Friday Fun Day!

Yes, Fridays are my sew day.  My day off to work on my own stuff -- sewing, quilting, fun stuff -- you know the creative fun zone!

This afternoon me, Nancy, and Mari worked on tie-dye shirts.  The shirts are for the red, white, and blue party at the guild next month.  What a blast we had!

We all tried a different folding technique.  Mine is a bullseye pattern, Mari did a chevron, and Nancy did a spiral.  I can not wait to see what they look like.  Outside they go in an attempt to speed up the dry time.

Oh, I mentioned bullseye, chevron, and spiral folds.  If you are interested in doing tie dye just head over to google (or your favorite search engine) -- there is a superabundance of info out there in internet land for so many different types of folds.

While the t-shirts were outside drying I couldn't help myself.  There was still a bottle of yellow dye in the kit just screaming to be used so I grabbed an old tank and a cute curly stencil and...

Do you notice those dark stripes across the shirt?  That was a mistake turned awesome!  Don't you love when that happens?  When I sprayed the dye over the stencil it left a dark line from the overspray as well as a bright white line from the stencil edge.  So where the line-ups were I manually sprayed a dark line.  To keep it looking planned I added several other dark lines.  I think it turned out pretty cool!

Okay, fast forward several hours of drying...  Yes, they are still damp - but we need to cut all the rubber bands and lay them out flat for additional drying before the heat setting.

Here is mine - the bulls eye:

Here is Nancy's - the spiral:

Here is Mari's - the chevron:

It was a super fun day and I think we all did some pretty amazing tie dying!  If you get the chance you should definitely try it (if you haven't already)!

Over-Extended and Under-Timed (also known as everyday)

I feel the urge to share every single project I'm working on right now including all of their deadlines.  No, not for the need of bragging.  More of a need to holding myself accountable!  And unlike a little paper list, I can't lose my blog.

Kaleidoscope Quilt aka "Dance in the Rain"
This was started about a year ago, and I've already missed the two intended deadlines.  Still making strata, still cutting pieces, still need to piece pie shapes, still needs a lot... need to get more fabric from Natalie for the borders.  Yes, this beauty consists of 9 levels of her hand-dyed fabrics!  Anyway, I have hit the brakes on this one, can't even force myself to work on it... why, not sure.  I love this and can't wait to get it ready to be quilted.  It's just not in the creative front seat.

H2O Challenge - "Drops"
This years challenge for Journeys Thru Art (my art group) is H2O.  I chose this photo - "Rain" by Adam Hart-Davis -- with permission for reproduction in fiber form.  I can not wait to get started on this.   I have already purchased several fabrics along with organza, Angelina fibers, and other interesting things in an attempt to create the rain as well as the intense light glow in the background.  Should prove to be fun as well as trying.  Drops deadline is this fall... I'm shooting for the end of October.



Martin County Quilters 2013 Member Challenge: Black and White
Well... I have nothing.  Nothing to show you that is.  I have a couple of ideas in my head -- will they come to fruition?  That is a good question.  Deadline: November 14, 2013.

PSL Crazy Quilters 2014 Member Challenge: Palms in Paradise
Entry Deadline: November 2013 - must be finished by February 2014.  Ideas - none, fabrics - must use FQ provided.

True Colors
No, this quilt is still not done -- it has already missed multiple deadlines and it is still not done.  I did finally finish all those little applique circles!  But, it needs to be quilted, and well, I'm kinda busy quilting all over the place at shows with Gammill, as well as customer work.  And it really needs the quilting designed and then quilted... a little different than just quilting it.  You can read about the history of True Colors here.  The good news is I've actually pulled this quilt out and thought about the quilting design, so that's technically progress!


Un-Named New Quilt
This quilt was just drawn out a few days ago.  Well really it was drawn out several different times over a two-day period -- I stopped at drawing number 4.  I am super-duper pleased with it, it is screaming to be born, screaming!  Right now it is getting all my creative attention.  NO, I can NOT share a picture just yet.  I can tell you that it will be done entirely in dupioni silk (one of my favorites).  I can also tell you that it will use the lavender and white dupioni yardage cuts that I purchased in Jersey a few years ago.  It will also include several other colors.  It will consist entirely of applique.  Yes, I kinda like applique -- no, it will not be hand applique!  No specific deadline on this one, except that I want to finish it first!

Un-Named, Yet-to-be-Designed Fantastic Idea for a Quilt
This is my possible idea for the 2014 MQS Theme of Up, Up, and Away.  Can't share, but I've got a fantastic idea.  Fingers (and eyes) crossed that what I see in my head looks that good in fabric!  Deadline - before MQS 2014 entry deadline, which is ??

Mari's First Quilt
No, I'm not actually working on this.  Mari is!  Mari is my son's girlfriend -- she is a super adorable fun-loving full-of-life spirit that is crazy excited to learn quilting.  She went through my stash and picked out some fabrics.  I'm teaching her piecing - she is loving it -- she's starting with some simple strip piecing.  I am so super excited over this as well!  Once she is done piecing her quilt she'll then learn how to use the Gammill and she will quilt her very first quilt all by herself!  And no, absolutely no deadline on this one, just had to share!!!



So I think that's everything for now... probably not, but close!