100 Days of Dice Doodles: Week 8 Update

Here's another fun week of Doodles by Dice with 7 fun new inspirations and stitched designs...

52/100:

Today's doodle is inspired by memories of visiting the "No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man" exhibit at the Oakland Museum of CA. I was especially mesmerized by the technicolor "Shrunken Lumen" expanding/retracting mushrooms by FoldHaus Art Collective. The folds of the corrugated plastic inspired the stitching and variegated threads selected to capture the changing colors of each sculpture at time of the photo.

53/100:

The inspiration for today's dice doodle is of Kenneth Matsumoto's Untitled, 1983 sculpture installed near the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose. We arrived early for a Blue Man Group show back in November, and walked around for a while until the theatre opened to ticketholders. We've attended many shows here before but I was so focused on finding parking and getting to our seats that I never noticed the surrounding artwork. The shapes, textures, and lines drew me closer to this installation and I really enjoyed studying this more closely for tonight's stitching.

54/100:

Happiness is a sharp rotary blade!! When was the last time you changed your rotary blade?!? Treat yo'self!!

55/100:

☁️❤️🌈🧡🌈💛🌈💚🌈💙🌈💜☁️

“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” 

—Maya Angelou, American Poet

☁️❤️🌈🧡🌈💛🌈💚🌈💙🌈💜☁️

This quote beautifully celebrates National Day of Encouragement. You don't have to wait until next year to make a positive impact on others: Let those around you know how important they are you, encourage their efforts, and help lift their spirits with a phone call, text, email, or card.

56/100:

The color combo and shapes from last night's dinner prep inspired today's dice doodle. As I was layering the various lines of stitching, I remembered this scene from the movie Shrek:

Shrek: Ogres are like onions.

Donkey: They stink?

Shrek: Yes. No.

Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.

Shrek: No.

Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’ little white hairs.

Shrek: No. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.

Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions. CAKES! Everybody loves cakes! Cakes have layers!

57/100:

One of my family treasures is a beautiful lace sampler knitted by my talented Aunt Frankie. I am not a knitter, but my Aunt shared that this lace technique originated in Russia and was almost lost in WWI. Thankfully the Russian government requested to have the technique preserved by Olga Federica. This intricate lacework can take 2-4 hours per inch!!

Finished size is 18" square so you can appreciate the time and love that my Aunt poured into making this exquisite piece. I enjoyed celebrating my Aunt's artistry as I drew inspiration for today's free motion stitched square. Below are some snapshots of my process for recreating the patterning.

58/100:

While visiting the Lauritzen Gardens: Omaha's Botanical Gardens last March, I spotted these zig zag leaves flowing out from the flower head. I snapped several photos and had fun recreating those textures and patterns in thread. I believe it is some kind a Banksia/zig zag protea plant. This is a more muted color palette for me. I was very tempted to incorporate brighter/bolder thread colors, but happy I stayed true to the inspiration.

Cheers to an ever growing collection of Dice Doodles...