tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As John Donne said: “No man (or woman) is an island”. I guess one could live as a hermit somewhere, locked away, working on your art, encouraging yourself creatively. That would not work for me. I appreciate and I am inspired by encouragement from others.

Continuing my series on sources of Creative Inspiration, this post is actual inspired by a surprise I found that last evening.

We all have those precious items from our past that we keep tucked away somewhere. One of my most precious items was a book of William Shakespeare’s Sonnets from my 9th Grade English teacher. I have not seen it in many years and I thought that for some reason during a move it got lost; or I accidentally donated it to a thrift shop in a stack of books for donation.

I mourned its loss.

Last night I was checking the far recesses of my nightstand cabinet, which I store books I am going to “read someday in bed each night before I fall asleep”, but never get around to reading. I was curious what I had way in the back and found my old beloved book!!! I had not opened it in 8 or more years and forgot exactly my teacher had inscribed inside the cover.

My eyes flooded with tears when I read her inscription which included the words “in recognition of her excellent writing ability”. I have always loved writing (and have written a lot in my professional pay-the-bills RN career) and I forgot how much I loved it when I was in grade school through high school. (Disclaimer: I may not have mastered grammar or proofreading but I still love to write!)

Just reading these words again from my 9th grade English teacher made me feel as inspired in that moment as I did all those years ago. Her words of encouragement from the past resonate with me now, like she is right here with me saying: “Tierney, keep writing, I believe in you“.

As far as quilting projects, I am so inspired creatively when I receive encouragement on a piece I am working on or one I have completed. I am encouraged creatively when I am uninspired to work on an art quilt and a friend encourages me to just start playing with the fabric and the inspiration with come in no time. One of my favorite silk art quilts I have made, Color Change, came out of sitting around with a friend having her throw fabric scraps at me for fun, saying “Here, why not try putting this combination together”, when I was feeling too intimidated to work on another silk scrap quilt.

Creative mentors who encourage you to do your art are important and wonderful to have in your life. See my old post Creative Inspiration: Quilting Mentors, for more on mentors.

So let’s all go out and encourage someone, you never know what lasting impression it will make.

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.”

– Author Unknown

Books, Music, Podcasts, Studio

Progress and Fear

August 18, 2015July 17, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Interesting combinations of words, huh? One sounds positive (Progress) and the other sounds, well…fearful (Fear)!

Actually the title is about two positive things!

PROGRESS

Making progress on the five (5) quilts that are back from the long-arm quilter and need bindings to be completed (refer to the posts “Some Progress Made” and “The Quilting Husband Saga Continues” for more info). Terry the Quilting Husband assembled the bindings and I have sewn them onto all 5 quilts. Now they are waiting in a nice pile to taken turns sitting on my lap and have their binding sewn down. Then they will be complete!

"Please complete us" (Pile-o-Quilts waiting for their bindings to be sewn down) — “Please complete us” (Pile-o-Quilts waiting for their bindings to be sewn down)

FEAR

My previous post was on Creative Inspiration: Words. Currently listening to Susan Jeffers’ fantastic audiobook Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway and feeling very inspired. I wanted to share her 5 Truths About Fear she has published on her website (susanjeffers.com):

Fear will never go away as long as you continue to grow (this is a good thing)!
The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it!
The only way to feel better about yourself it to go out and do it!
Not only are you afraid when facing the unknown, so is everyone else!
Pushing through the fear is less frightening than living with the bigger underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness!

I am really enjoying this audiobook. Of course now you all expect that I will quickly complete the bindings on the stack-o-quilts as I should feel pretty fearless about them now…

Books, Music, Podcasts, Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspiration: Words

August 15, 2015July 17, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog on the Schnauzer Snips page for her latest insights from a 16 inch tall person’s point of view…

Words…

Time to continue my series on my sources of creative inspiration. In my last post on creative inspiration, Creative Inspiration: Organization?!?!?, I explored how getting organized makes me feel inspired creatively.

Recently I have been thinking about how written or spoken words inspire me creatively.

Not just any words. The “words” that inspire me are motivational words, inspirational sayings, words of truth, insights into the human struggle, words with meaning – words that matter.

The Spoken Word

In previous posts I discussed some of my favorite nonfiction audiobooks (see my series “Life is Nonfiction”) that I enjoy listening to while walking or working on a quilt. Most of these books are in the “self-help” or “self-improvement” genre and they inspire me to be bold and take chances creatively with my art or with my tierneycreates business.

Recently I listened to some very inspirational audiobook with lots of “great words” to inspire me:

Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck by Jon Acuff
The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stulz and Barry Michels

I continue to be addicted to self-improvement books and they inspire my creativity. When a book encourages me to be brave and take risks, I translate this into my work on art quilts or new ideas for tierneycreates. These books reinforce what I already know deep in my spirit but somehow do not implement in day to day life.

Quotes

There are some wonderful quotes that stick with me and encourage me to continue on my creative artistic journey:

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” – Henry Van Dyke

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” – Rumi

All these quotes I have posted in my house somewhere: in a frame, on a bulletin board, or in a piece of wall art. I feel like the words in these quotes are part of me. They make me feel safe to do my art and to go where I want to go creatively.

One of the quotes is by Rumi. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī was a 13th century Persian poet and scholar. I am currently listening to an audiobook, Pure Water – Poetry of Rumi and I want to close this post about inspirational words with one of Rumi’s poems, The Guest House.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness

comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

On a walk, listening to inspirational audiobook, stopped to look at the sun through the trees

Quality of Life

Sweet Little Moment of Happiness

August 13, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Today I had a “sweet little moment of happiness”.

That instant blissful feeling that brings a smile to your face and warmth to your heart.

I stopped at my local library to pick up some items I had on hold and decided to wander the craft book section in the their non fiction book collection. While scanning the shelves I found the book that 5 of my quilts are in – Sandra Sider’s 1000 Quilt Inspirations sitting on the shelf.

I love my town library. I have loved libraries since I was a child (where I would spend most of my summers from ages to 9 – 12 in the library reading constantly). To be in a book that is in a library gave me this feeling of immortality that I cannot describe.

I am fortunate to know several incredible quilters who have nationally published books and I know this is not a book that I wrote myself, but still, can’t describe it, but it feels awesome.

(Or maybe I am just really weird…that is a more plausible explanation!)

tierneycreates

Playing with a Theme

August 12, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In case you have been wondering why recently each time you read one of my posts, my blog looks completely different…

“And Now for Something Completely Different.” – Monty Python’s Flying Circus, 1971

A couple weeks ago I had a late night “blog disaster” (note to self: never post late at night).

I use WordPress as my blogging platform and I use one of the lovely free blog theme templates they offer. I had done some nice customization when I set up my blog in 2013 and all was lost one night in the Great Blog Crisis of 2015.

I could return to my original WordPress blog theme template but it looks pretty stark and dull without the special customization. I do have the option of paying for my customization to return, but alas the word “free” is more appealing, ha!

So I have been experimenting over the last couple weeks on new blog theme templates. We’ll see which one sticks for me or maybe I will stop being so cheap and pay to have my previous customization back.

Maybe.

tierneycreates

In Use!

August 10, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In my February post, 2015 Goals, I shared a photo of the Little Love Note pillows I made for the tierneycreates Etsy shop. I packaged these pillows in sets of 3 with an organza ribbon and a little handmade heart card attached for gifting.

Unfortunately I posted the pillows to my shop too close to Valentine’s Day (3 days before!) for customers to purchase them as Valentine’s Day gifts.

I did however offer them for sale to some friends and neighbors if they were in need of a last minute Valentine’s Day gifts. I sold a 4 – 5 sets of pillows this way, and figured they went as gifts to other people.

However, I recently discovered, a neighbor friend of mine happened to keep a set for herself. While I was over her house the other day I got to see, 6 months later, great examples of how they could be used as home decor.

Instead of displaying all 3 pillows together, she broke them up and put them in different areas of her home: guest room, guest bathroom, and hallway nook.

It is so fun to see something you made being enjoyed in someone’s home!

In the hallway/living room nook on a miniature rocker

Studio

Some Progress Made…

August 7, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the highly opinionated miniature schnauzer’s latest happenings on her Schnauzer Snips page!

In an earlier post The Quilting Husband Saga Continues, I lament over the fact that I need to do the binding for three of the quilts that Terry, The Quilting Husband, got back from the professional long-arm quilter.

Here is an update – a wee bit of progress has been made. Terry did create folded 2 1/2 bindings strips for two of the quilts and is working on the binding strip for the third quilt. So here are two of the quilts waiting for their binding to magically be put on.

Yes I will go to bed tonight and in the am I will discover that the Binding Fairies, Gnomes, Elves, etc. appeared during my slumber and not only sewed on the bindings but also sewed the binding down! (I am very thoughtful and have left the binding strips draped over the quilts, all ready for the magical creatures to get to work!)

Okay, maybe no magical creatures are coming during the night to take care of the binding, sigh. My main issue is I would rather be designing and piecing a quilt than finishing one.

I think it might be a summer thing and I am just not in the mood to sit for a long spell and sew down binding will sitting under a quilt.

Alright – enough whining – I will get the three bindings done. Sometime soon…

By the way, our long-arm quilter has informed me she has two more of The Quilting Husband’s quilts quilted and will be delivering them soon (look of panic).

Quality of Life

Grab A Cup of Tea and Your Cozy Spot!

August 5, 2015August 6, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It is time to settle in and read some quilting books and magazines!

Ok, ok, I know you are thinking: “Tierney, it is not Winter or a blustery Fall day, no one wants to get a cup of tea and settle in with a book in a cozy chair with a quilt and read.” Alright, so you don’t have to sit inside, you can sit outside, with your iced tea and your sunblock. Inside or outside, I happen to have a recommendation for a publication that I think my fellow quilters will enjoy: Missouri Star Quilt Company’s publication Block.

A couple of months ago I was at a quilt retreat with my “quilt sisters” in the Vancouver, WA area, called Sew N Go: sewNgo Retreat. The retreat owner and host, Nancy, had a collection of these wonderful publications strewn around our retreat workroom area (aka the “Quilting Sweatshop” where quilters sew all day and night and pay to do so!).

Many of the retreat attendees were like: “where did you get these awesome books?”

A month after that I came across an online article on NPR’s website about the Missouri Start Quilt Company: “One Family Revitalizes A Small Town With, Yes Quilts“. After reading the article after looking through a couple issues of their quarterly publication Block while at the retreat, I knew I wanted to give my business to this organization.

As a belated birthday treat to myself, I bought all the past issues of the Block publication as well as a year subscription for future issues.

I have browsed the issues, and plan to really settle down into some serious “quilt publication bonding” when it gets more like hot tea weather!

Waiting on the shelf

Awesome publication!

The cozy reading spot

Sitting my my cozy chair with a quilt on my lap, while drinking tea and reading quilting books and publications is definitely something I am looking forward to this fall and winter.

Fabric Scraps Obsession, Studio

Collaborative “Jamming”

August 2, 2015December 2, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I taught “The Quilting Husband”, Terry a couple months ago how to make log jam blocks. If you would like to know more about log jam blocks and “log jamming”, see these posts:

Terry, loaded with a box of color coordinated scraps I pre-selected, made endless 6 1/2 inch log jam blocks (120+) and put a dent in my scraps (a small dent but any dent is appreciated!).

Then he took a 100 of the 6 1/2 inch block and created a 10 x 10 quilt. It was a collaborative process as he completed ten – 10 block rows, and I did the final sewing of the ten rows together to make the quilt top. Terry, The Quilting Husband, is not much for matching seams to sew rows together, but that is okay – look at how much he accomplished!

Now I am working on putting the back of the quilt together so it can go to the long-arm quilter!

Then comes the decision – keep it or list it on the Etsy site for sale. We will likely list it for sale…we’ll see…

Colorful Jam by tierneycreates and terrycreates!

Quality of Life

A Gift is a Gift

August 1, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yesterday I received an amazing gift: finding out how much a simple handmade gift means to a recipient.

Many years ago (maybe 8 or 9), I made a flannel 12″ x 12″ quilt square into a quilted hot pad and gave it to my friend Cindy as a little hostess gift the first time I went to her house. Years later I had completely forgot about this little flannel quilted hot pad gift.

Last evening I visited her new home in the country, which is a scaled down version of her previous home in the city. She showed me the quilted square I had given her so many years ago. It turns out she has used it as a hot pad for her tea pot for many years, it has been washed countless times, and many friends and family over the years have said: “Wow, where did you get that?”

The best thing I found out last night: when she was scaling back her possessions to move to her new house, the hot pad I made her was at the top of the list of things she was definitely taking. It appears to be one of her favorite possessions.

Wow, I could feel the tears well up in my eyes, I was so deeply touched. Something I made, likely very quickly, to bring as a little thank you gift to someone’s house, turns out to be a constantly used and treasured gift.

Well..in that moment..my friend gave me an incredible GIFT.

Little square for Cindy – washed many times and loved for many years…

POSTSCRIPT: For more thoughts on the rewards of crafting and giving handmade gifts from the heart, see my post Love Wears it Out.

tierneycreates

The End of an Era: Goodbye to Making Miniature Kimonos

July 29, 2015August 2, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Check out Sassy the highly opinionated miniature schnauzer’s blog Schnauzer Snips for her latest thoughts and adventures.

RETIRING THE MINIATURE KIMONO LINE

I have been making miniature kimonos for friends and family for over 12+ years and for my Etsy shop for nearly 2 years. After talking to my sister who I like to bounce online sales ideas off, I decided to do one more batch of miniature kimonos for the tierneycreates Etsy shop and then be done with making miniature kimonos.

I have so enjoyed making them and seeing them hung in the homes of friends and family. I had a nice response to them on my Etsy shop with repeat customers on the miniature kimonos, which was quite an honor.

Now I am ready to move on and create other small handmade items I can offer on my Etsy shop at reasonable prices. I will still make a miniature kimono on special request.

For my last official batch of miniature kimonos, I made 24 and gave one to my sister for her birthday and listed the rest on the Etsy shop. I used new color combinations and embellished some with cool antique buttons a friend shared from her mother’s/grandmother’s collection.

I am pretty pleased with this batch and I was tempted to keep some for my personal collection of miniature kimonos (I have them displayed in shadow boxes or hanging from chopsticks in my house).

Miniature Kimonos we had a good run – I know you have brought smiles to many!

23 new miniature kimonos ready for the shop

Studio

The Quilting Husband Saga Continues…

July 27, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT BIND HIS QUILTS

Feeling a little overwhelmed….

Terry, the Quilting Husband (see previous posts “This is the Story of a Quilting Husband“, etc.), has been hard at work piecing quilts. We just got back from the long-arm quilter THREE of his quilts and now they need binding sewn on and then sewn down to finish the quilt.

I am in charge of binding quilts – The Quilting Husband wants NOTHING to do with binding quilts. I have not pushed the issue as when I started quilt-making I was terrible at putting binding on quilts and sewing binding down. It was very frustrating for me, I just wanted to be done with making the quilt and not deal with the binding (I redid the binding many years later on my original quilts which looked like I had been taking mind-altering substances while binding…).

I am happy he is quilting and I want him to keep enjoying the process, so I do his binding.

(By the way – now I actually enjoy sewing down the binding as it builds the anticipation to the completed quilt. I do not mind plopping in front of the TV and sewing down a binding. The Quilting Husband would equate this to enjoying a dental procedure!)

Keep in mind I have my own quilts to bind too, but I will just take it on, one quilt binding at a time!

POSTSCRIPT

If you are not a quilter, binding a quilt can take several hours or more to complete depending on how large the quilt you are working on. A quilt is truly a labor of love – from figuring out the pattern (or creating your own design), selecting the fabric, measuring and cutting the fabric, hours of sewing to piece the quilt, machine quilting (or paying to have professional quilted), trimming the edges after machine quilting, measuring and cutting the binding, sewing the binding onto the quilt, and finally sewing down the binding! (Whew I got exhausted just writing that – ha!)

Why do we keeping doing it (us crazy quilters)? Because it is fun and addicting!!!

Studio, Sunflowers!

Ugly Sunflower Fabric Challenge

July 26, 2015October 21, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I love sunflowers and years ago (maybe 10) I bought some sunflower fabric I found on sale. I never used this fabric and it ended up in the back of my stash, forgotten.

A couple of months ago I was purging the fabric that I no longer loved to donate to a charity thrift store (see blog post The Fabric Purge!) and came across the sunflower fabric again. I do not have a photo of the original fabric, but 10 years later, looking at it I thought “what was I thinking?!?!?”

It was…well…quite ugly fabric. Little sunflower images with a very cheesy looking patterns and other images surrounding the sunflowers. No wonder it had been on sale 10 years ago!

A quilter friend of mine suggested a Challenge: Don’t get rid of the fabric – cut out the sunflowers and use them as centers in a log cabin style quilt. She offered to give me some coordinating fabric that she was purging from her stash!

I took on the challenge and made the quilt! I just gave to my long-arm quilter the 88″ x 66″ quilt top made with just the sunflower sections of the ugly fabric and coordinating fabric from a friend’s stash! I set the 9.5″ by 9.5″ inch blocks in a Moda paper bag colored fabric. I cannot wait to see what it looks like quilted!

Creative Inspiration, Fabric Scraps Obsession

Creative Inspiration: Organization?!?!?

July 22, 2015October 22, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts on sources of Creative Inspiration…

HOW ORGANIZING MY SCRAPS GOT ME INSPIRED

Sounds like a testimonial, right?

“At first my life was empty of direction and meaning and then I organized my fabric scraps and suddenly everything was much much much better!” – Anonymous Scrap Hoarder

Not exactly. However organizing my fabric scraps last evening did inspire my creativity!

I love fabric scraps and I have quite a collection. I have several blog posts about my love of scraps. My fabric scraps were getting out of control and were in two fairly large boxes. I enjoy the “hunt” for the right fabric scraps when creating a scrappy quilt, but found I grew irritated with not being able to easily find the colors I want.

So I decided to organize my fabric scraps in two ways, to give me flexibility of how I create with fabric scraps:

By color
All thrown in a box (random)

This new system allows me to create fabric scrap pieces (quilts, pillows, wallhanging, table runners, etc.) based on my “creative mood”. I might want to work on a piece that it focused on oranges, yellows and reds; or I might want to work on a piece that is very scrappy and more random. Now I have two options!

I am interested in working on some pieces in the future that are more monochromatic but with fabric of different patterns and textures in the same general color. Having fabric scraps organized by color will make this design process easier.

As I was organizing my fabric scraps I got very excited as ideas for new pieces ran wildly through my head!

So…

Sometimes I want to create from these containers…

And sometimes I want to create from this box…

Happy Crafting!

Studio, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Making Progress?

July 21, 2015July 13, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

PLAYING…

In my post What’s on the Design Wall: Rescued Blocks II I shared that a quilter friend gave me a cool stack of batik freely pieced abstract fabric blocks that she no longer wanted to work on, and a pile of coordinating scraps of fabric. I was planning to combine those blocks and scraps with a couple trees stamped on batik fabrics, from a fabric surface design workshop I took earlier this year.

Here is what I started with:

After playing with the pieced blocks and assorted scraps for awhile, I decided to create 12.5 inch blocks. I am aiming for 15 blocks, so far I have 8. I am looking into non-traditional block settings once I complete the 15 (or more blocks).

Here is what it looks like now (so far):

Occasionally I wish I had a larger design wall to put more blocks up on during the design process, but I can use the top of a bed to continue my design layout when I have 15 blocks (or more). All sorts of ideas have been running through my mind (the fun of designing a piece) such as spacing out the blocks by setting them at wide intervals in a neutral fabric, etc. We will see how it turns out and of course I will post future photos!

POSTSCRIPT

I love good quotes! I came across this quote the other day that made me smile and reflect:

“Continual is the journey: Past sunset towards morning.” – Willis Eberman

Is this quote referring to my marathon art quilt design sessions where I lose track of time? Or perhaps my ongoing journey on my “tierneycreates” path!

A Crafter's Life, Books, Music, Podcasts

Should I Run or Walk?

July 14, 2015July 17, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am currently listening to, while working on crafts or walking the dogs, an audiobook by Ben Davis titled Do Life: The Creator of “My 120-Pound Journey” Shows How to Run Better, Go Farther, and Find Happiness

He tells his story of achieving a 120-pound weight loss by changing his damaging life style choices, dealing with his addiction to food, video games and gambling, and taking up running – eventually becoming a marathoner and triathlete.

I always secretly wanted to be a runner. I have two friends who are experienced runners tell me how to start running, however I have yet to really try their methods. I don’t have 120 pounds to lose but I could stand to lose another 20 and running might be the way to achieve this dream.

Starting running might be like when I started quilting. In the late 1990s a friend at work (now a lifetime quilt sister friend) encouraged me to start quilting and I was very hesitant. I kind of went along for the ride, because I liked her as a person and I liked the idea of quilting. I struggled through my first quilt but it was an incredible accomplishment. 15+ years later I continue to know the initial struggle was worth it.

For now I will keep listening to the audiobook and mulling it over in mind, whether to try running. I will keep walking the dogs twice a day and enjoying the beautiful scenery on my walk as neighborhood gardens are in bloom!

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, tierneycreates

Quilt Sold at 40th Anniversary Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

July 12, 2015July 2, 2017 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Please see Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer blog on the Schnauzer Snips page for her latest adventures.

Today I have a huge grin on my face!

I sold my quilt, Beautiful and Bright Colorful Batik Quilt, at the July 11, 2015 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show! This is my first time selling a quilt at a quilt show. I have had quilts exhibited at quilts shows but they have not been for sale in the past (note: I have listed for sale The Wardrobe Meets the Wall art quilts at gallery shows).

I had five quilts in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year and I am so happy that this large beautiful quilt sold to someone from California who will be enjoying it in their home!

(I secretly wish I did not have to pay the 30% commission to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show on the sale – ha! However I so appreciate the hard work of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show staff and volunteers who hung my quilt and handled all the logistics of the show. The commission from quilt sales helps keep our beloved premiere Central Oregon quilt show going!)

In and Out, pieced by Tierney Davis Hogan, quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe — Beautiful and Bright Colorful Batik Quilt, pieced by Tierney Davis Hogan, quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe

A Crafter's Life, Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

My Brush with Greatness

July 9, 2015September 16, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am fortunate to live in Central Oregon where there are many talented and nationally known quilters/quilting book authors who inspire me, such as Jean Wells Keenan owner of the The Stitchin’ Post and founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Last night I got to meet Quilting Greatness from outside of Central Oregon at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 40th Anniversary Ruby Celebration.

First, I got to see in person the Quilters of Gee’s Bend from Gees Bend Alabama who are descendants/children of the original Gees Bend Quilters (whose quilts were featured on the USPS Stamp Collection as well exhibited in museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art). In addition to being interviewed on stage by Jean Wells Keenan and telling their stories, they also performed several Southern Gospel tunes.

I also had the chance to chat individually with two dynamic and engaging famous quilters: Fabric designer, teacher, and quilting book author Tula Pink (I am a huge fan of her books) and Rob Appell of Man Sewing (I watch his instructional craft videos and read his blog all the time, so fun to meet him in person!). Additionally, I got to briefly interact with the famous machine quilter Angela Walters – I have a couple of her wonderful books that make accessible to regular machine quilters like me cool modern quilting patterns and techniques and it was great to meet her in person.

Studio, tierneycreates

Being Proactive: 24 New Miniature Kimonos in Progress

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This week I started a new schedule for my health care job (the job that keeps the lights on) – I work Tuesdays to Fridays and have Mondays off from work. Mondays are now a day to focus on tierneycreates – making handmade items for my tierneycreates Etsy shop and working on art quilts for The Wardrobe Meets the Wall.

In my previous post, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Crafters, I discuss my crafting goals in the context of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s habit #1 is “Be Proactive”. On my first Monday off in my new work schedule, motivated by revisiting Covey’s 7 Habits, I was actually PROACTIVE!

As I stated in my previous post: “Those projects will not just start or finish themselves, Tierney!” Today I worked on 24 new miniature kimonos for my Etsy shop. Miniature kimonos were the first items (besides my vintage Barbie collection) that I offered on the tierneycreates Etsy shop when I first opened it in late 2013. They ended up being more popular than I anticipated and I am adding a new batch. I may stop making them after this batch as I would like to focus on other small items for the shop.

I experimented with some new colors and combinations I have not tried before. I will finish them up with their own unique decorative button and possibly a tassel (if the tassel works with the button and color combination.

A new batch of miniature kimonos in progress, July 2015

It felt good to be proactive and get a new load of kimonos started, even if it was tedious and tiring at times. I am still working towards to achieving my 2015 goal of having 100 items on the tierneycreates Etsy shop and the only way to achieve that is to be proactive and make stuff!

A Crafter's Life

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Crafters

July 4, 2015September 16, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Do you have a favorite inspirational book of all time? A book whose message you have woven into the core of who you are as a person?

I do – Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend that you do.

Recently revisiting this book got me thinking: “how would the habits discussed in this book apply to creativity, making handmade crafts, and creating a collection of art quilts?” Can I apply Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to the work I do on my tierneycreates business: striving to make a catalogue of handmade items infused with smiles to offer to my Etsy shop customers; and to working towards my dream of becoming a professional artist?

I came up with The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Crafters, based on Covey’s 7 Habits. If you have read Covey’s spectacular book then you know the background on each habit listed. If you have not read the book, read it, it is a life changer!

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE CRAFTERS

Be Proactive: Those projects will not just start or finish themselves, Tierney! This habit reminds me that if I want to move forward with my goals, I have to get off the couch (and stay away from those highly addictive iPad games) and start working on projects and actions to achieve my goals.
Being with the End in Mind: This habit helps me when working on an art quilt. When I get to the point when my intuitive and free-form design appears to have gone awry, I step back and think: “What do I want this piece to be? What do I want it to truly express and represent?” Taking a step back and thinking about what I want the end (the completed piece) to accomplish helps me refocus.
Put First Things First: I use this habit when deciding on what priorities of projects to work on. It is very attractive and fun to work on another set of log jam blocks (read about my addiction to “log jam” blocks on my post “Log Jamming”: The Sequel) but it does not move me towards my goal of becoming a professional artist. What I need to put first is working on a new art quilt to build my catalogue of art quilts. This habit is also important when there are times I need to step away from the sewing machine and focus my attending on spend time hanging out with my husband and dogs.
Think Win-Win: This has been a helpful habit on rare Etsy shop issues. Recently a customer mistakingly ordered the wrong fabric for a quilt project she was trying to complete. I did not carry in my Etsy shop the hard to find exact color she needed, only a similar color. I offered to accept a return on the fabric and I spent a bit of time researching for her where she could find the hard to find color in rare fabric line. She decided to keep the fabric she ordered by mistake and she used the links I sent her to work on locating the rare fabric for her quilt.
Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: The meaning of this habit is actually much deeper then how I am about to apply it to crafting: Sometimes you have to step back, slow down and try to understand why something is not working on a piece in progress. I get so focused on trying to complete something it is as if I am trying to force a square peg into a round hole. If I take a step back and try to understand what is really going on with the piece then I can come to solution. This habit is also an invaluable habit when working with other quilters on projects and working with my Etsy customers.
Synergize: This habit comes into play when I am consulting on designing and piecing a new quilt with my quilting friends. Their external ideas help fuel and enhance my internal ideas.
Sharpen the Saw: I am an experienced quilter but I need to continue to take quilting classes and workshops to learn new techniques and refine existing ones. I also need to continue to network with other quilters and crafters, both those doing traditional quilts and those doing art quilts and experimental art quilting techniques. Inspiration does not come to me in a vacuum.

Studio, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Rescued Blocks II

June 20, 2015July 13, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Update: If you would like to see the completed quilt top for the abstract art quilt piece I discussed in What’s on the Design Wall: Working Through a New Art Quilt Piece, check out the post on The Wardrobe Meets the Wall blog In Progress: Abandoned Structure. It is awaiting quilting mastery by Betty Anne Guadalupe my collaborator in the The Wardrobe Meets the Wall.

If you don’t want them, I will take them…

In a previous post What’s Was On the Design Wall: Rescued Blocks I discussed the pleasures of working with “abandoned blocks“. Abandoned quilt blocks are blocks that another quilter does not want and gives to you or you find at a thrift shop or garage sale and decide to adopt!

Recently a quilter friend gave me a cool stack of batik freely pieced abstract blocks that she no longer wanted to work on in addition to a pile of coordinating scraps of fabric. I love batiks and I love her combination of colors so I was very excited to adopt these blocks! As a bonus I discovered that the trees that I printed on batik fabric during a fabric surface design workshop I took in April (see post What’s On the Design Wall: Fabric Surface Design Experimentation), appear to work well with the newly adopted blocks!

Below is the piece in it’s very early stages (I threw all the adopted blocks and my tree printed blocks up on the Design Wall in a random manner) and we’ll see how the piece progresses. You know I will post updates.

My friend who also likes working with abandoned blocks (she collects them from thrift stores, garage sales and guild meetings) and I joke about someday having an exhibit of our collection of pieces made from other’s discards!

Studio

Very Cool Website and Tool: Play Crafts and Palette Builder

June 18, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before becoming a blogger, I did not follow many blogs. Now I find myself following many interesting blogs, including one by a fellow quilter/crafter knitNkwilt. Thanks to one of her recent posts I was introduced to a wonderful website Play Crafts and their free online tool Palette Builder 2.1!

In my post Creative Inspiration: Nature, I discuss how the colors in a photo from Red Rock Canyon State Park inspired an abstract art quilt I created. I manually determined what colors were in the photo and matched them to fabric in my stash. Play Craft’s tool Palette Builder 2.1 identifies the key colors in a photograph for you automatically and for free!

Below is a photo I took while in Morrison, Colorado near the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater:

Here is the photo after running it through Palette Builder:

Palette Builder has identified the palette for a piece based on the photo. You could use this palette to create a painting or to design a textile based piece inspired by this photo! Palette Builder appears to be connected with Moda Fabrics (one of my favorite quilt fabric manufacturers) and lists the specific Moda fabric that corresponds to the color identified in the photo.

If I were working on a piece based on this photo, and say using batiks, I would add in additional tones and shades of the colors suggested to include a forest green color for the foliage and perhaps another shade of brick red. However this tool gives you a great place to start on your palette – for free!

I am looking forward to using this tool in designing a future textile piece based on a photo that inspires me creatively!

Studio, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Working Through A New Art Quilt Piece

June 14, 2015July 13, 2016 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This weekend I worked on a new abstract silk art quilt piece: Abandoned Structure, inspired by a photograph of an abandoned water power plant in Central Oregon.

The water plant is called White River Falls Power Plant and it is located at White River Falls State Park in the Tygh Valley of northern central Oregon. Here is a link to an article, Nature and modern history mix at White River Falls, by station KATU on the history of the hydroelectric dam and powerhouse that was built in 1910 and decommissioned in the 1960s.

Around 6 – 7 years ago, while attending a “Quilt & Cast Retreat” (the wives attend a quilt retreat while the husbands go on a fly fishing day trip) in Maupin, Oregon, we went on a day excursion to White River Falls and I fell in love with abandoned power plant. I took many photos and the photo below inspired the art quilt I am working on:

By the way, this post could have also been a continuation of my series on Creative Inspiration, as here is an example where I was inspired by a structure to create an abstract art quilt. Note: I refer to the piece I created as “abstract” as it is not a pictorial recreation of the structure but my interpretation of the feeling I get from the photograph.

Here is the quilt in process on my design wall:

I am using recycled garment silks, recycled lines, and some of the Elite Gelato variegated gray fabric I used to carry in my Etsy shop (the bolt ran out except for the 2 yards I kept for my own use).

I will post the completed quilt top on The Wardrobe Meets the Wall blog as it will be part of that collection.

A Crafter's Life

This is the Story of a Quilting Husband Part II

June 11, 2015February 7, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In my original post This is the Story of a Quilting Husband I share how my husband Terry started quilting last year, made a flannel quilt for his Mom, and then a T-shirt quilt featuring some of his favorite brewery and “microbrew appreciation” T-shirts. He seems to be obsessed now with the idea of T-shirt quilts and has turned more of his large old T-shirt collection (and some of mine) into another quilt – this time a Schnauzer Themed T-shirt quilt!

If you read our dog Sassy’s blog Schnauzer Snips you will see that we adopt rescued miniature schnauzers. We have been miniature schnauzer aficionados for about 22-23 years. Terry is the kind of guy who will proudly wear a schnauzer T-shirt in public even if it has a “high cuteness factor”. He does not care, he loves all schnauzers (they come in three sizes – Giant, Standard, and Miniature).

His latest T-shirt quilt is a collection of 11 of his schnauzer T-shirts and 1 of mine!

Check out Sassy’s companion post on this quilt in her Schnauzer Snips page. We got the quilt back from the long-arm quilter and had it draped over the ironing board and our miniature schnauzers Sassy and Mike decided it was perfect for a nap!

Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspiration: Color Combinations

June 7, 2015November 29, 2015 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series on exploring sources of creative inspiration.

In my previous post on creative inspiration, Creative Inspiration: STRONG and BOLD Color, I discussed the influence of strong and bold color in design or fabric selection for a textile art/quilt.

Another source of creative inspiration for me is color combinations. I could go into a technical discussion of the color wheel, complimentary colors, split complimentary colors, etc. but for me it is all about: what colors looking visually appealing together. I do not focus on the “why” they look good together, I focus on the “oh yeah!” those colors look good together.

While designing my recycled silk and linen art quilt, Flying Triangles (2012), I went into a “color combination frenzy”. My mind was putting together cool combinations of different recycled silk and linen scraps faster than my hands could put them up on a design wall. I so inspired by a huge palette of colors to select from and audition together.

Each pleasing combination inspired me to continue my design process.