channeling those creative urges

I loved crazy quilting. It was free-form enough to get my creative juices flowing, but simple enough to learn that I could jump right in. I met my friend Julie thru CQ, she of the cool chicken coop which I need to blog about soon. I have tons and tons of stuff to do CQ with. The only problem is my hands. Over the last several years, I developed osteoarthritis in my fingers to the point where I can no longer do the fine stitching which is one of my favorite aspects of CQ.

This is a pincushion I made using a CD for the base. You can almost see the little running bunny at the bottom.






So I got back into knitting and crocheting, which I like just fine, but it isn't real creative. For me, anyway, in that I don't create the pattern, I just choose it, then knit it. That process just doesn't scratch my itch, altho

I ended up with some nice items for this winter.

But then I stumbled across a couple photography sites and was very intrigued by the things you can do with a camera and in Photoshop.

Then I googled 'collage' for some reason and was hooked. The combination of all three is something I don't need exceptionally deft fingers to do, and the creative aspects are limitless. Well, the limits will be my patience and ability to learn PS, which already has been giving me fits. By that, I mean big loud prolonged swearing fits.
But I have managed to create a collage from papers and laces and paints and stamps that I'm pretty happy with. I read on someone's blog to just try and be happy with what you produce. Don't hold it up next to someone else's work and pick it apart - just enjoy it for what it is and learn from it.

So... here it is.

I like autumn, altho a lot of the emotions connected with it are melancholy. I started with autumny colored papers, torn and pasted down. On some of them, I rubbed a brown ink pad to darken the edges. The image of the girl had orange and red mums on it, so I added that. Once I had all the papers on there, I gently rubbed all over with brown stamp pad ink on a rag to age it a bit.

Then I started adding buttons and laces and the tag stamped with Autumn. I bought a pack of those tags at Staples the other day, crumpled them up and dunked them in strong cold tea. DH stopped and watched for a minute, then said, "Oh, the collage thing, I bet." Good guess, honey.

I cut the definition of autumn from a little dictionary, then cut out the words 'another year gone' from an old book

The lace along the bottom is the fringe off an ancient shawl that I paid a buck for at a flea market at least 25 years ago and have been hauling around ever since. I couldn't ever stand to throw it away, even when it started to fall apart, but I had no problem whacking it up for my new hobby LOL. The bit of lace around the girl and hanging down below her are also from the shawl.

I lay in bed last night trying to think up a subject for my next one. That's my biggest problem - that initial spark of inspiration. But as I mulled it over, a few ideas came to me and I fell asleep making a mental list of photos I'd need to take, the doo-dads I wanted to add to it, what to use for the background, etc, etc.

It's good to be interested in something again, to look forward to time in the craft room.

the winter of mittens

I joined NaKniMitMo (National Knit Mittens Month) on Ravely and managed to knit three pair of mittens. All three got some use after being knit, but these are my favorites. I loved the yarn (De Vi Autumno) when my friend Julie and I saw it at Atelier Yarns in San Francisco, so I bought 4 skeins and used one and a half on these mittens. They are so soft and warm. I'll probably make a scarf from the rest of the yarn, but want it to be something special and I haven't found a pattern that really grabs me.

The second pair were made from SWS Stripes and I love the colors in these. I didn't have enough of the green to do the second glove the same way, so I simply switched the color positions. They go with all my jackets and I definitely need a scarf to match. Can you tell the pink thumb is a bit longer than its mate? Well, it is. I have yet to make a pair of mittens that are exactly the same left to right, so I bought a book on how to knit two socks on two circs, only I'm gonna use it for mittens.

The third pair is a gigantic set of bright red mittens that I didn't take a pic of yet. I had delusions of knitting a red hat and mittens to walk the dog in, since she wears a red harness, but the mittens are huge. So much for paying attn to gauge lol. I'll donate them to my cousin's husband who works outside a lot and will love them.