We're on the short list with two more sleeps before departing north. Not only are we tying up loose ends here, but I want to put closure on a few of my blog posts from this winter. The three amigas above are myself and Val and Edwige, cohorts in the shirt and chenille shawl projects. On this day we were divvying up our rayon, both black and white (for dyeing), when we decided to get good and silly! We each produced some beautiful shirts (sadly no pic) and the chenille project had mixed results. Another friend, Karen, also wanted to get involved, but we were a bit short of fabric to each have five layers. Karen remembered she had some black rayon in her stash so we then were able to stretch our resources 4 ways. We each dyed up four colorful layers and with the black as the backing, we each set off to sewing straight lines across these layers to later slice for chenille. I think I put about four hours into the line-sewing and was only half way done. At one point my bobbin thread ran out so I was punching holes, like perforations, in my fabrics, and later the black began to tear. This was a bad sign, and I suspected I needed to change my needle. (I have to admit I am not the best at changing needles.) I reported this to the group, and they agreed that it must have been the needle. I received an email from Karen one night with the info that she had finished BUT after slicing, she put it in the wash and it came out in split strips...the black had totally disintegrated and left nothing but the sliced colorfule chenille strips. It wasn't my needle but rotten black rayon! So we all pondered on how to proceed. Val finished sewing hers, but flipped it over and included the black in her slicing. I never got to see it but a friend reported it was lovely. Mine sits half finished on a shelf, and Edwige has hers only basted together. Some projects are best to just chalk up to experience! Karen is now incorporating her strips into a vest.
These two cute cousins came to model the shirts I made for them for Christmas. Aren't these girls adorable?
My invitation to the dinner club inspired this piece. Alistair's grilled shrimp with green curry was not only delicious but beautiful too and I couldn't help but put it to fabric. I love these dinner plate pieces....I know I'll be doing more. For background stitching on the placemat, I go to Epicurious.com and look up a simple and relevant recipe and proceed to stitching it on, weaving the ingredients and process in and out of the scene. It's lots of fun!
And finally, on to my mystery quilt. I've been conscientious about producing the squares each month when Heather from Quadra's guild sends out the instructions. In March we received instructions for putting them all together and basically it was a "how you like it" option. Two nights ago I put them together on my design board, moving them here and there until I got it just right. This is the last pic I took and isn't exactly as I'll piece it, but pretty darn close. Initially the task was a bit of a headache, but after a while I really got into it. Thank goodness for design boards! My pieces and mini sewing kit are set aside so I can have them handy in the car to help me while away the miles. I have a sketch of the layout in my notebook and I'm good to go.
Now to clean out the fridge!
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