Is It Dry Yet?

Today is Memorial Day and I decided to try something new. I held out hope that this would be a fun experiment and I would spend all day creating. Turned out, not so much. For some reason I thought that I should be saving the dryer sheets and turning them into art. So today I started by searching other artists to see what they were doing with dryer sheets. One of the first posts I read was about the toxicity of the sheets so I lost some enthusiasm there. My dryer sheets needed to be ironed and so I put a pillow case on top of them and started ironing. I ironed appoximately 10 sheets and then went to the sewing machine to create. My thought was to do a test piece and then work on the idea I had dancing in my brain. So I cut some muslin as a backing, got out the purple disappearing ink pen and drew a simple butterfly. Then I stitched it up on the Bernina and free formed the design. Next I retrieved the paints and started adding color over the thread. I think I would have had better luck with water colors instead of acrylic paints. But, I wanted something that would eventually be washed. I was not impressed with the end result and therefore I set aside the dryer sheets and instead I spent a few hours finishing the 2nd quilt for my cousins. Perhaps I'll post some pictures tomorrow. My hot idea was to piece the dryer sheets together, draw a nice design on them, paint it, quilt it and then turn it into a vest. The layers would probably have been dryer sheet, muslin, batting, backing. Oh, well, perhaps on another day, the plan would have worked. Today it just didn't feel right.

IQF Deadline . . . TODAY!!!

Today is the deadline for applications for IQF in Houston. Did I make it . . . drumroll please . . . YES, B. submitted my pictures and application along with my check to the IQA office in Houston. It was a very harried last couple of days, but after many long hours of working on the quilts and then getting pictures taken, I'm happy to report that my goal to apply for the juried International Quilt Festival in 2010 has been accomplished. Mark it off the list. Moving on . . . I will find out in early July if my quilts will be shown in October at IQF. How exciting is this??!!

Getting Close

The deadline for submission is next Wednesday. Will the quilt get done??? Stay tuned . . .

Progress in Rough Draft Form

As promised, here's the apron that was sewn on my new $69 Singer machine. The material was provided by Jill's Mom. I still need to add the purple gingham pockets and iron the puppy.

I think I'm looking scary and severe in this draft. Don't worry, I'm still working on "perfecting" the picture!!

Today I had an enjoyable day off from work. I ran 2 miles this morning and then got to work on the sewing. Here are a couple of pictures of my work in progress. I am still making changes to it so we'll just have to see how it progresses. The process has been totally enjoyable so far except for the big fabric mess that I'm making. Yikes!! I need a bigger room. Apparently a 12 x 17 room just can't handle the amount of sewing and creating that I do!!!

New Addition

Here's the latest addition to my stash of all things sewing. I purchased this baby at Target for $69 plus tax. I wasn't sure what I expected, but I can tell you that after setting the machine up and going for a test run, I am totally impressed with the machine. My $69 Singer and my $2000 Bernina are sitting side by side each other right now. Granted, I would never give up my Bernina (unless I was trading up!), but if I were a beginning sewist (I just recently discovered this word!) with little money, this machine, so far, is worth the money. There you have it; there's my endorsement. I promptly whipped out an apron on the machine (I'll have to take a pic or two and post later). The tension needed absolutely no adjustment and the only noticeable thing the Singer was lacking was the automatic reverse button. Yes, this machine goes in reverse, but you have to hold the lever down the entire time you sew in reverse. Just a minor nuisance.

This weekend I made a backpack to go on the tent quilt that I'll be submitting for consideration to the Houston International Festival. It's an "interactive" quilt and I don't think there's anything like it out there yet. My great nephew, Jackson, was the recipient of the first one (although the backpack is a new addition to the quilt). He assures me that he likes the quilt!! In addition, I started my art quilt that I would also like to submit for IQF consideration. The deadline is May 26 so I better kick it up another notch and whip that puppy out. Luckily I have tomorrow off from work so I'll get another day to work on it. Stay tuned . . .

Embellished

I think I'll call the quilt finished. I just finished sewing on the jewels and embellishing with crystals. What do you think . . . good enough for Houston?!! If I don't get my other quilt finished by May 26, I think I'll submit this one for entry into the 2010 Houston International Quilt Festival.

My vacation is almost over and in two days I'll be back at the desk. Actually on Monday I'll be at tax school and we know what a joy that is!! But, I still have 1.5 days to keep on going. In seven days, I have finished one of the cousins' quilts, finished the art quilt and put together the Conoco 10k run scrap book. And, oh, yeah, traveled to OKC and ran a half marathon. I can't believe that was just 6 days ago. Wow! I also bought a cheap Singer sewing machine that was recommended at one of the sewing studio sites that I visited. It was on sale for $69 and now I'm going to go and see if it is worth keeping. The girl who runs the sewing studio has equipped her studio with this machine only. Not quite like my Bernina I'm sure, but I'm willing to give it a try. I keep dreaming that one day I'll have my own sewing studio, but for now I'll just keep acquiring my fabric, knick knacks and learning new skills. Next up: making binding for Cousin #2 quilt. I have my OKC scrapbook to put together and then I'm free to work on my quilt for Houston. Hmm . . . what kind of quilt is that, you ask. Well, it's another art quilt, but this time it's not abstract. Stay tuned . . . I'll be trying new techniques on this one. Wish me luck.