while the cat's away ...

Nitro's out of town, so I have the house to myself this week. It's also raining (!) so I am somewhat stuck indoors. I had visions of all sorts of spare time in the evenings where I'd be a whirlwind of creativity and then be a cleaning dervish as well! No such luck on either count.
The "real" workload has been really intense, leaving me pretty well burnt out by the end of the day, and no time for the rejuvenating workouts that usually kick my creative drive into gear.
The original plan was to spend some time on my painting. I got a book from the library called Microcosmos that I'd hoped to paint an interpretation of one of the pages onto my big 5' canvas (used to be the 'mares' painting but the mares are long gone and now have been through several phases of birds and then a swamp, and now just swirly doodles). But I haven't gotten into it. I just can't.
But then yesterday I had to start pawing through my fabric in order to finish up a project that I've been working on for belly dancing -- I had only a small scrap of my harem pant fabric left to make a vest out of, but not quite enough, so I was looking for another coordinating fabric that would complete the vest. Sure enough I found, a dusty rose colored silk that I'd been hanging onto for a long, long time, that came from great grandma's, I believe. But I also found lots of goofy little scraps. Some no bigger than my hand, some only a few inches wide but several yards long. Totally worthless for making anything out of, so why am I saving? That's when I decided I'll try my hand at a quilt.


This is something I've always wanted to do, but I lack the dedication. The stick-to-it-ness. Also, I know for a fact that as soon as this project gets put away (which it will need to do, since it's set up on the dining table and eventually I'll have to eat), I'll forget about it and it will never be finished. But, I really do want to try to make something beautiful with all these pretty little scraps. And so, inspired by the book Quilter's Playtime I've decided to just start sewing. Nothing quite as "planned" or organized and definitely not well-done, because I have no idea how to do this, but at least I'm getting started, and trying to figure out how to make these things come together.

At first I thought I'd create one big radiating "sun" of fabric strips, but then after playing around I decided that I'd need several big suns, and then come up with pieces that fit into the gaps. So, I've got one sun started, and another coming along.
Looking through that book, though, has me really wishing I understood how to make some of the gorgeous patterns, how to sew the pieces together so they lay flat and smooth. I really want to get together with my amazing friend Luna Sea who is not only an incredible artist, but has made some of the most beautiful, creative quilts I've ever seen. I'd really like to spend a day working with her to learn from her. Plus, she's just nice to be around. :)