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...

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 warmi...

Welcome followers and new comers! The art challenge theme for the month of May over at Art Elements was  "Tide Pools" .  It’s REVEAL TIME!!! You can also follow the links at the end of my blurb (if you're still awake) and see other artists' work inspired by this month's theme!! I decided to take this theme challenge rather literally. I work better in specifics rather than abstract but I did stretch my comfort zone by  using free-form crochet as much as possible  to replicate creatures and shapes you might find in a tide pool.  The idea of working free-form with NO patterns or stitch counts makes me break out in hives and was a challenge all of its own to my control freak, precision mind. However, I think the end results are very authentic and creative in a seriously one of a kind way!! I started out by choosing concept photos to use for basic shape ideas and for selecting my color palette.  Then I gathered yarn that fit in the palette from my am...

Hi there friends and followers! I am participating in a mixed medium Art Challenge this year with fellow artisans over at  Art Elements . Each month is assigned a different theme and hosted by a different artist. This is only my 2nd month participating and last month my friend Laney was nice enough to host me on her  blog so that I could make something for the horse theme. This awesome Seahorse (pattern by Patchwork Moose ) was my contribution and I LOVED seeing what all the other artists made for the month of April.  You should take a moment to check out last month’s horse challenge  creations. These are some seriously talented individuals. It was SO much fun and inspired me so much that it's the reason I created a blog of my own in the first place!!  The theme for the month of May, selected and hosted by Lesley Watt, is  Tide Pools .  😲 I simultaneously thought “awesome!!!” and “Well crap, what does that mean?? I need specific...