Are you a writer, artist, musician, crafter, or other kind of creator?

[MercyA]

Would you be willing to share your work with us? I love, love, love seeing what my friends are doing. 🙂 

If you have an Etsy shop, a website, a YouTube channel, an Amazon link, or a photo, please post them here! 

If you want to remain anonymous (and if you trust me!), you can PM me a link and I will post it for you. (I won't tell anyone who you are!) 

[fairfarmhand]

Writer. I’m writing a book, have a couple blogs, and I write for my drama group. (Comedy)

I also write for a website called home stratosphere. I write recipes for them. 
 

Blogs: 

Www.aplaceofquietrest.Wordpress.com

www.fruitsoflaborblog.Wordpress.com

(I’m bad at keeping up with my blog)

 

[Kalmia]

I have written one book, published by Royal Fireworks Press. 

I just finished the first draft of a novel.

I have gotten three photographs into juried shows at the local art gallery in the past year.

I love to draw.

[Melissa Louise]

Part of a new quarterly literary magazine. Working on final changes to the site right now! Poetry editor. 

It. Is. Fun.

[Ausmumof3]

I used to write before kids.  Mostly poetry.  I hope I will again some day.  I’m exceptionally bad at drawing but I really enjoy it and have improved as I’ve worked through art curriculum with my kids.  I love that as a not very observant person it helps me to notice external things and structures.  I’m very sold on the idea that came first from Charlotte Mason but then extended through various other info over the years that drawing helps us to see and understand the structures of what we see in the world and is a really valuable skill for scientists.  I love taking photos but I just use my iPhone so nothing high resolution.  

[Melissa Louise]

3 hours ago, Kalmia said:

I have written one book, published by Royal Fireworks Press. 

I just finished the first draft of a novel.

I have gotten three photographs into juried shows at the local art gallery in the past year.

I love to draw.

I often recommend RFP books. Are you happy to share the particular book, maybe in a message? No worries if not. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

Our library hosts a different art groups paintings each month from kindergartens to pottery to watercolour.  I love seeing it all.  There is so much amazing talent out there that doesn’t get seen more widely.

[Guest]

I have always loved to create and make things. I write, do photography, loom knit, sometimes draw or paint, sometimes make crafts or arrangements of seasonal decor. I also love food as art: beautiful breads or desserts.

I’m planning to do the decor and some flowers for dd’s wedding in September. I’m sure I will show off lots of pictures of that when the time comes. I am also growing a lot of flowers for the wedding. Depending on how successful that endeavor is, there may be a lot of flowers from my own gardens or fewer. We’ll have to see what happens with that. 

I don’t maintain a blog anymore. I have an Etsy shop but it is currently empty; the last items I had in there were masks which sold out in a few hours. 😄 Traffic from the Hive boosted my shop in the search results (I speculate); normally my shop doesn’t rank high enough for much traffic. 

Here’s a photo I took, which I enjoy (excuse the weird angle; I was trying to block reflections): 

[Momto6inIN]

I take pictures of my kids and our vacations and create digital scrapbooks, and I play piano, so nothing I can share. Once upon a time I wrote (mostly poetry), and I still have a really great idea for a novel or a short story that came to me in a dream hanging around in my brain, but I've put that off til "someday" when I have more time and less noise in my life to devote to it.

[Kalmia]

11 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

I often recommend RFP books. Are you happy to share the particular book, maybe in a message? No worries if not. 

 

I sent you a message. Thanks!

[kbutton]

I have been sewing more during the pandemic. Blackwork cross stitch and English paper piecing are new for me (EPP just since Christmas).

This is my most recent finish from a free pattern shared via a FB group. I added a corner pattern to enlarge it.

Edited March 7, 2021 by kbutton
Fixed placement of ()

[kbutton]

These are probably my three best EPP items so far. I don’t have a finished project in mind just yet—still playing around.

I think PeterPan mentioned EPP as a hobby some people have, and I went down the rabbit hole. I don’t cut or machine stitch precisely enough for quilting on a machine. The EPP method perfectly remedies that problem.

[Spy Car]

9 minutes ago, kbutton said:

These are probably my three best EPP items so far. I don’t have a finished project in mind just yet—still playing around.

I think PeterPan mentioned EPP as a hobby some people have, and I went down the rabbit hole. I don’t cut or machine stitch precisely enough for quilting on a machine. The EPP method perfectly remedies that problem.

So is this technique to use paper shapes as a template (of sorts) and then sew fabric around it as a quilt? 

Bill

[kbutton]

11 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

So is this technique to use paper shapes as a template (of sorts) and then sew fabric around it as a quilt? 

Bill

Yes. You baste the fabric to paper or cardstock  (via thread or glue) and take them out later. Foundation paper piecing is another style of quilting with paper, but it’s very different (crazy quilts, log cabin quilts). I don’t know much about FPP.

I punched holes in my pieces to make them easier to get out later. You can see my basting threads as well. I should be able to use the papers many times (iron between used). Some people use scrap paper, but since cutting precisely is not my thing, I asked for machine cut pieces for Christmas from https://www.paperpieces.com.

I highly recommend this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=PFLGBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Edited March 7, 2021 by kbutton
Picture to follow—need to delete some

[kbutton]

EPP back

[Spy Car]

12 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Yes. You baste the fabric to paper or cardstock  (via thread or glue) and take them out later. Foundation paper piecing is another style of quilting with paper, but it’s very different (crazy quilts, log cabin quilts). I don’t know much about FPP.

I punched holes in my pieces to make them easier to get out later. You can see my basting threads as well. I should be able to use the papers many times (iron between used). Some people use scrap paper, but since cutting precisely is not my thing, I asked for machine cut pieces for Christmas from https://www.paperpieces.com.

I highly recommend this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=PFLGBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

That is very ingenious. Like this idea. 

Thanks.

Bill

[Danae]

I started EPP this year too.  Here’s mine so far:

 

 

[kbutton]

3 minutes ago, Danae said:

I started EPP this year too.  Here’s mine so far:

 

 

Ooh, did you fussy cut a lot of those?

[Danae]

2 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Ooh, did you fussy cut a lot of those?

Everything except the pink and orange for the stars. 
 

Edit:  and the yellow and purple in the center star.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Danae

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

That is very ingenious. Like this idea. 

Thanks.

Bill

Apparently it’s a very old tradition that is coming back into practice with some updates (like the glue basting). I find it soothing and methodical, which is what I like for hobbies. 

[Spy Car]

I'm going to add EPP to the list of things I'm going to regret never getting around to in this lifetime.

Bill

[kbutton]

Just now, Spy Car said:

I'm going to add EPP to the list of things I'm going to regret never getting around to in this lifetime.

Bill

Lol! I like that phrasing. It works.

[Danae]

I like it because it’s portable.  I’ve done some machine quilting, but I always envied knitters’ ability to take their projects with them. And quiet — you can work on it on a Zoom call.

[Spy Car]

4 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Apparently it’s a very old tradition that is coming back into practice with some updates (like the glue basting). I find it soothing and methodical, which is what I like for hobbies. 

The stitching is by hand? What sort of glue? The glue just washes out later, or what?

Bill

 

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

8 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Apparently it’s a very old tradition that is coming back into practice with some updates (like the glue basting). I find it soothing and methodical, which is what I like for hobbies. 

My grandmother used to use kitchen paper.

[Rosie_0801]

2 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

my biggest dream is to write something. Not get published, but able to write creatively like even fanfiction. A story, fleshed out with dialog that I can write and not be ashamed to have people read. I love to read, but I cannot write and I have tried. So I am planning to take a creative writing class, but I am putting it off because I am intimated and scared I will really find out I cannot write.😊.

Start with Anne Lamott's 'Bird by Bird' book on writing, perhaps. 🙂

[Danae]

Just now, Spy Car said:

The stitching is by hand? What sort of glue? The glue just washes out later, or what?

Bill

 

 

 

You pin the paper pieces to the back side of your fabric and cut around them with a 1/4 allowance.  Then you iron the edges around the paper and either glue or baste them in place with a running stitch.  I baste — you can see the basting stitches that I haven’t taken out yet.

Then you hold two pieces with their faces together and whip stitch along the edge.  Unfold, and it’s a seam.  After all the sides of a piece are done you cut the basting stitches and pull the paper out.  If you glue I’d guess you have to wait until the whole project is done and wash it out.

[MercyA]

We have two anonymous contributions! 🙂 

A bit of art

and

an emotional intelligence product. (From the creator: this helps people learn to recognise what is bothering them, regulate their expectations of themselves and gives them a chance to do something about it if they can, or at least explain it to their nearest and dearest if they can't. "I'm not really angry at you, Dear, I'm still not over the argument I had with my mother last week," etc.)

Edited March 7, 2021 by MercyA

[Rosie_0801]

39 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

Thanks. Have books on writing, probably should not say this on a homeschool board where people self educate, but I find I am lacking something I cannot pinpoint 😊. I want an instructor who will hold my hand and give me feedback. I want to go to class.

I think the book I recommended might help you feel like not procrastinating about the class. 

Not sure why I even read it. All I ever write is platonic love letters. *shrug*

[Melissa Louise]

50 minutes ago, Dreamergal said:

I was pushed into STEM, I did not have any sort of art education whatsoever. 

I am in the learning stages. Learning to paint, draw, sew using a machine, possibly play the piano and my biggest dream is to write something. Not get published, but able to write creatively like even fanfiction. A story, fleshed out with dialog that I can write and not be ashamed to have people read. I love to read, but I cannot write and I have tried. So I am planning to take a creative writing class, but I am putting it off because I am intimated and scared I will really find out I cannot write.😊. I have gone back to embroidery.

Dance is a creative art, I am in the area of murdering the dance form. But I am taking a dance class . terrible at it and loving it

I photograph a bit, quite ok.

If cooking was a creative art, that would my thing. I am a creative cook in the sense of I do not use measurements, I take a recipe and make it my own. Mostly it works out but some have truly been experiments and my poor hubby has borne the brunt of them, because I try it out on him, not the kids.

I may never create anything but it gives me quite a bit of joy to try all these things. That I think is the point.

Please don't be intimidated to join a class. I teach writing classes; teachers love to get students who are already readers.

In a class with good instruction, you will produce and improve work. 

[Melissa Louise]

47 minutes ago, MercyA said:

We have two anonymous contributions! 🙂 

A bit of art

and

an emotional intelligence product. (From the creator: this helps people learn to recognise what is bothering them, regulate their expectations of themselves and gives them a chance to do something about it if they can, or at least explain it to their nearest and dearest if they can't. "I'm not really angry at you, Dear, I'm still not over the argument I had with my mother last week," etc.)

Thank you, very cool. 

[sweet2ndchance]

I crochet and have shared pictures of that before. Don't have a crochet project I'm working on currently though.

Once upon a time, I played the flute and the piccolo. Won competitions and everything.

I made paper scrapbooks when my big kids were little but I've transitioned to digital scrapbooking. I currently participate in a monthly blog train for digital scrapbook designers. I host my portions on a website.

 

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, Spy Car said:

The stitching is by hand? What sort of glue? The glue just washes out later, or what?

Bill

 

 

 

Generally by hand. The basting stitches are big loopy stitches to hold the paper in (on larger pieces, you see right through the paper), and then the basted pieces are stitched together with tiny stitches that are permanent. When the blocks are joined, you can pull the paper out and the basting out. The loose basting stitches are comparable to gluing the papers, and yes, the glue washes out. Most people use a regular glue stick.

I don’t know much about the techniques for paper piecing with a machine.

@Danae had a better explanation. I was addressing my notifications in order and missed it.

Edited March 7, 2021 by kbutton

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

My grandmother used to use kitchen paper.

Would that be brown paper, parchment, or coated freezer paper? We have several kinds of paper that might be used in the kitchen here. I forgot that people sometimes use freezer paper—I guess the coated side lightly adheres to the fabric with a quick ironing so you don’t have to baste.

Do you have any of her work?

[Danae]

7 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Generally by hand. The basting stitches are big loopy stitches to hold the paper in (on larger pieces, you see right through the paper), and then the basted pieces are stitched together with tiny stitches that are permanent. When the blocks are joined, you can pull the paper out and the basting out. The loose basting stitches are comparable to gluing the papers, and yes, the glue washes out. Most people use a regular glue stick.

I don’t know much about the techniques for paper piecing with a machine.

Paper piecing with a machine, aka foundation piecing, is a whole different thing.  Instead of cutting the paper pattern apart you have an outline of the whole block and you place each fabric piece on the back of it one at a time so that when you sew on the lines you’re sewing your pieces together.  When you’re done you have an entire block with a paper copy on the back that you tear off. 

[kbutton]

1 minute ago, Danae said:

Paper piecing with a machine, aka foundation piecing, is a whole different thing.  Instead of cutting the paper pattern apart you have an outline of the whole block and you place each fabric piece on the back of it one at a time so that when you sew on the lines you’re sewing your pieces together.  When you’re done you have an entire block with a paper copy on the back that you tear off. 

 I have seen some tutorials for EPP with a machine, surprisingly!

 

 

[Danae]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

 I have seen some tutorials for EPP with a machine, surprisingly!

 

 

Wild!  It would kind of defeat the purpose, for me.  

[Garga]

When I was learning photography, I started a blog to show a “picture of the day” for a year. I wrote about each picture. The blog turned out to be pretty fun and was a much needed creative outlet while the kids were younger.  It was very time consuming, so I stopped, but I might take it up again.

Meanwhile, I still am enjoying my photography. I like all sorts of pictures. Here are some that I’ve taken in the last year. I’m in the one that re-creates the picture with the red robe. My dh is in the one that re-creates the picture with the white ruff (and...sorry to poor DH, but I had to make him look more wrinkly and red for the photo than he is IRL, so that he’d better match the art work.)  DS18 is in the field playing his didgeridoo for his senior portraits, and the one with the books is of a friend’s daughter for her senior portraits.

I prefer taking pictures that require creativity, like the art re-creations and the one with the books flying around the girl.  

 

I didn’t take the next one, but my photography friend took it of me. She had some fun playing with it, and then created two versions of it.  🙂

 

For the last two where I’m juggling, it was in the fall and I was soooo bored being stuck at home from covid. I found a little chip in the paint in my car. Yes! Finally! Something different was happening!  I quickly called the dealership and ordered some touch up paint. They told me it would be in on Tuesday. Yes! Finally! Somewhere to go!

When Tuesday morning dawned, I peeled off the old sweatsuit that I’d been wearing for weeks, took a shower, fixed my hair, and put on my suit. This was going to be An Exciting Day with Somewhere To Go!

 And then, the dealership called and said that the paint didn’t come in after all. 

Nooooo! 

All dressed up and nowhere to go! 

My photography friend, meanwhile, was sitting in her own home in her own sweatsuit and said, “Come over RIGHT NOW while you’re still dressed up and I’ll take your picture!!!” 

So, we both wore masks and she took the pictures super fast, zip-zap (mask off only long enough for the pictures). I was in and out of her house in about 10 minutes.

A few hours later, she sends me these goofball pictures.  🙂

It really was An Exciting Day.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Garga

[kbutton]

3 minutes ago, Danae said:

Wild!  It would kind of defeat the purpose, for me.  

Agreed! 

[Rosie_0801]

20 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Would that be brown paper, parchment, or coated freezer paper? We have several kinds of paper that might be used in the kitchen here. I forgot that people sometimes use freezer paper—I guess the coated side lightly adheres to the fabric with a quick ironing so you don’t have to baste.

Do you have any of her work?

All three kinds of paper, I think. Sometimes she used newspaper.

No, I have much of her craft book collection though. She never gave her grandkids any of her sewing (she was predominantly a toy maker,) but sold it for local charities.

[kbutton]

6 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

All three kinds of paper, I think. Sometimes she used newspaper.

No, I have much of her craft book collection though. She never gave her grandkids any of her sewing (she was predominantly a toy maker,) but sold it for local charities.

That’s sweet, but I am sorry you don’t have a quilted item!

I need to keep in mind what I make for kids and any future grandkids. Seems like some people pass on so many crafts other people feel suffocated and others don’t think to pass them on at all.

It sounds like she was very talented. 

[kbutton]

@Garga we have a local juggler that has records for actual chainsaw juggling. I don’t know about cats. 😉

[Garga]

2 minutes ago, kbutton said:

@Garga we have a local juggler that has records for actual chainsaw juggling. I don’t know about cats. 😉

Chainsaws are probably safer than cats. ;D

[Spy Car]

36 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Generally by hand. The basting stitches are big loopy stitches to hold the paper in (on larger pieces, you see right through the paper), and then the basted pieces are stitched together with tiny stitches that are permanent. When the blocks are joined, you can pull the paper out and the basting out. The loose basting stitches are comparable to gluing the papers, and yes, the glue washes out. Most people use a regular glue stick.

I don’t know much about the techniques for paper piecing with a machine.

@Danae had a better explanation. I was addressing my notifications in order and missed it.

Thanks for the explanation. I find this rather fascinating.

I imagined making some really wild patterns in my mind's eye (which is the probably way I'd go personally vs aiming for neat geometry) and this technique seems doable. Very cool.

Bill

 

 

 

[MercyA]

12 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Seems like some people pass on so many crafts other people feel suffocated and others don’t think to pass them on at all.

Man, I wish someone would suffocate me with crafts! 🙂 

(I am actually very blessed--I have dolls and doll clothes made by my mother and grandmother and quilts made by my mother and other relatives.)

[MercyA]

@Thatboyofmine, your painting is amazing! Love it!!!

@Garga, may I say that you and your family and friends are exceedingly attractive? But, goodness, please tell me that chimp head isn't real! 

[Garga]

6 minutes ago, MercyA said:

@Thatboyofmine, your painting is amazing! Love it!!!

@Garga, may I say that you and your family and friends are exceedingly attractive? But, goodness, please tell me that chimp head isn't real! 

Oh, the chimp head!

I love that chimp head.

I found him in a thrift store in the winter of 2019-2020, just before covid hit. I bought him intending to take him to my parents’ house when I visited them in the summer of 2020. (They live 2500 miles away.) I planned on hiding him somewhere creepy in their house on the last day I visited so that when I was gone they’d find him and be startled. Maybe under a bunch of frozen chicken in their freezer. It could be weeks before they’d find him and they’d wonder how he got there. It would be great!

And then...covid.  😞

No visit. 

No chimp head under the frozen chicken. 

😞

Chimpy completely creeped out my ds15 (ds14 at the time) and he could barely stand to be in the same room with him, but he’s gotten used to him. He sits in a place of honor in the dining room. He’s like part of the family now.

When I finally do get to visit my parents, I’ll be leaving Chimpy safely at home because we all love him too much now. 🙂

 

ETA: I forgot to answer the question! He’s made of plastic and is actually a bank. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Garga

[MercyA]

LOL, @Garga! 

Thank you for reassuring me that he is in fact plastic. 🐵

I miss thrifting!!!

[Spy Car]

38 minutes ago, Garga said:

I didn’t take this last one, but my photography friend took it of me. She was bored, so she had some fun playing with it. Photographers get bored. 🙂

I fell victim to participation in the short-lived Bernie/Mittens meme craze.

Bill

 

 

[bookbard]

I'm a writer, but the kids and I took up painting during the lockdown - here's an example.