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and I then decided to make bundled discount versions of 2 and one of all 3 wave techniques.

I finally finished creating the piece. This has been floating around in my head for quite a while. First I dreamt it and then I drew it and then I sewed it and then quilted it. Birds of paradise.

So my creations are always works in progress and flexible. Every time this happens to me I remember a video that I have seen of an elderly Japanese gentlemen who lives on Okinawa and creates mind games. He discussed Altzheimer and said that if we keep our grey cells active and challenged we won't get Altzheimer.

I woke up with this. I saw the picture and went to the box of crayons and took these out. As an artist or actually I think any kind of creator, you just know when you have got it right. First of all it feels right and you can "see" it.

I have been having what I call Artist's block. You know like Writer's block. I see something in my mind's eye and I just don't manage to translate it into fabric.

I have been working on more wave technique tutorials. I have 2 ready and there are 2 more in my arsenal. The next will be called The Wave Circle of Eternity. My first version will be all oranges. I was sorting fabrics this morning and the sun was shining outside and birds were chirping, quite loudly in fact. I found some orange summer fabrics

Every time I work on a project and as it progresses I have smaller and smaller remnants. Each stage in the project creates remnants of a certain size which then call for the next project and even more smaller remnants for the next until all I have left are really tiny scraps which I will have to find a technique for. These are not the tiniest pieces yet and the tie dyed fabrics are so beautiful that I have to find a use for all of the pieces so I will create some t shirt

I had collected quite a large amount of t shirt strips from all the shirts that I had resized and have been itching to create with them.

I always work on a number of projects at the same time. Mystyle of productivity. They are usually sized according to the remnants of the largest project that I am working on. This time I did something different. I am working on 3 separate large projects at the same time. Every single table in my studio is covered with a different project. I can do it this week as the childrens classes are on vacation, so the studio is only mine for the week.

Today we completed a spring sewing camp. Children come to learn to sew by hand and by machine and to make fun products to take home and learn new skills. After a week of sewing they will have acquired new skills and independence and they will never look back the same way.

Its qulted as I envisioned it and I am very happy with the way it turned out with the teal quilting

First I needed to work on the technique and create a version where it was easy to sew any size waves - large or small even a very large art quilt or even a bed quilt with the technique. I chose colors for that, laid them out in the order I wanted to sew them

I love my Wednesday class. I teach sewing to children and from 16:00 onwards there is a creative hum in the air. They are busy as bees. Today each one worked on a different project. Some of them come early but I don't start teaching until 16:00. They know that if they come early they have to be productive. I set them to sorting and cutting fabrics for their projects.

I am working on another tutorial and auditioning fabrics for the sample. I made a pact a few years ago not to ever buy fabric again. So when I am designing something I need to be creative. I first envision the design and then the colors. I allow myself to play with tones because I don't always find what I see in my head in the fabric boxes that I have. So flexibilty and creativity is what is called for. I envisioned an ocean but not just blues, turquoise and greens also

Holidays are coming up soon and its time to think of gift bags. I use zippered pouches for that they are very practical things.

Its the #IGQuiltFest2023 day 10 #upcycling Recreate. reduce, reuse, recycle, rework, rewear. I do keep all the scraps and even the threads when creating projects and upcycle and reuse them to recreate even more projects.

The prompt for day 4 in the instagram sharing called IGQuiltFest2023 is #creativehands so I am going to share photos of my students creating. I love seeing their different color choices and they have artistic license to decorate their products with whatever colors they like.

The prompt for the 5th day is why do I quilt? There are so many way that I can answer that. I have a life long love of fabrics from the first time at age 5 that I walked into my grandfather's sewing room and saw the black treadle machine and watched him sew and saw the pile of fabrics sitting on the chair next to him. My first trip also at age 5 to the Indian market in Pretoria, the sari fabrics, the beads, the colors all spoke to me.

Yesterday they finished their large quilted patchwork pouch for all of their sewing supplies. The purpose of this lesson is to teach them the first zipper technique in a list of 5 different zipper techniques that I teach in the sewing classes. They also get to practice lots of sewing while quilting the outside fabrics of the pouch.

I never purchase fabric. Always upcycled or gifted from friends. Collected over the years lots of it kept for crazy quilting. The color family was planned as I saw how my collection grew. The year I was pregnant I carried a basket around with me with stitched squares that I embroidered. Then joined the squares into strips, embroidered more then sewed the quilt top.