Personal Creativity Goals Recap

Last week I discussed by business goals here and promised to discuss my personal creativity goals at another time. I think I will continue this discussion today, since it forces me to look at my progress or lack of it.  It also inspires me to move onward and upward toward obtaining my goals!

To quote myself, I wanted to go . . . . . extravagant this year!
I tend toward practical, utilitarian projects, like this one that I did for my granddaughter--a t-shirt rag quilt.   That is not to say that all of my projects have been like this quilt, I have done more intricate designs, but I'm trying to branch out with prettier patterns and techniques.

In my post at the first of this year:

1)  I talked about trying some new fabrics, not just cotton, for quilting.  I haven't tackled this yet. When ones stash is all cotton, it is difficult

2)  I wanted to do an appliqued quilt, getting away from lattice and square designs. I wanted to try applique, curved piecing and textured trims couched on the quilt. I have not tried the couching technique yet.  These techniques are embellishments that add interest to the quilt and I am anxious try them. But, I have done a couple of appliqued and quilted table runners.  One I liked and one that I didn't like so well.  This is just the precursor to doing an entire appliqued quilt.  I still need to decide on a particular design for the larger quilt. I found a great site, blockcentral.com, with some applique tips.  I want to save it here for my own future use and maybe you are interested too! 

Here is a couple of samples so you can see what I am heading for, although I would like a more contemporary design:



Applique with stipple quilting



Applique with Echo quilting

**Both of these examples can be found on allpeoplequilt.com on this page.  Scroll thru the gallery to find them.

3) I have been experimenting with specialty threads.  Blender threads are my first attempt.  These threads change color every 2 to 2 1/2 inches.  They come in several thread weights and the first spool that I bought was too coarse a thread for my project. I have purchased a second spool and will try again and maybe even do another post about these threads.

So far I have not been extravagant, instead I have been adventurous in trying new techniques and supplies.  I hope this leads to a more extravagant frame of mind that will lend itself to better creativity!