I fused the octopus body and then fused the legs and the seaweed after weaving them together.  I outlined the octopus parts with a bright orange blanket stitch and ran a satin stitch along the length of the seaweed.   I stitched his eyes with a fat satin stitch.

To give it a quilted finish, I used two shades of blue metallic thread in free-motion waves.  The metallic thread was almost the end of me – it must have broke at least 20 times.  I have the special needles with the larger eye, but for this project they didn’t help at all.

To finish it, I put on a mitered binding and hand-stitched the back side.  All that is left to do is a label, and I’m looking online for a good design for that right now!

Would you believe I’ve never been to a Sewing Expo?  My visit on 2/6/09 to the Rocky Mountain Sewing Expo was my first.  I’d been to a lot of trade shows during the decade or so that I worked at cable and satellite television companies, so I thought it might be something like that, only smaller.

Much smaller, as it turns out!  It really felt as if the venue was too small and the booths were too close together.  There was a good-sized crowd – some of the vendors told me they thought it was a good turnout, and others said they thought it had been slow.   I was glad to see that most of the Expo was aimed towards quilters – with a few knitters and clothiers mixed in.

I didn’t register for any of the workshops, but I did submit entries to win new sewing machines!  My favorite booth, the one that had me more tempted than any to go back to the car and dig out my credit card, was Hands On Hand-Dyes.  I’ve been interested in dying my own fabric, but I can’t get past the idea that it would be a big stinky mess.  This clever company has kits and very simple instructions and the results were absolutely beautiful.

My second-favorite booth was a fabric shop demonstrating how to make fabric-wrapped corded bowls.  The samples they had on display were stunning, and the process of making them is ridiculously easy.  At least it looks easy.  I can’t wait to try it!

Unlike the corporate trade shows I had been accustomed to, there wasn’t much in the way of swag.  Okay, there was no swag.  It was swagless.  Maybe sewers already have enough keychains and ballpoint pens?  For pete’s sake, hand out 12″ squares of fabric.  Wouldn’t it be great to collect enough at a show to make a patchwork quilt?

The best surprise of the day was the food.  I expected soda and hotdogs, but they had a great spread of honest-to-God cooked meals!  And fresh salads!  They had plenty of seating and I got to watch a Linda MacPhee fashion show while I ate.   She was very entertaining and I so want to try some of her patterns with the slinky fabric.  Imagine my surprise when I visited her website later that evening and found out it was $20/yard.  Yikes.

Overall, I’d say the experience was well-worth the $9.00 I spent to get in, if for no other reason than to know what to expect the next time I go.

Boost Your Creativity with Adventure Day

“The best way to open your mind is to apply a jolt of unfamiliarity.”
“The Big Moo”, by Seth Godin and The Group of 33

Do you notice that your most juiciest ideas never come when you’re staring at the computer screen?

Do you ever wonder how to get the creativity flowing or how to generate a zest for life?

Are you in the midst of great change and know there’s something new out there but don’t know what it is?

If you answered yes to any of these, then it’s possible you need to shake things up a bit. You need Adventure Day.

What’s Adventure Day?

Adventure Day is a day devoted to breaking out of the same old patterns of every day existence. It’s a day set aside once a month when you do something different. That’s all.

The scheduled activity is up to you.

- It can be something you haven’t done since you were a kid – like roller-skating at the local rink.

- It can be something that scares you a little – like eating a new foreign cuisine, or going to the symphony if you don’t know classical music.

- It can be something tourist-y and embarrassing – like gem mining, or a carriage ride through the city.

- It can be something totally cheese-y – like going to the carnival in the mall parking lot. (The one where Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” is invariably blaring through the cotton-candy-drenched air.)

A combination of fun, a little scary, and really cheese-y is optimal.

Adventure Day can last a day, or an overnight, or a few hours. You can do it with your spouse, a friend, a business partner or your mom.

Keep it simple and somewhat local. In other words, don’t make it into such a big deal that you never even do it. The goal is just to do it.

What’s the point of Adventure Day?

I know. I know. You might be reading this and snorting. “What’s the point of that?” Or, “How is THIS going to help me change direction in my life?”

Well, it’s organic. And it works like this:

1 -Adventure Day gets you OUT.

We get into creative ruts when we stick only with what we know, when we stay confined to our insular worlds, when we think we’ve had all the experience we need. Getting OUT reverses this trend. It blasts the boundaries and breaks the mold.

In Seth Godin’s entrepreneurial gem, “The Big Moo”, one writer said: “Too often in the business world we preserve and revere experience, when we should be challenging and renewing it. Go out and get some inexperience.”

2 – Adventure Day fills your Idea Well

One of my coaching clients asked me why she feels most alive and creative when she’s traveling in a foreign country. I told her that all of that yummy newness requires full present-moment awareness every minute. So, not only are we receptive and open to new things – but we’re experiencing them with our highest level of attention. This IS creativity!

It’s important to be proactive and productive. But we also need to open up and be receptive because this is what replenishes the well of ideas. This keeps us from burning out on productivity. And you don’t have to wait til you have the time to travel to Italy!

3 -Adventure Day shows you how to be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Ask anyone who has ever performed, spoken in public, had a job in sales, or run a marathon. Success involves learning how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Once you can do that, you can do anything!

My theory is that the world has turned into The Olive Garden. The mantra is, “Keep us safe. Don’t challenge us. Fill us up with pasta and the same salty salads no matter where we travel.”

There’s nothing wrong with The Olive Garden on occasion, of course. But a key component to success, to creativity, and to accomplishing great new things is learning to be okay with not knowing what the entrée will taste like in advance! You order some falafel and see what happens!

Your Assignment

Get out your calendar.

Open up to February.

Call a friend or partner and read this article to them. (Or email it to them.)

Schedule Adventure Day in ink. Show up.

The unfamiliar is all around you. Go find it.

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

I made my first quilt about ten years ago after finding a pattern in Women’s Day magazine for the Trip Around the World Quilt that you could finish in eight hours.  It took me more than eight hours, but not that much more.  I made four of them in quick succession.  I didn’t know the first thing about fabrics, and several of the quilts have since fallen apart.  They were tied, not quilted.  I had no idea how to make a binding so I just brought the backing to the top and folded it over.  I am pretty sure I didn’t iron a single block.

I didn’t quilt for a long time after that.  I had friends who quilted and it never occurred to me to ask them about it.  I simply was not in the least bit interested.  I took up machine embroidery and loved it.  I even bought a “Quilter’s Embroidery Edition” Bernina but never thought about quilting.

As an aside, the short person in the photo turned out to be a brilliant fiber artist, and makes the most beautiful batiks I’ve ever seen.  She doesn’t sell them commercially yet, but I’m working on her!

In a moment of weakness, I joined the Crafter’s Choice Book Club.  All of a sudden I was getting two or three really big books on things like crocheting and quilting because I kept forgetting to tell them not to send me the automatic selections.  I sent some of the books back, but found a box from them in my closet a few months ago.  Inside were these two books:

I still didn’t take the bait right away. I let them sit on a shelf for a few weeks.  One night I picked up Quilter’s Catalog and that was it.  I read 80% of the book, which is crazy because it’s meant to be a resource, not something you just sit and read.  Then I devoured Quilt with Confidence and then I went to the library and rented some DVD’s about quilting and then I went to Goodwill and found some old books on quilting.

Next thing you know, I was at the fabric store, picking things for some practice Churn Dash blocks.    I was hooked!!

Deadline:  April 1, 2009

What:  Fundraiser for American Cancer Society

Where:  Online

When:  May 5-7, 2009

Donate a collage or two or three!  These must be 10×8 or mounted on a 10×8 board (see mounting information here).  You can make an art quilt or paper and mixed fiber collages.  Take a look at all the incredible entries from last year, which raised $13,000.  The goal for this year is $20,000 and I bet we can beat that!!

Collage is a blast!  If you’re a quilter, try doing mixed media on a 10×8 board.  Get a little crazy with it.  I’m going to try to get several of these done in the next few months.  I think it will be a nice break from quilting.

Entry Information:    Collage Mania