The Raven's Crafty Nest

It is REVEAL TIME again and boy did that month go by FAST!! 😲 This month’s themed art challenge over at Art Elements was "Sunflowers " h osted by Susan Kennedy. I always associate sunflowers with gorgeous photos and paintings of the Tuscan countryside for some reason, so my design for this theme was inspired by images of Tuscan sunflower fields against a blue sky. These types of photos contributed to the colors, composition and the feel of my new piece this month. Left- Sienna, Italy         Right- Tuscany, Italy **DISCLAIMER: Since sewing and quilting are NOT my area of expertise, I apologize in advance to those who quilt and sew, for any improper use of terminology and/or technique descriptions in this blog 😂** As soon as I saw the theme I knew I wanted to use a very new to me hand sewn quilting technique called English Paper Piecing . My by-love-rather-than-by-blood third mom, Annette, taught me about this method just last year! It’s use of geometric sha

Greetings and salutations! After sharing my tide pool creation with you, it seems like a great time to share some of the discoveries I came upon while doing research for May's art challenge. I found an amazing project called The Crochet Coral Reef that was created by  The Institute for Figuring  that features not only the basic  hyperbolic plane that I mentioned in my Tide Pool post but SO much more, all brought about to raise awareness and bring communities together! Margaret Wertheim in the  Föhr Reef , Museum Kunst der Westküste, Föhr, Germany, 2012. “The Institute For Figuring (IFF) is a Los-Angeles based non-profit that pioneers creative new methods for engaging the public about scientific and mathematical issues by putting people and communities at the core. The Crochet Reef project  resides at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft and community art practice, and also responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalatin