Quilting, but not "art"

Lately, I have had a hard time actually creating any "art". My creative spirit has been squashed a little. I need to fill that vessel again, but I'll talk about that later. Sometime.
Anyway, when I feel like this, I fall back on just spending time in my sewing room. I've been soritng scraps, pulling out stuff for a future yard sale, organizing other stuff.

Before I thought about doing art quilts, I made quilts for other people. Making quilts for friends, family, special occasions, has always been a big motivation for me. As I make the quilt, I always think about the person for whom it is, an that helps me get out of "myself".

So I made a quilt for a good friend of mine. I asked him a while ago, as a joke, if I should make a quilt for him. He emphatically said "NO!", probably because he thinks all quilts are flowery and Grandma-like. So I made one with fabric featuring tires, spark plugs, gears and tools. I can't post a picture yet, as I need to quilt and bind it, and then give it to him! I don't want to spoil the surprise! But I made the top in one weekend, and it feels good to start and finish something.

Something I can post is the Spring Mini-Quilt I made for a swap sponsored by the Quilting Bloggers group (see the logo to the right). I'm a little late, as the quilt should have been mailed out by the 21st of June, the day of the Summer Solstice. I used a pattern I bought years ago, and put a little bit of my own spin on it. The pattern showed three panels like this, all of them rectangular. I made just one panel, and curved the top to make it look like a niche in a wall. I thought it was a good idea, until I tried to put that border on it! But--I figured it out, and it turned out well. I did a little bit of thread painting on it, and added a few crystals on it to mimic dew.

I also have a detail shot:

I'll pop this in the mail in the next few days, and it'll be on its way to my swap partner in the UK. I hope she likes it!
Since this is a swap, I received a cute little quilt from Chris Wheeler of We Love Quilting (http://www.welovequilting.com/)

She made an adorable Grandma's Fan doll-size quilt for the swap, and I was the lucky recipient.

I'll be hanging it in my sewing room (if I ever get it painted). Thank you, Chis! It's darling.

Even though I am not working on art this very moment, doing these quilt projects has restored my soul a little.

As does seeing a great sunset. A few months ago I posted a pic of a gorgeous winter sunrise taken from my backyard.

http://underthediningroomtable.blogspot.com/2009/04/rainy-saturday.html

Yesterday there was a breath-taking sunset, of which I took a pic from my front yard! I think I'll be manipulating this picture, as I did the other one, and it'll turn out to be a good companion piece to the sunrise.

The gears in my head continue to turn...