Through the Looking Glass -

by Dale Chihuly

Last week I took a field trip into the MFA Boston with my good friends Brenda and Deb. 

A treat the whole day was.  

And the Chihuly exhibit is a must see!

I didn't have a camera with me so  these pictures are unedited taken right off my phone. 

The colors in real life are amazing.

  If you're not careful and forget to look down, you might miss the secondary exhibit. 

The reflection.

And then the sharp contrast of this room where you only look up.

You will never look at an ordinary piece of glass the same way! 

Go see it.

MFA Boston

Promise Ring

 Promise Ring is my friend Sue's quilt, of Sue Pelland Designs.

Sue is an accomplished quilter herself but when she is off  teaching, vending and developing new tools, I do her quilting work.

glenda's quilt

  

This is Glenda's quilt I quilted awhile ago; she brought it Thursday night to our meeting.

I hadn't actually forgotten about quilting it, but I did forget to post pictures.

Glenda has beautiful workmanship and I loved working on this quilt.

I wish these pictures were better, each house and block has a different fill.

I liked everything about this quilt!

:)

summer fun

If you're starting to look for summer time activities to do with kids, you might try tie dying.  I had to dye a bunch of shirts for a kids event and  because I don't have a dye studio or have dyes of my own  I used Tulip dye products bought at the local craft store. The dye and soda ash come already mixed,  there is no measusring or mixing and seems pretty safe to use with kids. You just add water and shake.

I prewashed and afterwashed the shirts in synthropol, but the directions don't tell you to do that.

The colors came out a little more pastel than I thought they would, but I like them that way.

I found this big phat marker also by Tulip. It does what it says it should - writes with a big phat line on fabric.  If you're into fashion graffiti check it out!

 I  threw one of these color catcher sheets in the rinse cycle each time I rinsed.  I don't know anything about them, or even when/where I got them.  But you can see below they did pick up color as they started out being white. 

Tulip has made tie dying an easy and fun project to do with kids. 

Happy Summer!

:)

a peak inside the sketchbook . . .

I'm participating in the Sketchbook Project 2012.  Check it out here for details on how you can participe; it's easy and fun.  Last year I made a book of fabric and thread sketches. 

This year I'm using pencils, pens, markers, crayons and water color pencils.  

 Spring through summer seems to be the time for sitting, waiting, and watching outside, so I want to only use tools I can take in my travel bag.

I've been working along on my book when I'm not at home quilting.

This page accidentally got wet on the go, but I wasn't bothered by it-I just stuck a layer of tissue on it, traced over and I'm leaving it in.  Maybe I'll go back over with some other color, maybe not.

When you get your book you can use it as is, or rebind it.  Mine is rebound, I added a few different weight papers and made some fold out pages.

Go sign up now and submit your book by January31, 2012.  In April the books will begin to tour and this year they will go around the globe!

sewing kit

It's made like a mini book.

The pages are pockets where a thimble and threads can be kept.

A page with wool felt for pins.

and a hook on the back for scissors.

Every page is quilted differently including the back cover!