somehow I got sewing-lazy these few weeks and hence, not much to talk to you about!
Summer is beautiful around here, albeit a bit more chilly than usual and if you ask Mr. Marley, that is just how he likes it!
Here he was one happy boy coming back home with us - us from work, him from a doggy daycare. Yeah he is one loved, spoiled pup... No, I am really not one of those dog lovers who goes overboard, but ever since we lost our darling Rocky, Marley is home alone all day and doesn't move much...and he needs good exercise. So besides walks every day, he goes once a week to romp with his friends all day long and he loves it. I also see that money spent as his health insurance. :)
When you live in area like Buffalo where winters can be long and cold, you cherish your summer. You spend lots of time outdoors. And if you are a nature and photography lover like me - you have your iPhone running out of photo storage in less than 3 months! Crazy woman... But here are few beautiful photos for your inspiration - we went hiking to Little Rock City park in Salamanca NY.
Amazing rocks...
Color!
Just beautiful...
Little ghostly, saprophytic plants (plants that don't make chlorophyll like most plants do, (hence, no green color anywhere!), but rather live on other decaying plant material)
Amazing moss:
Or mushrooms:
And then there were some almost alien-looking fungus too:
Oh and some ghostly rocks as well:
Just look at this beautiful, beautiful forest! I have to say, these colors and all is something that always, ALWAYS makes me smile... Not to mention our lovely pups (Marley and grand-puppy Oliver) and of course my handsome youngest son too... (just a little bragging here! )
We had some wonderful time and at the end, this is how the ride home went:
Two snoozing pups on my lap!! Loved every minute of it. :)
Speaking of loving every minute - babysitting!! Our beautiful little granddaughter is growing every day and of course more and more beautiful by the minute! Today is her little "quarter-birthday", she is 3 months old!! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that little girl and how much I cherish every minute spent with her!
Yes she loved that above-the-stroller toy that we got for her... This smile was when we put it on first - hooray!!
So see now why I got a bit sewing-lazy?? Not looking for excuses here, but there are certainly some totally cute reasons, don't you think?
But hey, in reality, there isn't a day at all that I don't do SOMETHING fabric, sewing or design related...really. If nothing else, I would browse internet, Facebook, blogs and other treasures during some quick break or right before falling asleep - a little spark of inspiration can come from just about anywhere, right?
So during one of those journeys I saw this simple modern beauty created by one of the pioneers of modern quilting, Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle:
This above is just a screen shot of the web page that you can find HERE .
Isn't it amazing how just by good choice of color you can depict the magic of transparency with fabric?
But this quilt triggered a whole domino effect for me - I immediately remembered that quite some years ago, I took an excellent class on just this - achieving transparency with good color choices! Class was by Judy Blydon at Vermont Quilt Festival. I still remember enjoying the class, being so excited and inspired by all of it and then....somehow during all these years I seem to forget all that? Isn't that sad??
How do we get quietly "lulled" into a repetition, routine, same old, same old...and forget exciting things we learned, tools that we have to create?? I was quite struck by that.
Decided then and there that I must "dost-off'" all this and dig deeper into my own creative tool-box, into my own creative soul! Really!!
OK, nice promise Marija, noble thoughts...but what is one to do? Well, to begin with, I immediately double-clicked on my EQ7 icon and started "sketching"... I wanted to make my own quick transparency quilt, just to see if I can do it...
What do you think? Good transparency effect?
Tried in some other colors too:
Have to say that first one, having mostly primary colors, was fairly easy in terms of finding that "transparency" effect color. You know, if blue and yellow square overlap, mix (or transparency effect) should be green. Red and yellow should have orange overlap... right?
But this second one, having this specific set of purples and greens was not that easy. However, looking around my EQ7 tools I found a fairly easy way - HOORAY!!!
Of course I will share it with you, so a quick tutorial on this little EQ7 gem is coming tonight! I promise! :)
That should also resume my "Each one, teach one" series of tutorials (long overdue, I know...), although I am thinking to move it maybe to another day? I noticed quite a few blogs having Tuesday as a tutorial day, so maybe to "spread it around the week" a bit? What do you think?
Let me know your thoughts on any of this - learning new things, forgetting what you learned, transparency as an effect in quilting?
Thanks for spending some time with me, I will be back later tonight!! :)
