Laura Kate

A New-to-me Design Tool

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Laura Kate

When it comes to my painting practice, I have been in a months-long drought. While knitting like a demon, I have not been inspired to paint, either on watercolor paper or fabric, since the completion of the Oregon Native quilt in early August.

That ended after reading a post by Just Sketching, in which he describes a compositional tool that blows the “rule of thirds” completely out of the water. It is called the Harmonic Armature. This tool takes the rule of thirds to the next level. In the rule of thirds, the designer/artist divides the picture plane into three more-or-less equal parts, both horizontally and vertically. The goal is to organize the major elements to intersect one or more spots where the lines cross.

I have no trouble understanding and using this rule, but I always am left with questions about how best to lay out the rest of my composition.

Now look at the Harmonic Armature

The four dots are clearly visible, but there is so much more. To get an idea of how this tool is used, have a quick listen to this video by Diante Jenkins.

I had to try this right away, so I started searching through some of my old paintings. I found one based on an excellent photograph that I did five years ago, in my early days working with watercolor paint.

I like how it turned out, but it always struck me as too empty. This past summer, I took it to a workshop I attended on making transfer prints with a laser jet printer. I transferred a photocopy of the painting to a cradled plywood board. Then I didn’t know what to do with it . I decided to add collage to it. What it needed was something alive – like birds. But where to put them?

First, I drew the HA on an 8×10 piece of tracing paper.

Next, I thumbed through some magazines and cut out various shapes of birds in dark colors. I also found some silhouetted figures in the magazine, which could work in my new design, so I cut these out.

After taping the armature over the print, I carefully slipped my cut-out shapes into place, taking advantage of the converging lines and focal points visible on the tool.

Once the glue dried, I added a few colored pencil marks to blend the silhouettes with the foreground.

It was a delightfully spent afternoon.

Now I am keen to get out my unfinished watercolors and see how I can move them to the finish line inspired by my new tool.

knitting

Unraveled Wednesday Early Start

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Laura Kate

We were treated to a fabulous sunrise this morning. I took it as a sign that today would be a productive one.

So I’m starting with a post about the project on my needles today.

There is an uncanny resemblance to a sunrise in the knitting sequence, but what the heck is this object trying to be?

About three years ago I knit a sort of poncho, which was designed by mashing-up two different patterns.

I called it the CozzyCusco Kimono in reference to the patterns I used. It is knit in two halves, then joined with three-needle bind off at the center back. You can read more about this project here:

https://dailyfiberfun.com/2022/03/11/finished-object-friday-cozzy-cusco-kimono/

Having worn it out in public here, I was approached by a new friend who wanted to buy it as a gift for her mother. Not ready to part with it, I bent my rule about knitting for money. I told new friend that I would make one for her mother if she covered the cost of the yarn.

“What colors does your mother like?” “Jewel tones,” was the reply. Hm.

I’m afraid that my color choices are more fiery than jewel like. I’m hoping that friend’s mom is an extrovert. If not, wearing this fiesta-like garment will surely convert her.

Now onto reading. I’ve been enjoying access to the Carnegie library here in DBQ and have read a few novels. Recently I read one by Ashley Poston called The Seven Year Slip. It is an amusing tale of romance sprinkled with time travel about a New York publishing executive. A light read that’s a bit spicy and not something I would seek out, I enjoyed it never the less.

More along my usual lines is Turning to Birds: The power and beauty of noticing, by Lili Taylor. The author is an actor living in New York. This book is part nature study and part autobiography, with short chapters, each featuring an adventure in her newly-found passion for bird-watching. My description doesn’t do it justice, so I recommend that you read a sample to decide for yourself what is it about.

That’s all for me today. Time to get on with my day.

This post is linked up with As Kat Knits’ Unraveled Wednesday for November 5 2025

knitting, Living Life Well

Return from unplanned hiatus

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Laura Kate

Dear friends,

While I have been silent for over two months, I have not been idle. So much has taken place in my real life that I found it hard to keep up on my blog. You will detect from my opening photograph that Knitting is the one fibery activity that I kept going in the interim. And there is one Finished Object and one Nearly Finished Object.

Having given away my fingerless mitts last spring, I used stash yarn to make a replacement. The pattern is Croft Mitts, designed by Kirsten Kapur. It appears that I downloaded the pattern from Interweave, although I can’t remember when. Three yarns are used – all from Knitpicks. The pale and dark blues are Gloss in fingering weight – a lovely wool and silk blend. The variegated pink is Hawthorn fingering.

I’ve already posted about Kate Davies Paperdolls project. It is nearly finished.

All that remains is to pick up and knit an I-cord strip along the lower edge. Once I have blocked it, I’ll get another photo to post. Purple is the Ultra Alpaca. The pink is Swish in worsted weight.

And there is an extra fancy project on my needles. I’ll do a more complete post of it later. It is a second version of a project I knit about three years ago.

Now, some photos and words about three events that have filled my life in the last two months.

A trip with friends Fritz and Melissa to the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica in early September. A few highlights:

Very soon after our return, my sweet mother passed away soon after suffering a fall in her room. We traveled to Ohio for the funeral in early October. I took no photographs at that event. Here are some photos from happier days

Goodbye, Mom. You will long be well remembered by hundreds of people whose lives you touched.

In late October, a landscaper reshaped the steep side yard of our new house.

Before:

After:

Bill and I have also been active around our new home town, attending events and making friends. We love it here.

If you are still reading, thanks. I’d love to hear what you are working on these days. I invite you to leave a comment below, or drop a line to my email.

quilting

Sunday Reveal: Baby has arrived!

Posted on August 17, 2025August 18, 2025 by Laura Kate

Ten days ago, my sister texted me with wonderful news: My niece’s baby arrived, on her due date. The newest family member is a little girl, named Roseanna Joy. Within days I had assembled the Oregon Natives quilt blocks and added the border.

This quilt is made in strip-piece fashion and finished out at 48 x 58. I’m pretty happy with the result. Using fabrics (mostly from Connecting Threads) that match (or approximate) the color palette provided by the new mom, I organized the quilt around ten applique blocks with images of creatures and plants that live in the baby’s home state. My daughter assisted me in designing and sewing these feature blocks.

Color palette provided

For those readers who may be surprised by the hap-hazard way that individual strips meet each other, let me say this: It’s intentional. An ecologist would call this style “disordered uniformity.” At the detail level, things seem to be chaotic, but when looked at from a respectable distance, patterns emerge. It is the way of nature.

Here is a quick close-up of the mammals, birds, reptile, fish, insects, plant and fungus that will greet little Roseanna.

Steps to completion still await me. I will need to make the label, assemble the quilt sandwich and do the quilting. That part is making me a little nervous, because I haven’t figure out what quilt pattern to use. Any advice from you experts out there will be appreciated.

Linking to Songbird Designs

hand embroidery, painting, quilting

Fun Friday Finished Blocks

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Laura Kate

The Oregon Baby quilt block creation phase is ju……..st about done. Today I want to share two blocks that I finished and two images of blocks that my daughter finished.

Let’s start with sketches: My first attempt at rendering a painted turtle didn’t work out very well in the applique process. It was too complicated.

While I loved the drawing, I decided to start over. Here is my revised sketch with some colored pencil enhancements.

and here is my block complete with applique, machine stitches and painted details.

(there is a little smudge of paint that rubbed off my hand. I’ll have to find a way to cover it up before sewing this block into the quilt.)

Next I sketched a fish common to the northwest: coastal cut-throat trout.

This was easy to applique, and required very little paint to render the fishy details.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to receive two photographs of blocks completed by Amanda. During the preliminary phase of the quilt design, I had shared two sketches with her.

She took these designs and interpreted them in her own style. In addition to applique and paint, she added some expert hand embroidery touches to these blocks. Her results really bring these cute animals to life.

In the meanwhile, I have sewn up all of the strip pieced blocks. There are only two more feature blocks to finish before the quilt top can be assembled.

I’m pretty happy right now, and feel confident the quilt will be ready to send when my goddaughter’s baby arrives in August.