Path to creativity: Don't follow instructions.

I love buying patterns.
 
I purchase patterns for sewing, embroidery, knitting, and other crafts, typically because I want to learn a new technique (or the design is so cute that it’s irresistible). However...

I have a confession to make about my pattern purchases.

I rarely stick to the instructions.

I almost always adjust the pattern to put my own spin on it. In fact, unless it’s a craft that I’ve never touched before, I don’t think I’ve ever followed a pattern’s instructions 100 percent from beginning to end.

What about you? Do you follow instructions exactly or do you veer?

Following instructions is wonderful when you want to try a new craft or technique. Pattern writers work hard to share their techniques and there’s a lot to learn from good instructions. Even if a pattern uses a technique you already know how to do, the pattern writer may do the technique differently, so there’s always something new to learn.

But what about the instructions after that? What about color or stitch choices? Do you follow those too?

When I stray from instructions, sometimes little fear bubbles float the surface. What if I mess up? What if I do it wrong? What if I don’t follow the rules?

These are all questions that hinder creativity.

It can be difficult to actively step away from instructions to do your own thing, however taking that step allows for creativity to happen. It’s the magic of taking a “spark” from your brain and making it real. That’s my definition of “art”.

Ask yourself these questions:

What would happen if you had a project and didn’t have any instructions?
 
What would happen if you were free from doing something in the right or wrong way?
 
What would happen if you had permission to just make art?

I decided to run a “no instructions” experiment.

We recruited some awesome embroiders for the experiment. We gave each of them only the line art template for our two new Here Kitty Kitty embroidery patterns, Knitty Kitty and Crafty Cat. We gave the embroiderers no instructions, no reference on what embroidery stitches to use, no color suggestions, no transfer instructions, and no photo of the finished embroidery. We asked each embroiderer to pick one of the designs then stitch it however they wanted. They had a blank slate. No limitations. No pressure. No right or wrong. Just play.

Below is an image of the covers for the two embroideries. Our embroiderers did not see this image before they started stitching.


Today, our embroiderers are ready to share their results!

We put together a blog tour for this week and next week where the embroiderers will share their finished embroideries and process. I’m so excited to see what they came up with and what decisions they made along the way. I know I’m going to be blown away by all the creativity!

Below is the list of embroiderers and the dates they’ll be sharing with links.

Wednesday, April 30 
Abby from While She Naps

Thursday, May 1
Nicole from Follow the White Bunny

Monday, May 5
Mollie from Wild Olive
 
Tuesday, May 6
Olisa and Leigh from Mr. X Stitch
 
Wednesday, May 7
Floresita from Feeling Stitchy
 
Thursday, May 8
Wendi from Shiny Happy World

Please check them out. It’s going to be awesome!

We’ll have our Wrap Up here on the Penguin & Fish blog on Friday, May 9th.

Would you like to participate too?

Click here for the “Knitty Kitty” embroidery pattern.

And click here for the “Crafty Cat” embroidery pattern.

I’d love to see how you experiment and veer away from the instructions! Email your pics to me (alyssa) at info (at) penguinandfish (dot) com, and tell us what you did. We’ll share your pics on our facebook page.
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Designer's Choice winner for the Critter Patch and Threadbias Baby Quilt Design Contest

We have a winner for the Threadbias Baby Quilt Design Contest featuring our Critter Patch organic fabric line from Clothworks Textiles. And the winning quilt design for the Designer's Choice category is...

 

Natural Corridors

by ml_wilkie

Why did I choose it as the winner?

I love the simplicity of this quilt but it's still full of design details. I like how each of the Critter Patch patterns lives in it's own small space within a small square or triangle. Sometimes the triangle lives alone and sometimes it's paired with another. Ml_wilkies description of the quilt is: Modern asymmetric quilt, interpreting habitat corridors that connect wildlife populations. I think the squares and triangles living alone and some of the other triangles living together perfectly show this. It's like the sparrows that throw all the bird seed from the feeder to the ground so that the chipmunks have some food too. Ok, maybe not the best example, but it's the "wildlife" that I see out of my studio window.

The other part I like about the quilt is that the squares and triangles as a group are centered within the quilt as a whole, but they appear off-center because of the cream square that they're positioned on. It's a simple gesture that I find really interesting. It's tugging on my graphic designer heartstrings.

More winners.

I wanted to thank everyone who participated in designing a quilt. It was amazingly inspiring to see what you came up with. To see the People's choice winner and the two runners up for each category, check out the Threadbias post. Check out all the entries here. Ml_wilkies and the People's choice winner will receive all the Critter Patch fabric they need to actually make their quilt design. How amazing is that! Congrats all!

Baby Quilt Design Contest on Threadbias.com

Today marks the start of our Critter Patch Organic - Baby Quilt Design Contest - with Clothworks Textiles and Threadbias.com.

Here's your chance to design the cutest baby quilt ever using our new fabric line, Critter Patch. There are "People's Choice" and "Designer's Choice" awards (meaning I get to choose one of the winners).

The winner of each category gets the actual fabric needed to make their quilt! (including binding and backing)

The contest, hosted by Threadbias.com, starts today and lasts 2 weeks.

Theadbias.com is offering free access to their quilt design tool for the duration of the contest for you if you decide to participate.

Get more info on the contest and how to enter over here on the Threadbias.com blog.


Happy designing! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

best
-alyssa

Hi all. I'm super excited to share with you that I have a block in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine. It even says Penguin & Fish on the cover and my block is on the contents page, woot! The magazine will be on shelves on May 8th. My block is a paper pieced elephant like the elephant in our Safari Sweet collection. It was my first time paper piecing and I can't wait to do it again. Paper piecing allows you to make super fancy blocks really easily. So fun! I'd thought I share a few pics.

And...Quiltmaker will be giving away a free mag here on the blog. Leave a comment below if you'd like a chance to win! I'll be choosing someone randomly this weekend. And be sure to check out the Quiltmaker site to see more of the designs and designers.

Picnic Pals fabric collection

Hi all. Here's a quick glimpse of my new fabric line Picnic Pals. I'm really excited about the super bright summery colors. The fabric will be shipping to stores in July so make sure to tell your favorite local quilt shop that you'd like them to get some for you! The free pattern to make the rainbow quilt will be available in July as well. I couldn't wait to share it even though I know it's a couple months out yet. I can't wait to make one for myself, it'd be perfect for a picnic blanket. Remember, Picnic Pals iphone cases and ipad skins are available now over at society6, yay!

Fall Quilt Market 2011

Hi all! I'm back from Fall 2011 International Quilt Market. Quilt Market is a trade show for quilt shops and the rest of the industry to come on down and see what's new. There is one held in Spring and one in Fall. This was my fourth one, I can't believe it! I'm exhausted and could sleep for a week! It was an excellent show and I got to meet a ton of great peeps. Wasn't able to leave the booth very often, so I don't have many pics from the show, but I thought I'd share a couple from my booth. We hung Safari Sweet all over the walls. I think my favorite thing is all the little Safari Sweet plushies we made. I love the little alligator that's chilling with the big hedgehog. Silly. That's me in the booth in the first pic. That's only the first day and I looked tired already. On the wall with all the embroidery kits, you may spy some new little fellas. We now have the Giraffe, Jellyfish, Zebra and Alligator as kits! They're not up in the shop yet, but they will be soon. And all the patterns and kits now have iron-on transfers included, Yay!

Let's MEET and play with Safari SWEET!

Hi all. I have exciting news. My first fabric collection, Safari Sweet, IS NOW IN STORES! Yay! To celebrate, the lovely Nikol from Sewtropolis in Minneapolis, and I are having an embroidery get together on Saturday. We'll be stitching up little embroidered animal brooches like the one above. It's a super fun project and is especially good for kids or if you've never embroidered or sewn before. At Sewtropolis you'll also get to see a whole bunch of fun projects that you can make with Safari Sweet, like the giraffe quilt. I'll also be signing my children's book, No Monster Here. So come by on Saturday, it'll be SUPER FUN!

Saturday, October 1
1:00 - 3:00pm
Sewtropolis
5 West Diamond Lake Road
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55419

Jean quilt progress

Thought I'd share how I spent my Saturday. I worked on my jean quilt! I started it a couple of months ago and spent the entire day on it today. It's a "log cabin" style quilt with gold woven wool squares surrounded by one inch strips made out of old jeans. The dark colors are the outside of the jeans and the the light colors are from the insides. To make it bigger you just keep adding strips around the outsides of all the squares. I'm hoping to make this into a queen sized quilt and I'm about half way there right now. Unfortunately I ran out of old jeans. Boo. I'll have to try and steal a few more pairs from the hubs, but until then this project is on hold.

Pile'o'gators

Finished making some alligators out of Safari Sweet!

Safari Sweet is released!!!

The lovely Brandi over at Clothworks Textiles let me know yesterday that my first fabric collection, Safari Sweet, is out. Yippee! So tell your favorite quilt shop that you want some. :-) One of the neat things about it is that it's all organic. And not just organic, but GOTS certified organic. GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is a third party organization that makes sure every part of the process – including harvesting the raw materials, processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading and distribution – maintains the organic status of the fabric. Here's a link for more info on GOTS certification. Another super fun thing is that there are new organic solids that coordinate perfectly with Safari Sweet, and there are also a couple of flannels in the collection. Check out Clothworks Textiles blog and website for more. Over here at Penguin & Fish, we have all of the animals in Safari Sweet available as embroidery patterns and a few of them as embroidery kits. I can't wait to stitch up some animals and make little pillows with the sample yardage when I receive it. All you friends who are having babies know what you'll be getting as gifts. heh heh. I'd love if you could help me get the word out about Safari Sweet. I'll definitely share some more pics once I receive samples. Fun!

Giveaway!!!!! My new patterns

Hi peeps! Man, this has been my busiest holiday season ever, which is awesome, but exhausting. Don't worry I'll be posting more regularly soon. The No Coast Craft-o-Rama went great this weekend. It was super fun hanging out with my crafty friends. I still have to clean up everything still (and from Quilt Market too) but I'll get there.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with the bloggy blog during my lack of posting. I'm going to do a little giveaway for all y'all! I'll be giving away my 4 new printed patterns to one lucky reader. All of you who guessed alligator here were right, my first sewing pattern is the little alligator in the first two pics. He comes with a fold out template and a booklet of easy to follow instructions. The other 3 patterns are my new puppy embroidery patterns, Boston, Golden and Maltese. Each puppy is sitting in a pretty border. The best part is that the patterns include an iron on transfer, woo hoo!

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment below. I'll pick a name randomly on Monday. Then you'll still get the patterns before Christmas! All the patterns are available as printed patterns and as pdf downloads in my etsy shop. Thanks all! -alyssa

I'm in the Storque!

Check it out peeps. I was in an Etsy Storque article a couple of days ago! The lovely Linzee McCray wrote the piece about Textile Trends at the International Quilt Market. And one of those trends was embroidery, woo hoo! I got to chat with her about my embroidery kits and she took a pic of me with my big hedgehog pillow. You can read the entire article here.

The Creative Connection Event - Jennifer Murphy class

Yesterday I had the most amazing day. I attended The Creative Connection Event that is currently taking place right now here in Minneapolis. I met the most amazing people who were all incredible and inspiring. But more on that in a bit...right now I have to jump ahead to the class I took with Jennifer Murphy during the event. Jennifer creates the most amazing quirky, vintage inspired stuffed animals and she was gracious enough to share one of her patterns and teach a class how to make her little bunny. You can see my in process and finished bunny above (mine is the one with the big blue bow), some other bunnies people made in the class, and a few of Jennifer's original bears. The last pic is my little bunny getting ready to eat the apple kuchen at the gala dinner. Check out the table cloth made from Amy Butler fabric. She spoke during the dinner btw, eeeeee!

Artist: jenny mccabe of Yarn Soup

Check out these amazing bird brooches by jenny mccabe of Yarn Soup. They are made from layers of dyed fabric that are freehand machine embroidered. So darling. I'll take the owl in the first or second pic please! See more wonderful work in the Yarn Soup etsy store or on jenny's blog.

Artist: Vive Handmade

I'm absolutely loving these pillows by Vive Handmade. Each one is hand printed and hand-drawn using silkscreens and monoprints. They would definitely brighten up a drab room. See more in the Vive Handmade etsy store.