Bunting taking shape...

This morning I had some fun with making bunting...

...some of the playful items... 

Rotary cutting along at the triangles...

...all the bunting stitched 

...nearly there!

...difficult to photograph all the bunting flags, staying with a close up shot ;) ...but here is some of them :)

I got tagged!

I got tagged by Yvonne...  

1. What’s your favourite breakfast?

I absolutely love Pronutro as breakfast!  From when I was 2 years old ... this was my breakfast ;) ...and I am still looking forward every morning to my Pronutro!

2. What’s your favourite country or city, and why?

My favourite city ... definitely Cape Town!  My home town... where my roots are... it makes my heart warm thinking of this unique city I can have a part of with its beautiful Table Mountain and the city beneath its feet... with the sea right there next to the city and mountain...

3. What is the last fear you faced?

I explored oil painting for 2 years attending a wonderful art class... but about a year ago I had to let it go because of my day time work load getting to stressful.  So I promised myself I would try painting on my own... a year passed by and I did not get to it... so at the beginning of this year, while following Stephanie Levy's wonderfully inspiring 'Creative Courage' e-course I made this a wish for 2012... to face my fear of painting on my own... to face my inner critic, who were constantly telling me that I would not be able to paint as well as what I was seeing in my minds eye...  At the moment my very first painting done on my own is nearly finished and I am soooo proud of myself!  It is still a constant fear that I must work on!

4. What do you do to unwind?

I love magazines... especially inspiring ones like; "Tuis", "The Ideas magazine", "VISI", "Leef", "Elle Decoration SA"... and also the 'Flow' magazine (so sad it is not available online or on order outside of the Netherlands - I have to ask for one whenever I hear anyone going that way!).... as well as 'Mollie Makes' which I buy online ...

I also love to crochet... the repetitiveness of this is very relaxing to me!

5. What’s an art form or medium you’ve never tried but would love to give a go?

I recently did my first steps toward quilting... this made the way for me being very inspired to try out some needlework... maybe making a tablerunner using different fabrics as well as combining ribbon and lace and old time crochet circles... Just bought a new sewing machine and am excited to try it out... cannot wait to write words with my embroidery foot with thread on fabric!

6. What’s your intention with what you do with your heart (art, cooking, caring, anything), other than the fact that you can’t NOT do it?

When a form of creativeness wiggles its way to my heart... then I must absolutely try it out and see if I could get it right!  The end product is so satisfying!  ... and mostly then I'm inspired to explore it in all different ways...  It is always nice to get to know a medium so well as to be able to put more and more of my truthful self in it!

7. What’s your favourite colour at the moment?

My favourite colour to look at, at the moment is 'duck egg blue'!!... Any gadget, camera, laptop, memory stick ect I love in pink!

8. If there is one thing you could change about your life, anything!, what would it be, and why?

I would luv to travel more!!  And while travelling be able to have time to see the detail!

9. What do you do to help yourself through an artistic block (if you ever have them!)?

I procrastinate! ... then feel quilty... then loose interest... focusing on some other creativity... and then when I return to my initial activity most of the time there is a new perspective.  If my curiosity of the end result is so great... I will keep to it... work through the negativity... until I break through.  It also helps if you keep believing in yourself.

10. What is the best thing someone could surprise you with, right now?

Some time of my day job... to just focus on my creative pleasures... this would be SO nice!  A trip to New York, Barcelona or rural France would also be wonderful!

11. I would love it if you could post a self-portrait – any part of you that you love!

Sorry for not posting the actual self-portrait... but the part of me that I love the most... is my heart .... there where all the excitement about creativity and art lingers...

The rules for getting tagged is that you must tag someone else...  I will do so shortly...  

Vintage market

Visited the Vintage Ideas market at Simondium this morning... browsing for 3 hours through all the inspirations...

I just could not resist having this quilt! (...especially now that I know about some of the effort going into this!)

Bought a few doilies... I would love to try a quilt-like project including these!

Aaaa ... was so glad finding these!! ... want to try out crocheting these or maybe work with some doilies on them...

This little painting from Christelle Bester got our attention and we had to have it! 

Quilting fun continues...

This previous week I had some time off from work on Wednesday afternoon and for 3 hours I  had such fun again at Dots Quilts.  Dot was so nice to have me there again so I could learn the actual quilting with the sewing machine on my cushion that we began at her workshop.

It was so amazing experiencing Dot and her daughter, Natalie's passion for fabric and working with it!  Dot told me how she liked to work with fabrics that reflected light... and also when quilting, she liked to use a thread a little bit lighter than the fabric as to reflect the most light.

And so I was taught to quilt free-hand lines on the back of my cushion cover...  whoooheee... some even crossing over :) 

The front part of my cushion is also progressing ... all is now stitched together and Dot inspired me to also start doing this free-hand quilt lines through some of the blocks. Can not wait to try this out!!

Quilting workshop

Had a wonderful time at Dot’s Quilts on Saturday.  The Ideasmagazine is hosting a number of quilt workshops at Dot’s place at the moment.

What a lovely shop to muse between hundreds of the most beautiful fabrics! 

We eagerly set up our work stations ...

...in a spacious work room on the second floor right above the shop...

...with Dot patiently explaining all the quilting principles

Choosing fabrics to make our cushion for the day was not easy with the huge selection of fabrics, but I made my selection of a feature fabric and a basic one...

Then the cutting of the fabric with the rolling blade started... again with Dot explaining ...

Soon I had something to show ...  and 5 hours had passed! We had to be on our way... but with the promise that we are welcome to came and finish our cushion covers during the week, time allowing.

This afternoon I cleared my worktable at home and am planning to stitch as far as I know how and then visit Dots Quilts for the finishing touches later in this week.

Quilting class coming up

All set for tomorrows' introductory quilting class!  I had a sewing machine from more than 20 years ago and 2 days back when we received the equipment list for the quilting class.... I suddenly got this bee in my bonnet to ... just  m a y b e .... buy a new one before my class tomorrow!
And this afternoon with the help of my mum... we explored an Elna shop... and I did it!!

Now I'm all fired up for this class tomorrow.... after which I will know all about the 1/4" pressure foot, walking foot and darning foot... that I just bought as well!

I do not suddenly want to make huge quilts.... but I'm dying to see some of the techniques and am very excited to try them out in my own way...

Crocheting a blanket

A year or 2 back this image in a magazine caught my attention.... and eventually after seeing a similar blanket at a friends house (done for her by her mother) I got so inspired that I had to try... one problem... I couldn't crochet!  But this was minor details... and after some 'lessons' from the internet and books I started to learn all about double crochet, treble crochet, slip stitches and all the rest...

I started some where in the middle of last year... and am now at blanket flower 215!  My target is somewhere near 500 for a double bed throw!

This is so much fun!  ...and I experience the making of these flowers as a very stress relieving exercise!

To the end of last year I reached my first 100 and we held a little party!  The blanket that inspired me originally at my friends home were also present!

I asked a friend to bake me some cupcakes (inspired by the flower crochet pattern)...

...and I wrapped them with hearts and words...

Gift tags

A while back a friend asked me to make her some gift tags...  and yesterday evening inspiration struck...

... and some more tags followed...

...until there were quite a lot of gift tags...

... I put two tags back to back in one package...

...until everything were ready for delivery!

This playing with paper was lots of fun!  I must do this again soon! 

Feeling the fear and diving in anyway

Stephanie Levy (in her course  'Creative Courage') talks about feeling the fear ... diving in anyway... and transforming... through courage.  She takes you through exercises to help you release your fear... whatever it is that is holding you back from moving forward in your creative exploration.

In a book by Susan Jeffers she says, feel the fear and do it anyway!

Courage is acting in spite of fear! ... Mark Twain

With all the positive energy and motivation gained through this course of Stephanie I slowly started acting on overcoming my fear for painting on my own...  I've been taking a wonderful art class for 2 years.  The past year has been a hectic one as we moved house and my day job become extremely exhausting. Therefor I had to let go of my art class, but promised myself I would still paint... which turned out to not happen... with always an excuse of being tired or not having enough time to relax and do it... but in the end I realized I was dealing with the fear of not being able to paint outside the 'secureness' of my art class.

A few things happened... at the very beginning of this year I learned about the Creative Courage e-course, which I experienced with great joy! I also had some time free from work to join 2 friends that paint together for a few hours on a Friday afternoon ... this was an environment filled with friendliness and openness to just be yourself... there I started my very first painting... doing it totally on my own!  Yippee!!
Then came my three week holiday and I had some more time to focus on painting...

The images above is parts of this very first painting ... not yet finished, but it is filling me with such joy... to know that I am trying...

I've learned in this course that only through continuous doing and exploring will you eventually get closer and closer to your deepest creative wishes!  "Give yourself many chances ... as many as it takes" (e-course)... "Overcome fear by action" ... "Start with simple steps towards your creative dreams"...

So this is where I am ... finding my path despite of the fear of thinking... no, I will not be able to do it... to keep my eye on my creative dreams and just keep on trying small steps towards it!

This painting that I'm busying doing is a painting from a coaster I saw at my mother-in-law's house - it is an image of Nel Whatmore.  I loved the picture on the coaster and as my art teacher encouraged us to do paintings of ones that we like... as to get practice painting in ways you like... this is what I'm now doing...
I love the looseness of this painting... and wanted to try and see if I could get it right.

When I googled Nel Whatmore, it was lovely to see her other work and how active she is!  As I love all creativity it was also wonderful to see that she also does quilting, as well as write poems!

Digital inspiration ...

Yippee!! I bought my first overseas creative magazine digitally!! 

I recently came across this wonderful magazine... reading about it while blog-hopping.  I told a friend of mine about it and she was so privileged to have someone bring it to her from the UK.  I loved it!! ... and I did it... I ordered one via Zinio.  This is so cool!