Where I find my inspiration

I ran across this blog post today and it got me to thinking about where I get inspiration.  I met Pat Sloan at a local quilt guild meeting a while back.  She's hilarious.  She also collects quotes like I do.  When I saw her inspiration board in this post and I thought I'd share a few ways I get inspired.

The Basket O'Joy and the Box O'Fun

Sometimes you just need a jumping off point.  Whether it's cross stitching, quilting, crafting or whatever your thing is, we've all found ourselves at one point or another wondering where to go next.

Some season specific quilt books I enjoy

Sometimes I'm in the mood to work on a "season."  So I'll go to the stash pile and root out the charts or pattern books that I have, let's say with fall things in them.  Then I'll go root out floss or fabric that suits the colors of the season since I'm pretty driven by color.  You might be driven by shapes or motifs.  That works too.

Fabric and a floss toss

Other times I rely on magazine photos.  I'll go through magazines like Pat does and cut out pictures.  I usually just keep them in a folder.  I like the idea of pasting them in a notebook or onto a piece of card stock too. 

You could also do this with actual photographs.  I'll go through my digital photos or I'll even go take pictures.  That's why you'll usually find my camera in my purse because I never know when I'll see something that inspires me!

Other times I'll go to the card store and browse the greeting cards.  I've got a small pile of greeting cards that I keep for color ideas.  Sometimes I just like the words or sentiments.  You never know what will strike your fancy.

Paint chips in fall colors

You could also keep an inspiration cork board or an inspiration box filled with things that give you ideas.  It could be actual objects, paint chips, floss, fabric, whatever your heart desires.

Paint chips with a floss toss

Once I've gathered my stuff, then I'll lay it all out and see what tickles my fancy that day. Sometimes I'm inspired to jump right in and get started. Sometimes I need to percolate on it for a bit. Sometimes just this act of doing is all I needed to satisfy me.

Possibilities from the Basket O'Joy

I hope this gives you some new ideas.  How do you find inspiration?  Tell me in the comments!

The Inspired Stitcher

Capturing the color

 

This was yesterday's attempt.

So I came home tonight and started experimenting while my dinner was in the oven.  Yes, I know it's hotter than three hells outside and what am I doing heating up the kitchen.  That's another discussion.  Let's get back to the pictures shall we?

This one's for Mouse.

Okay then, so this picture is for Mouse.  She suggested I lay the fabric directly on the scanner.  So I did and this is what it looks like.  It's better.   I really appreciate the good suggestion!

This one is for Jenny.

(Yes, I put my stitching on the concrete driveway.  If you are gasping, go lay down until the feeling passes.)

I took this picture especially for Jenny.  She wanted me to show how big the fabric piece is.  It's 27 inches long by 18 inches wide.  The actual stitched part is 9 by 9 inches square.  This attempt is pretty good color wise too. 

The best result of them all!

(Yes, now the stitching is laying on the boxwood bush.  Go back to laying down if you gasped again!)

This is the most accurate color I was able to capture.  There is more of a golden color to this attempt which is what it actually looks like in person...at least to my eyes anyway.  I do have the advantage of having the actual fabric in front of me too.

So there you have it.  My very unscientific attempt to capture an accurate linen color.  Pretty interesting!  Thanks to the comments on my last post for the suggestions that prompted this experiment.

On a side note, after dinner I'm going to finish packing my suitcase.  I'm going out of town with some of my stitching peeps for a weekend stitcher's retreat.  I'll have tales to tell when I get back.

There went the timer.  Dinner's ready!

More later,
The Inspired Stitcher