Little Buds and new books

One advantage to hurting my knee this week, I've had lot's of time for hand sewing.  I finished all the hand sewing on my little flowers.  Yesterday, I managed to sew long enough to piece it to this point.  It still has two tiny borders to go.  So, today I may tackle the thangles for the final border.  They use the smallest size of thangle which is 1/2 inch.

I may just spend the day reading instead with my knee up and resting.  It really hurt again last night after sitting at my sewing machine and walking back and forth to my ironing board.  I deliberately arranged my space so I would have to walk every time I need to iron.  Right now I am regretting that move.  I have a doctor's appointment for Monday, so we will see what happens.  I've already had cortisone shots, arthroscopy, and synvisc injections.  So, the next step is probably a new knee.  I'm pretty sure I will need to have my aneurysm patched up first though.

Anyway, I went shopping on Amazon lately with all my down time.  Here is what I bought.

"The Zentangle untangled workbook" by Kass Hall.  I thought this would be great for when I am laid up. I can draw to my hearts content.

I like to use photos as inspiration for my quilts.  I have taken classes online by both Steve and Carla Sonheim.  I liked their classes, they both work at helping you think outside the box and look at things from your own perspective.  Looking forward to getting out and about with my camera.  "Creative Photography 52 Fun Exercises for Developing Self-Expression with Your Camera" by Steve Sonheim with Carla Sonheim.

The third book was a little more personal.  The Ledges is a State Park in Iowa where my family spent a lot of time when I was young.  I discovered this book (it is fiction) based on The Ledges.  I love to read books about familiar places, or at least places I have been.  'Ledges' by Michael Frederick

I'm using my iPad to create this post, I haven't figured out how to make links with my iPad.  I would encourage you to look up Steve and Carla Sonheim, their classes are fun.

Have a Creative Day

Janet

The winner!

My husband wants me to start buying lottery tickets! I keep winning!

I left a comment on Craftside blog and won a book. I'm just thrilled for more than one reason. First, I love the book, it is Susan Stein's newest book called The Complete Photo Guide to Textile Art. If you click the book title it takes you to the Craftside post that talks about the book. (If you scroll down you will find Susan's other books) The photos in the book are phenomenal and the instructions are very clear. Detailed step-by-step instructions for more than 40 techniques with over 500 color formats. It is just inspiring to thumb through the book and drool over the photos.

Finding the Craftside blog is the second reason I am thrilled. She tells about many new books for a variety of art forms. There are videos on her blog, you can subscribe to her blog and get a newsletter in your inbox. I discovered 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun! by Carla Sonheim. I am not very confident in my drawing skills. I would like to improve and make some whole cloth quilts, that are drawn and painted by me. So, I bought this book and started a drawing journal with the 'lab' exercises in this book.


My first exercise was to quickly draw 30 cats. Next I pick a couple of favorites and expand on them by adding the medium of my choice. I think this will be fun. Here are my quickly sketched cats.

I started a journal about 15 years ago with some photos I like. I tried re-creating the photos with fabric and stitches. I only made about 10 pages before life got in the way and it fell by the wayside. I think I will continue this journal too. I may take it in a little different direction now as it was mostly handwork, it was easily portable, which I needed at that time in my life. The little stitched piece I entered in The Foot in the Door exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art was from this journal. Here are a few of my beginning pages where I was just trying to write my comments about the different landscapes.