Work and Play

Being a shop owner, sometimes I sew things I WANT to sew and sometimes I sew things I NEED to sew.  Luckily, the "CADDY PAD" by Sisters' Common thread fell into both categories.  With an inside layer of Insul-Bright, it will protect you from a hot iron when it is time to pack up and go home from a workshop.  With a lining of silver, heat resistant fabric, it opens out flat to make a mini ironing surface.  It took longer than I thought it would to put it all together, but here it is, a new shop sample (another great idea suggested to me by my great sister-in-law, Jeri).

Here is what it looks like opened up.

Off in a completely different direction, Ruth, Sally and I got together to play with polymer clay.  We had a grand time and I wish I had had my camera  along!  Everyone went in a different direction, but we were all very happy with our end results.  Here are my little buttons and beads that I carried home. 

The Cathedral Window Purse is Finished

I forgot to report that I did manage to finish the cathedral window purse in time for show and tell at the luncheon on Saturday.  I added another row of blocks around the top edge to make it tall enough.  The handle and the inside are both lined with more of the print fabric.  The only other thing that I may do is add some hand made polymer clay buttons to some of the block centers.  If I do, I'll snap another picture.

Party Time!

Today was the day that the Tar River Piecemakers Quilters Guild (TRPQG) of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, hosted their long awaited DAY OF SHARING.  The attendance was so good that we found ourselves bringing out more tables and chairs at the last minute.  The Fellowship Hall at the Englewood United Methodist Church was full.  With Mardi Gras beads everywhere, it was very festive!

Here are the challenge squares all together, ready to be voted on. 

And, here are the masks.

In this picture you can see Martha (who did a fantastic job of organizing the event), Gayle (our outgoing president) and Maryann (our community outreach chairman) watching the crowd as they proceed through the food line.

Following the meal, we were treated to some wonderful show-and-tell.

YES, I WON A PRIZE!  Second place in the 12" comfort square contest earned me a $20 Visa gift card. 

Woo hoo!

Emerge Gallery

Emerge Gallery is the site of an exhibit presented by the art quilt group that I belong to:

Artrageous Quilters

Our opening reception was tonight.  The quilts looked great!  Here, Karen, Pat and ?? take a close-up look at "Havens' Wharf" by Judy Glover.

The quilts on this wall were part of our gossip challenge.  Each person's quilt was based on the quilt of the person before them, the first taking their inspiration from the framed photo on the left.

Here's a view down the long wall.  The first and fourth are mine, "Talk is Cheap" and "Chameleon".

Ruth is taking a look at our most recent challenge "A Walk in My Garden".

There was a nice selection of hors d'oeuvres.  Linda is having a taste.

By Katherine McNeese, this quilt was based on a telescope picture of outer space.  It twinkles with hundreds of crystals.

The exhibit will be in place through the end of September at Emerge Gallery, 404 S. Evans Street, Greenville, NC.

Mardi Gras Challenge

Money talks!  The other day, I showed the little 12" square Mardi Gras mask quilt that I had made as part of a challenge ...

There are actually TWO challenges.  The other was to make a Mardi Gras mask.  I wasn't sure if I was going to do that too, until I heard that there were to be first, second and third prizes of VISA GIFT CARDS!  So, I got my act together and made a mask.  (Big dots are SHOE POLISH!  And I had to reattach the silver ribbons after I left the room and came back to find it on the floor with tell-tale cat saliva dripping from one strand!)

I'll let you know if I win anything!  Now, back to the cathedral window pocketbook, which I would also like to have ready by Saturday.

Cathedral Window Purse + MORE

I ran across this unfinished project recently and decided to finish it.  I have the body of the bag put together, but the proportions aren't right.  It needs to have another row of blocks added to the top edge.  DARN.  I'm preparing the necessary 12 more blocks now.  If I could finish it this week, it could be show and tell at a quilt luncheon on Saturday.

I'm not going to try to give a lesson on how to make cathedral window blocks here.  Suffice to say that my squares are cut 5 1/2" and I do the first step by machine;  after that, the rest of the stitching is by hand.

In other news, I finally got around to playing with my acrylic paints the other day.  You might remember that I was inspired by a Quilting Arts DVD by Alisa Burke titled "Creating Vivid Mixed-media Fabric".  Multiple layers are applied in various ways, with drying time in between.  This is what came out of my first paint session.

Alisha paints on canvas, but I had YARDAGE of this extra wide floral home dec fabric.  I painted on the back side of all of the pieces except for the last one.  Interesting effect.

Last night I played around with my pieces a little more.  I made some freezer paper stencils to iron on and mixed up some blue paint in my little spray bottle.

Before I cleaned up, I used the rest of the blue paint in the bottle.

I know, I know, so far it just looks like I'm making a mess.  More layers will be added.  Many more layers.  I plan to make a journal cover with one of the pieces.  Who knows what might develop?

Have You Had Your Shots?

A lady came into the store the other day wearing the most unusual earrings.  I took a closer look and .... they were made out of rabies tags!  Luckily, I have two cats and I knew where most of the vet-related papers etc. were stored together in a big envelope.  What a treasure trove!  I have enough to make 5 or 6 pairs for myself.  I got busy and made two pairs yesterday so I could wear them to a quilters' meeting last night and show off.

Even though it was a long weekend, I didn't get anything accomplished in the quilting department.  I DID discover a screamingly funny website called dog-shaming.com.  Every picture has a note added by the owner, explaining what bad thing their dog did.  I'm going to have to check in daily.  Here is a small sample ....