Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Block #33 in the Machine Quilting Challenge



Good Evening,

It's been a really busy few days, lots of teaching and today I shot 4 more video segments for Creative Crafts Group, two on color, one on fabric foiling and one on working with metal. For someone like me who doesn't like to have her picture taken, shooting video is an ordeal - I haven't seen any of the finished products, but I'm told by some viewers that I look a little stiff - I'm just trying really hard not to say a cuss word and concentrate on looking at the camera! Oh well, I'm an artist, not an actor!

Here is today's new stitch-out; Floating Circles (some folks call it Amoebas, but I don't like the sound of that). It's a very textural design and is great on contemporary quilts. It looks really easy, but you really have to concentrate on making circles and not just loop d'loops so I suggest (as always) that you doodle it out first. My circles vary in size from tiny peas to nickles but you could go as large as a quarter.
Begin near the middle of the block and stitch a nickle sized circle. Once the circle is complete, stitch past it and curve over in one direction and make a second, smaller circle. Once the second circle is complete, curve past it in the opposite direction and make another circle in a different size. Keep making circles and moving past them to make another. Do not let the circles touch and try to keep the distance between the circles similar. Remember to make the circles as round as you can, if they become elongated then they look like loop d'loops and won't yield the same great texture.
Hope you enjoy this great filler stitch,
Till tomorrow,
Heather

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