Thursday, February 10, 2011

WIP Wednesday and Color Therapy Thursday

First things first. I need advice on just one color of perle cotton for my Spools quilt. I decided to outline each spool with off white No. 8 perle cotton. Around the border I am going to use variegated in a swirly line, like thread. By last week I had decided to big stitch the quilting needle in the bottom border rather than applique it on. So here's the question: would you use grey pearl cotton for the needle to more closely resemble a silver needle? Even though there is no grey in the quilt itself?  Or would you use brown pearl cotton because there is a lot of brown in the quilt?
Yesterday Charlotte and Levi did a Valentine's project using this great "love mail" tutorial from Noodlehead, cute little packets, one side vellum and the other white card stock, and then stuffed with M&Ms and sewn shut (by me...). I got the Valentine's M&M assortment. While I never eat blue M&Ms (personal protest--weirdo...), I have no problem with seasonal M&M colors.

I was going to have Charlotte write both her name and Levi's name on the front of each Valentine in the "from" area. Her name is long, and while she can write it very well, she really needs a good 8 inches of paper. These Valentine's were only 4" wide. Things started out well enough, and then she ran out of room. So she just put the rest of her name randomly wherever she could find space. Her whole name is there, you just kind of have to search for it. And sorry, Levi, there was no space for your name.



Then I sewed the front and back together, just leaving an opening of a couple inches at the top. The packets then got stuffed with M&Ms.

This is what I love about art projects with little ones. You give them the rudimentary instructions, and then sit back and watch how their incredible little brains interpret what you said.

While there were four colors of M&Ms in the bag (white, red, and two shades of pink), Charlotte only wanted one color in each of the packets she stuffed. After watching her create the pattern in her macaroni necklace, it makes me wonder if she is going to favor linear and symmetrical creativity in her projects. It will be interesting to watch.


Levi, on the other hand, wanted all the colors.

This was a fun project (even though they always look so serious--art takes concentration!) and educational--lots of practice in counting those M&Ms. And plenty left over for eating...

11 comments:

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Carla said... #

Cute project and cute kiddos.....I love the letters all over the place on the name....btw, Charlotte is one of my all time favorite names for little girls!( I'd probably do grey for the needle on your project if it were me. Brown might be a little too strong.)

Lee said... #

Tough question ... but I think I'd go with gray. (Don't worry about the lack of gray in the quilt itself.) Or I suppose you could go with a beige? But dark brown strikes me as a little weird for a needle. Whatever you pick, I know it will be gorgeous!

Sorry the WIP Wednesday linky closed before you got there! I know sometimes I leave it open into Thursday, but I've been getting so many people linking up that I think I'm going to be closing it on time from here on out.

Have a great week!

Staci said... #

Grey, definitely grey!

Allison said... #

I would use grey, a brown needle seems odd to me.

art and m&ms together, what a great idea :)

Sara said... #

Grey thread is my choice:) Love the kids project there--very fun idea!

sew katie did said... #

I'd go gray. Brown can be heavy. If you can just unwind some thread from the spool over the quilt to get a better idea.

randi said... #

what a fun little craft project for the kids! i love how differently the sorted their candies!

Kris said... #

Hi Cindy. I am here via Terri's blog, and have found myself quite content with my morning coffee, and scrolling back several posts back, months even, of you blog! Love it. I am a quilter too. However, mostly these past couple of years, I have been making much smaller projects, as I take care of my 3 1/2 yr. old grandson full time. Doesn't leave a lot of time for quilting, but I keep very busy in my sewing room just the same. I was also interested in learning if you visit my favorite place on earth..Bass Lake. I grew up going there, and still do, every summer. I see you go to Huntington though, and I would love to hear more about that!!! Anyway...I will be back, and often. Come say hi over at my blog too.
Kris

Terriaw said... #

I think I would use grey thread for your needle image.

Love the fun projects you're always doing with those cute grandkids.

Grandma G said... #

Love your Valentine project... but especially the cuties working on them. :) Courtney writes her name like that, too, when she runs out of room. :)

Julia said... #

Grey for sure. Did you know both spellings are acceptable? Grey and Gray. Love your blog!