Oh Joy!
Oh Joy, oh rapture! Wherever am I going with a lead like that? Well, I struggle to focus on the positive in my off blog life. The reality is blog posts are curated. I may share a hurdle, but invariably temper that with the solution I came up with. This week, despite some rough patches I truly leaned into the joy. What made the difference. Well for one thing it snowed.
How can you not be joyful when this is the view from my studio all week long. It is one of the reasons why January is my favorite creative month. I can hunker down and sew.
Project Quilting
Every other Sunday, through six Sundays, Project Quilting provides a prompt for anyone to use. The idea is that you will use that prompt to make something and post the completed item on their site within seven days of the prompt. The last thing I need is a detour to take me away from my must do sewing projects. However, when the prompt and a project align, now that is joy.
So it was this week when the prompt was “ombre”. I love ombre fabric. I even have some I could use. Instead I remembered that I could create a gradient palette in EQ8. This is an amazing feature that lets you choose the first and last color and it produces the logical gradients between. In less than a minute I had an ombre sky.
I need to make 4 8″H x 8″W x 1.5″D wrapped canvas pieces for my solo exhibition in March and April. The exhibition is titled In Full Bloom and features many similar pieces. Each starts with an attic window block and includes a vase of flowers to unify the collection.
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Yes, I managed to sneak in some work on Broken Hearted, my 2025 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, yesterday afternoon. One thing that brings me joy with this project, is despite the gloomy title, the colors are uplifting. This is a great reminder that when things are tough there is always joy to be found. Great news, all my pink blocks are officially pieced and there is still one more week before the next color is announced. I wonder what it will be.
What brought you joy this week?
I’m linking up to the following posts:
What a beautiful little ombre piece!
Thank you, Margaret. The attic window series is my equivalent of your birches. They are the best sellers at my open studio. In order to keep myself interested I tweak the shape of the vase, the bouquet, the sky… Therefore everyone is an original.
Oh Joy!!! I love that – I have been reading a lot lately on how our mind can effect our attitudes, and even our health – so I am with you !! Oh joy!!
Love your Ombre – that is fantastic – and I am so impressed that you can come up with an idea and execute it so wonderfully!! Enjoy the RSC blocks!
I’ve been writing daily morning pages/gratitude journal for close to 30 years. It is a great way to start the day, reminding myself of all I have to be grateful for. Sets the tone for the day.
I wish I could have blended the ombre more. Still, I was happy enough with how it came out. Does look good surrounded by the other fabrics.
So happy my title resonated with you.
your piece is so well done! soft and fits the prompt good work
I channeled my inner LeeAnna. I let the fabric do the work. As I said, love it when I can combine a prompt and project that needs doing.
Working on the Project Quilting prompt also brought me a lot of joy this week. I love that you were able to combine several challenges into your Morning Has Broken artwork. Lovely!
Great prompt, wasn’t it Yvonne. Who doesn’t love ombre. There were already some great links on the Project Quilting site before I added mine. Love you piece with its Modern aesthetic.
What a beautiful blooming mini, Gwyned!!! Love the ombre addition, too!
Sometimes prompts are just what is needed to jump start a the quilt. I’m pleased you enjoyed the ombre sky.
Beautiful ombre quilt, and RSC blocks.
Thank you, Danica. Thank you for the thumbs up.
The new flowers and window little quilt is gorgeous. What a beautiful sky! Broken Hearts looks great, it’s fun to see all the pink blocks together. Love the view from your studio too!
Thank you for sharing and linking up today.
You are the best Frédérique. You always have something to positive to say about each project I share in my posts.
That lovely view of snow would be enough to keep anyone safely sewing in the warmth of inside. What a beautiful ombre sky, the blues are perfectly graduated.
Quite different from where you live, Angela. I love it when we are treated with snow. Seems that ombre sky makes for a nice transition to the color for February. Did you read my mind? Thanks for sharing the color early.
That’s a beautiful view out your window, Gwyned! I love how it inspired your ombre piece. At 8 x 8, those must be some small pieces! Love those pretty pinks in your Broken Hearts blocks, too.
Yes, I am very fortunate to have such a view out the window across from my studio. The studio is loft style overlooking the two story front entrance. During the summer there are blooming shrubs. No matter the season there are birds flying in, out and about. Constant inspiration.
Actually the 8″ x 8″ is much bigger than I normally work. The bouquet is made broderie perse style. I already had floral fabric with fusible attached. Just needed to select flowers and arrange them.
My pink scrap supply was slim picking this year. I went to my stash to select fabric that wasn’t close to being yardage. This produced some fun pinks – a few quite vibrant and others going back to the ’90’s.
It’s always good to dig through the stash & find some old fabrics. Love your hearts & that Attic Window is lovely! It’s snowing here today, too, & although I don’t love going out in it, I do like the view!
When I first started building up my stash in the early ’90’s, I didn’t keep a separate scrap section. Instead I would add the scraps when I returned the yardage to the stash, by adding the scraps inside the last fold. Some fabrics have been resting within the stash for decades. Yes, it is fun to go through the stash, ask myself whether I am likely to use the fabric in an art quilt, if the answer and there is a limited amount, to the scrap bin it goes.
Thank you for your thoughtful and generous comment.
I love ‘Morning has Broken’, so pretty! Pretty pink ‘Broken Hearted’ too. Beautiful winter scenery, reminds me of Norway, but I don’t miss the snow and cold. What brought me joy this week? Rain! It is the time of the year; hot & humid with almost no rain since December. We desperately need rain for the reservoirs. One day with light rain didn’t make a difference, but it did cool it down a bit and it felt refreshing afterwards.
I hadn’t thought of Norway, when looking out over my backyard, but now I see the reference. There is something so uplifting about the sun reflecting off of recently fallen snow. My aunt lived the second half of her life in Tucson, Arizona. Desert country. When the monsoons would come in August the desert transformed with blooms. She embraced rain, as you do. So happy the rains came your way.
Gorgeous PQ 16.2 entry! What brought me joy this week? Finishing my own PQ 16.2 and my project for the January 2025 TABLE SCRAPS Challenge, too. Both well ahead of their deadlines!
Your ability to meet with others and be productive blows me away time and time again. Congratulations on managing to finish not one, but two challenges in a single week. Well done.
Your ombre piece is terrific. I’m impressed with how quickly you put this piece together!
Speed is not my strength. I’m a plodder when it comes to quilting. However, repetition helps. I’ve been making attic window 8″ x 8″ works every year for my open studio. So, I have a system. The piecing is simple. I borderie perse the bouquet from fabric I have already set with Heat ‘n Bond light on the back side. I even have a collection of vase shapes. Fortunately, it doesn’t get boring since every piece is a different combination of fabric.
Thank you, Terry, I’m glad you like the ombre effect.
Nice piece – and it can go in your collection! I love it when a project ticks multiple boxes.
Thank you, Sally. I think of my diminutive pieces as inventory. They are great to have handy when opportunities to host an open studio or participate in our group sales opportunities arise.
Your project quilting piece is lovely. Thanks for sharing in my Sew & Tell party.
I started a blessing jar this year. Each day I add a small note about what small blessings I offer thanks for. I seek out every day ordinary and try to see a new wonder in each of them. Such as the sense of smell… I can practically smell the sweet scent from the flowers in your piece.
I maintain a gratitude journal/morning pages, so I’m loving the idea of a blessing jar. I heard a great gratitude line this morning, “be grateful for the mundane.” It is something we don’t often think about. However, mundane times beat chaos and trauma hands down. I am grateful you were transported by my work and that you provide a place for me to share it. Thank you, Melva.