I'm Off to See the Wizard!!

 The ice dying wizard, where I learned how to ice dye!!

These first two pictures were my first attempt.  I dyed them both in the same batch with the same dyes, and although the colors are the pretty much the same, there are distinct differences!!  I fell in love!!

In one of the YouTube videos I watched, the dyer said not to use too much ice, so I cut down on my ice and I got too many big white blobs where the dye did not reach because the ice melted before it could penetrate all the layers of fabric.

This next one, I folded the fabric instead of scrunching it up into a little pile.  I did not like this result as well.  It looks more like tye-die and I am not trying to get that effect.  I like the more mottled look of the scrunchy piles.

For the most part, this one is gorgeous except for the 2 BIG areas of white.  I scrunched this piece but I think the piece of fabric was too big, and again, maybe not enough ice.

Still working on those white or lighter blotches .

A couple of scrapes I threw in.  One of my favorites is the one on the left.

I was really lucky when I somehow ran across this fun technique of dying.  I had done some low emersion dying when I lived in Logan, UT and I still have all the dyes and supplies (that I was actually able to locate in all my boxes of stuff)!!  Otherwise, I would not be able to enjoy this new sport right now.

If you like the look of this dyed fabric, check out YouTube.  Lots of videos.  Well, off the dye more fabric and to play bridge this afternoon.

For the love of blogging, see you soon!!

Saturday's Smile!!

All ChookyBlue June SAL Blocks Done!!

And still time to work on my July blocks!!

All of them with pretty good points!!

I have also promised myself that I would ACTUALLY start and FINISH one of the many Heaven and Earth Designs counted cross stitch patterns that I have purchased over the past few years!!  I think it is sorta like quilting: one hobby is to buy the fabric and patterns and the second hobby is to actually make something!!  

So, I decided to do the Mini Lorelei.  Here it is how it will look when it is done:

Here it is as of July 21, 2022, the day I started it (yesterday).  As of July 21, 2022 I have completed 225 stitches in about 3 hours.  Only 63,275 stitches to go!!

For the love of blogging, see you next time!!

Saturday's Smile!!

 

I Think She's Got It!!

YAY!!  I finally figured out a way to get points on my Churn Dash SAL that I have joined over at ChookyBlue.

On my first block I tried making a block the traditional way.  And I lost the corners.  I blogged about this method HERE.

Then I thought - hmmmm - paper piecing the block would give me the points I wanted.  Well, I went onto Youtube and found a video for the paper-piecing method where you do not have to take the paper pieces off after finishing the block. Yay, Janet!!).  I thought, well that should work.  So, I purchased her PDF templates and I couldn't figure that one out either.  Getting a couple of points and losing a tiny part of some points.  Onward!!

I tried making my own template but goofed it up, soooooooooo, no points!!

Then, I sat down and made an ACCURATE template and happy days all around!!  Hoo! Hoo!!

Now, with 3 of June's blocks done and 5 more under construction, I will have June's blocks all complete before the end of July and July's blocks can move forward to the July finish line!!

I am on a batik rampage, so I am working on another batiks project.  A vanishing 9-patch.  I call mine vanishing instead of disappearing because I don't cut each 9-patch into 4 sections and then after turning 2 sections, sew them back together.

Instead, I cut all the 9-patch blocks into forths, put them in a basket , toss them around, and then then pull 4 sections out randomly and sew those 4 sections together.  More scrappy!!

After I got all 20 blocks prepped to sew together, I was missing one 1/4 section!!  How does that happen?

So, before putting it up on my design wall to make sure I liked the layout, I spent a couple of hours straitening up my sewing room to see if I could find it!!  No, luck, so I put up what I had ~

Then last night, when I was emptying my trash basket to take out to the garbage, I found that little 1/4 section hiding under the basket!!  The nerve!!

Now, onto sewing it together!!  YAY!!  Just what I need - another quilt top!!

And last, but not least, our Christmas in July Art & Craft went well.  Day 2 was much better than day one but most of the vendors signed up to sell in our Kris Kringle Bazaar in November!!  And this is the winner of the Drawing Quilt, Harley, wrapped in her darling Grandma's embrace!!

For the love of blogging, see you next time!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

It is finally Here!!

Tomorrow is the set-up day for our Christmas in July Art and Craft Bazaar.  With everything else going on and all the time it takes to be the big Mucky-Muk for one of these things, I am giving my table to another Vendor and will keep working on my stuff for the next show!!

But, I was able to get the quilt finished that is going to be the incentive for shoppers to buy and not just be lookie-lous!! 

Many of the Vendors are concerned with the price of gas and the rising inflation, that folks will not being buying so much these days.  So, in the middle of the night last week, I had an epiphany to offer a quilt in a drawing for those folks that support the Vendors by making a purchase!!

So, this is an OLD UFO that I finished up, quilted and added the binding.  Of course, since it is the 4th of July weekend, the quilt just had to be patriotic!!

Let's hope my idea is successful!!  

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Getting Ready for Our Art & Craft Bazaar

Our Quilt Guild is having a Christmas in July Art & Craft Bazaar July 1-2.  I have been trying to find some different things to make that use up a lot of the stash I have, both quilting stash and non-quilting stash.

This first project is a Friendship bracelet that uses a huge long piece of hard cording that did not work for the original project I bought it for, leftover batting from customer quilts, strings of batiks (that I have a million of) and some of the hundreds of DMC threads I have accumulated over the years!!

These are really fun to make and are a perfect project while watching night time TV.

On this next project I saw an advertisement for Washi Tape on Facebook.  I was intrigued and then bought some, not really knowing what to do with it.  I was walking past some short pieces of wood that Kelly was saving for some project and a "Hoo! Hoo!" moment crossed my mind:

These are small (2" x 4") blocks that I have covered with Washi Tape and Washi papers and lots of other fun things and then tied them with a piece of raffia and sealed them with wax!!  I'm hooked!! 

 

Then, I thought what else can I do with my DMC thread?  And when I walked into my bedroom to go to bed the other night and there hanging on the lamp was a tassel!!  Ah! Ha!!  So,  I made up a bunch of tassels!  I think I might add a small metal embellishment on them, but not sure yet!!  Another super fun project and wow, it uses a lot of thread!!  YAY!!

It's a start!!  I still have 3 lifetimes of stuff to use up and at this rate, I am not going to make it!!  But I am having a ball for now!

On to other things!  I LOVE paper piecing for 2 reasons:  1) it is fun to do, including pulling off the papers and 2) the results are usually perfect!!  Take this heart block that I made for a "Hug" quilt for a gal who fell coming through the door to our last Guild meeting and broke both her wrist and her arm.  Perfect, right?

Well, with the idea of perfection in mind, I am sooooo frustrated with the Churn Dash blocks I am TRYING to Make for Chooky Blues SAL (HERE).  Even with the paper piecing technique I am losing some of my points!! Grrrrrrrr!

I'll have to keep trying but at this rate I won't make the June deadline!!  

Until next time and for the love of Blogging!!  Kris

What is Flag Day?

I thought this was pretty interesting!!

The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.

On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.

Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.

Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.

In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.

Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

                     It is truly a majestic flag, isn't it!! 

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Churndash SAL

 This is my first Churn Dash block EVER!!  I am participating in Chookyblue's Churn Dash SAL.

This was supposed to be the first block in the quilt, but after I squared it off, I can see that I am going to be losing some of the points.  On some quilts that is tolerable, but on this one, I think the points are such an intergal part of this block, that I would not be able to live with it.

I am using some batik charm packs for this quilt, so my blocks will be much larger than Chooky's (her blocks are 9.5" unfinished) but that only means I can make fewer blocks!!

I know, I know, these fabrics are not the traditional look of a Churn Dash Quilt, but ya know . . . 

I watched Jenny Doan do a video on YouTube for this quilt block, but I am going to need to find another method to make the 1/2 square triangles, so I don't lose the points.  Oh, I know, I think I'll paper-piece them and then ask Janet O. over at Rogue Quilter to rip the papers off for me!! Ha! Ha!

Until next time for the love of Blogging!!