On my morning walk, I had a sudden urge to try to preserve some birch leaves before they are completely gone. My daughter and I gathered some up, then pressed some in our microwave flower press (instant gratification!) and I photographed a few, with Cherrywood fabrics for a background.
Since I'm not all that good at drawing, it helps to have photos to look at. But there are some things that are only around here for 4 months or so, I'm running out of time to get pictures for this year! At least the ravens, moose, and chickadees stick around!

I'm busy cranking out cards for bazaar season, and so far they are going out the door as fast as I make them, it could get interesting. I guess that's a good thing though! This batch was fun, Cherrywood fabrics and silk screened trees. I'm pretty sure I've never made something with ONLY solid fabrics, I have trouble using them at all....and technically, some of the bindings are not solids... :-)

Our first snow is a little early, even for here, but it makes good inspiration for a new chickadee design :-) His tail got cut off by the binding, so I stitched it back on through the binding :-)

Last year someone challenged me to think about what I want the most from my quilting. Am I trying to be known for it? Am I trying to make money? Am I trying to meet personal goals? As I thought about that, I realized  that making money is part of it, since that contributes to my family economy, although I feel I have other ways to contribute that are even more valuable, so I want to make sure I don’t overlook those things to sew. I also want to learn and grow, and to stretch myself and try to meet personal goals. But I think what really excites me the most is seeing other people grow and stretch themselves. I love teaching just about as much as I love creating things myself. And any art form is a really safe way to stretch our comfort zone which can apply to other areas of life as well. 
 
So, where are you in the process? Are you a strict pattern follower? A quilt shop owner told me recently that not only do most people want patterns, they want the exact fabric used in the pattern photo. If that’s you that would be a good place to start, just do a pattern in a completely different color scheme, so you have to choose your own. The next level would be to alter the pattern somehow to make it your own. On my patterns, I usually put  a few suggestions for customizing them, I want people to stretch themselves and  add their own touch. I’ve never been much of a pattern follower, but I still find myself getting in ruts, it’s a constant growing process. My next goal is to get better about having the right amount of contrast, it’s a constant battle for me:-) For example, the green behind the leaves on this card is a little too dark, the leaves don't show up quite as well as they should.


I’d love to hear other ideas for going a step beyond where you currently are in your creativity!

We usually don't have too much trouble with moose in the garden in the summer, they usually come in the fall, but this year it's a bit early, I wasn't quite done with it! At least I like to take pictures almost as much as I like to eat kale, so they're lucky....I put on the zoom lens and got some fun ones.

Congratulations to April Gentry for winning my Facebook "like" contest! And thanks to everyone who participated, I really appreciate the help getting my stuff out there!

Getting the right amount of contrast in my projects has always been one of my biggest challenges. I must have a deathly fear of getting too much, so I usually don't have enough. What looks fine up close all blends together with any distance. I've learned a few things, but I still have trouble, as you can see with this poor little chickadee :-) Chickadees are actually a good thing for me to do, the black and white provides automatic contrast as long as I use a medium-ish background. The problem with this one is that my quilt block in the background doesn't have enough contrast. When the fabrics were in big pieces and up close, they looked to me like they would work, but as soon as I got done I could see that they didn't, the quilt block disappears. See yesterday's post to see how I changed it to work a little better. (On that one the wing was much too light, so I had to outline it...)
A great tool for seeing contrast is the red or green plastic bars that you look through. Another trick is to look at it from a distance, through a little peephole from the hardware store, or on your camera so it gets really small. One of my problems is that I'm always in too big of a hurry to finish something so I forget or don't take time to do those things, but they really help! Maybe one of these days I'll learn... :-) 

I finally got to dig into my new pile of Cherrywood Fabrics, they are really fun! For a polymer clay button tutorial, click here.

One more day to "like" my Facebook page (button on the sidebar to the right) and be entered in a drawing for a finished quilted card!

This week I had the idea for two new ways to display my quilted cards. The first picture is mounted on card stock, as usual. The second picture is mounted on a 9 x 12 canvas that I painted, then added footprints with a Sharpie. The third one is mounted on a piece of fabric that has been quilted. Both are really simple ways to turn a card into a wall hanging.
I don't have a pattern ready for this particular design yet, but this idea would work with most of my card patterns. To see them click here.

Also, my Facebook "like" contest is still going on, until Friday, Sept, 13 at noon Alaska time.
If you "like" my page (by clicking the button on the sidebar to the right, not the button at the bottom of this post...) and let me know in a comment or on my Facebook page since I don't always get notifications... you will be entered in a drawing for a finished quilted card. If you have already "liked" my page, you can still enter by finding a friend to like it, I will enter both of you in the drawing.

I'm working on something fun today, but pictures will have to wait until tomorrow :-) My "Facebook like" contest is still going until Friday....like my page by clicking on the button in the sidebar (or click https://www.facebook.com/pages/On-The-Trail-Creations/193362840773724?ref=hl)   and get entered in a drawing for a raven or moose quilted card, see a couple of posts back for pictures!!