This & That

Well, That's a first, I actually stitched through the plastic head of a pin. I could not figure out why the pin would not come out, the thread went right through the head. I usually remove pins before stitching over that point, but it was hiding in a seam allowance. After my dilemma about spending my time on Friday, I went after my husband's wood burning tools, to try and cut a plastic stencil. I know he had given me my own set, but I could NOT find them anywhere.

I had some where seen a stencil with overlapping circles, and thought I could do that. I used a compass that kept collapsing on me, no matter how hard I turned the tightening knobs. But I finally got it drawn out. It is about 6" across, I used the clear plastic from the top of a deli take out container. It was much tougher and thicker than the X-ray plastic I have been using. I'm not sure the clear is an advantage, over the darker X-ray plastic. I can see through it for placement, but it is hard to see the actual stencil. I ended up using a small pair of scissors to cut the stencil, the tip of the wood burning tool left a raised ridge where the plastic had melted. I know I have a "stencil tip" like an X-acto knife, for the burning tool, but again, could not find it.

I finished up the paper mache bowl that I made with the fabric scraps from my Gelli printing. I wanted to put buttons and beads around the edge. A collection of blue buttons and an assortment of seed and bugle beads was glued on with E6000. I wanted something more permanent than a glue gun adhesive. But open the window!! It stank up my whole room for a day. I like the sparkle that it gave the bowl, and a nice substantial edge, rather than the thinness of the paper mache.

I am still working on my "Dear Jane" quilt, machine quilting in the ditch around each and every freaking little piece. I am doing it in 3 sections so it will fit under my home sewing machine. This view of part of the back, shows the intricacies, imagine each block is only 4 1/2" finished size. Getting about 3-5 done each day, I am slowly working my way thru the 169 blocks, only about 50 left to do.

After burning out on the Dear Jane's, I am trying to finish up a wedding quilt for my nephew and his wonderful bride. The center panel and paper pieced pine trees was done awhile ago, but now I have to get serious. Remember when I said I work better with a deadline? Well, we get to test this theory. The wedding is July 25, and I am flying out a bit earlier and want to get it in the mail before I leave. I have gotten the maple leaves on with a dark blue border. I have no pattern, just kinda winging it with my box of flannel scraps, kind of like a round robin, just keep adding borders 'til it is big enough. I am aiming for Queen size, but we will see how fast it grows. Each of the nieces and nephews have a baby quilt, plus one other lap size or wall quilt. Now that they are older, I am working on a bed size quilt for each. I have two nephew's tops done and my sister's daughter, I just have to sew on the last border. Thankfully they are taking their time about getting married, they range from 24-34 years old. So after a difficult start to the summer, I am zipping right along, but next week, I am taking time to go to our art group's 3 day retreat on the Oregon Coast.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column, to see what other creative textile artists are doing each week.