15 Minute Challenge - April 2nd

How was your Easter?  Ours was pretty relaxing.  Sunday was so gorgeous once the morning down pour ended.  It was sunny and warm.  Yesterday we were back to the cold and more rain.  I'm not complaining about the rain, we need it pretty badly.  But I'm so ready for a few sunny days with warmer temperatures.  It sure does seem that winter has hung on longer this year than is normal.  I guess that makes up for last year when we really didn't have much of a winter.  

It's April.  Which means I have to get real serious about finishing up the taxes this week, but it also means there is a new discussion topic for the fostering creativity discussion.  This year, in addition to working in 15 minutes of sewing each day, I'm trying to find ways to improve my creativity.  For me that means designing more of my own quilts and being more open to different color themes and fabric styles I don't normally use.  This month's theme is "become an observer".  

If you quilt and you have a presence in blog land, then you are an observer.  The biggest linky parties are those where we show works in progress or the on line quilt shows.  In general quilters like to share their work and look at what other's have made. Quilters attend quilt shows and most shops have a full range of quilt samples up on their walls.  It's not hard to find examples of how the latest fabrics are being used.  Do any of those things spark your creativity?  It's hard for me to see almost any pattern and not imagine it done in different fabrics or wonder what if the block was tweaked this way.  What would happen if you changed up the borders or framed the whole quilt in a different color?   

For me observing how others use color has had the biggest effect on my own projects.  I'm more adventurous now that I was at the beginning.  I'm not as prone to be so matchy-matchy.  My OSU quilt is probably the biggest evidence of that.  A few years ago I would never have put all those different oranges together in one quilt.  I would have diluted one or two fabrics in a sea of black or white.  Not that you can't make (and I still do make) beautiful quilts that way, it's nice to not have all your quilts look one way.   

More on observations and creativity next week.  Moving on to looking back at the last seven days, I didn't do too badly on finding time to spend some creative time at the sewing machine.  

Six out of seven days is a pretty good week.  Evening Star is almost finished (it will be my first of 2013).  I also started a new project last week, though it took me two days of pre-work to actually make the first block.  

Did you manage to find some creative time with your sewing machine or other crafty needles?  If so, or even if not, link up and share how your creative crafting life is going (or not going).   

1. Marti 2. Susanne

3. Lesley A 4. Amanda

5. Kate

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