our work and design process whether for quilting, sewing or any other form of art expression. My DVD is full of wonderful things I learned in art school and over the course of my life as an artist and painter. These little things can make a big difference in your designs.
I put a governor on my woo woo here. Seriously. I do. You know, like how some U-haul trucks have a built-in governor on the motor so we can only go a certain speed and no faster? They do that for our protection. They know we don’t know how to drive that big rented truck anyway and we’d be a liability if we could go as fast as we wanted on the most stressful day of our year–what with all of our belongings in the rear…on moving day…and we’ve gotta get that truck back by a certain time or we’ll get charged.
The twelve of you who actually read my blog definitely know that I LOVE COLOR. I am excited to be teaching two classes at the first-ever all-day online sewing conference on November 8th called The Sewing Party! See the event here and be one of thousands to sign up for lots of classes. A whole day of learning costs just $40 (and you have access to the classes for quite a while afterwards). One of my classes is about understanding color and the other is a walk through my upcoming book, The Little Spark–30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity (which you can preorder now and there is even a LOOK INSIDE peek over on Amazon here). Read about both of my classes here and sign up
Karen LePage is a wise, soulful friend and I cherish her. She’s the one I hang out with after a long day at Quilt Market, eating ice cream by the fire pit with our shoes off.
She is a shoes-off type of a person. I feel really good around her beaming, grounded energy. And she is a super talented seamstress. Is that OK to say? Is that a bad word now, like waitress? Should I call her a stitch server? How about Sewing Ninja Princess or Awesomeness? She’s more like a magician than anything– turning ordinary quilting cotton into this smooth, drapey substance that looks like high fashion couture.
The lookbook is here…the lookbook is here! Gawd, I hate waiting to share my creations with the world for months on end…but the wait is over. Woot!
This week marks the beginning of our blog party to celebrate all the amazingly talented designer friends who, in lightning speed, whipped out samples with my newest fabric, PAINT, for Windham Fabrics. I am so excited to share the line with the world. Over the next week, I will share all the fab projects and give you some of the back story about how my second fabric collection came into being. The whole line is about what my brand is all about and even my tagline: Celebrate Your Inner Artist!™
In the meantime, click here to go see the lookbook–the virtual online catalog of PAINT! Stay tuned this week for lots of fun and fabric and book giveaways. Follow along on Facebook here and Instagram here. I just love a good party. 🙂
It is with so much joy and excitement that I offer you up a little sneak peek of my new collection, PAINT, for Windham Fabrics!!!! Your inner artist will be delighted by new line. Stay tuned for more next month…so much more! In stores in July…
Day 7 of my Creativity Challenge! All day, whether you are writing or drawing, USE YOUR LEFT HAND (or your non-dominant hand). This exercise challenges you to bypass your hard-wired default mode…which in turn opens up space for new possibilities, hence CREATIVITY! Creative thinking and doing can be born from breaking our own scripts and patterns so we can see the world in a slightly new or different way.
Today is day 6 of my Creativity Challenge and today we are going to draw BIG! Grab some chalk and draw something bigger than you–on your driveway, patio…anywhere. You might use small repeated forms to make something huge–move your body as you work. Don’t think just doodle. Be free as you work. Be present with the drawing…let it draw you.