365: Day 35 Back on track

I haven't created a thing all week. I did try though. My little kitty had her surgery on Monday-spayed. That put a big damper on my creativity. She is doing wonderfully and recovering quite nicely. It's really hard to keep a kitten from jumping around and pouncing on the big cat even when they have had surgery. For four days she had to wear a blue inflatable e-collar. She looked like a Titanic survivor. I was really tempted to inscribe Titanic on the collar and take her pic. Although she looks miserable in the photo, she really didn't fuss too much.

Wednesday night I tried to make an anagram of my name. Just too many consonants and not enough vowels to play with. If I came up with that the next step would have been to illustrate it. Last night I dreamed the answer, but promptly forgot it by morning.

So today I finally started the planning and design for my Dad's b-day gift. I had been thinking about this all week. He is a big John Wayne fan and right now I am into fabrics and quilting and found a way to combine both interests. Last week I saw a tutorial for cathedral window squares. After googling for more info I found a great tut for an easier construction method on YouTube. After reviewing the video about 5 times I wrote up the instructions.

The plan is to make a 15" square pillow with one large cathedral square (12.5") in the middle with a pic of John Wayne (6.75" sq) in the center of that. 2" brown strips will outline the the large square. Perhaps a few embroidered stars in a navy blue or gold color will add some spice to it. I will post some pics tomorrow of the plan along with my fabric choices and the helpful links. Maybe that anagram will revisit me tonight.

365: Day 17 Dead Parrot Pirate

Yesterday I mentioned a drawing I completed that continued the theme of Dia de los Muertos in animal form. First there was the Dead Vibrant Cat and then the Dead Vibrant Dog. Well here is a look at my sketch for the Dead Parrot Pirate.

I plan to do this as a quilted work ..maybe as a pillow or a wall hanging. I haven't decided yet.This dead critter is definitely larger than the other two. Parrot Pirate needs some adjustments particularly in the way the claw grasps at the pearl. 

Dyed cheese cloth might look really great for the torn fabric that hangs off his bony wing. Being able to see through the torn cloth to the images beneath could be really mysterious.

I am also thinking about using satin floss in whites, grays, peaches and pinks to embroider the pearl and then go over that with some rainbow transparent thread. This is going to be fun and challenging to create. I sense a fabric shopping trip in the near future.

365: Day 15 & 16 Day of the Vibrant Dead Dog

Inspired by the Vibrant Dead Cat, and commissioned to do so, I made a Vibrant Dead Dog pillow. My dead cat was recently featured in the Skull-A-Day Blog. It's a nice article so please check it out.

My friend Amy wanted a really cool gift for (can't tell you that part in case it's for you) and asked me if I would design a dog skull pillow that would look very much like the Vibrant Dead Cat...especially the teeth. I apologize for the terrible pics, but the lighting here is very dim right now and my daughter is waiting for me so we can watch a movie. I will try to post much better ones tomorrow.

Here is the Vibrant Dead Dog:

Here is the back of the pillow. The buttons are gorgeous! I really wanted to keep them in my stash. Do you think Amy will like it? It was a lot of fun to design and create. The finished size fits a 17"-19" pillow form. By the way, despite what today's title suggests I worked on this for more than just Day 15 & 16.

Wait till you see what I drew today. It actually counts as 365: Day 17 but will have to wait until tomorrow. I will give you a clue: It too is dead but this one searches the high seas..not human. Stay tuned, :P

365 Creativity Project: Day 2

I was off to a late start but did a lot of work. I decided to do a quilt block for the Skull Quilt project to benefit the fight against domestic violence. It's not due until May, but I was excited and didn't want to risk loosing my enthusiasm or more likely forgetting about it. Here is the link to to the Skull-A-Day blog entry for the Quilt Block Inspiration Skulls.

I thought about ideas for this block most of last night and woke up thinking about it too. I decided to do a Mexican inspired skull, but of a cat instead of a human. Pets can be such a big comfort during difficult times and can bring you out of your head where all the negative messages live. This quilt block is in honor of the pets who help during times of need and for those who were also victims of domestic violence.

The first picture shows my attempts to draw skulls. Not many cats on there, but I decided to try to get a feel for a human skull first. Searching the Internet for pics was a big help.