Rejection

I submitted two bookmarks to the Koffler's bookmark project. I came home today to find them in envelopes in the mailbox. They were both rejected. This was the first time I had ever submitted anything to a juried show so perhaps I should be upset. But I'm not. I now have two bookmarks to give to friends... Or I may turn one into my POM mezuzah piece...

In other news, I have finished the hanging sleeves and labels for the YHQG show. I am quite pleased with the way both quilts turned out, bearing in mind that I am fairly a newbie to quilting and am on a learning curve.

I also finished a baby quilt for Beegee Kideckel. I may just also quilt the last panel I bought at last year's Hamilton Fabricland field trip, since I'm on a roll.

This morning, I started pulling out the fat quarters and cotton fabrics in my stash to see what goes with what. I realize that some of it hasn't been washed so I want to do that and then see what to do with what I have.

Sunday is FibreArts Toronto's field trip to Oshawa. I'm looking forward to it.

Baby fabric

This is the fabric of my bargoon. It's funny because when I look at it up close I see the orange and green. Here the most predominant colour seems to be blue. But it is orange and green!!

Got the sleeve sewn onto Inbal's quilt and got started on the sleeve for Deelightful.

And sandwiched a baby quilt and started quilting it.

But not much else is new.

Bargain!!

So Sunday I volunteered in the a.m. with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association). I'm not a member but I might just join down the road. They had an exhibit of works which was absolutely breath-taking and inspiring.
Attendance was down at the Creativ so I had plenty of time to talk with my fellow volunteer (also not a SAQA member...). And I remembered to take some handwork with to do so I finished sewing the binding on Inbal's quilt.
After my stint, I headed back to Len's Mills to look for some more of the fabric I had purchased on Saturday. At Len's Mills, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. I finally found the bolt but there was not much left on it. I took it to the sales desk and asked how much fabric there actually was. 2 yards. I said I'll take it. The saleswoman said that will be $22.98. My jaw dropped. I said but I bought 4 yards yesterday at $1.49. She said it should have been $11.49 a yard. But then she gave me the extra 2 yards at $1.49. So it really was a bargain. I have to take a photo and send to Inbal and see if it's something she'd like for the baby.
Monday morning I finished the labels for the donation pieces for the YHQG silent auction. When I went to read the instructions about drop off, I realized I had to do an artist statement and a statement about each piece. Believe me, deciding on names for the pieces/quilts is hard work. But the artist and piece statements are harder than making the actual art, at least for me. Perhaps it will get better with time.
Last night was the YHQG meeting but after a long, busy day at work, I really didn't feel up to it. Menachem drove me there, I dropped off my silent auction pieces and left, forgetting to buy advance quilt show tickets. Maybe I'll phone and see if I can pick some up somewhere.
Anyways, off to work.

Creative Festival

This week is my weekend for volunteering for YHQG and SAQA at the Creative Festival (I think they spell Creative without the "e" but I refuse to do so.)
Yesterday, my shift with YHQG was in the afternoon so I went down early so I'd have enough time to browse and shop before my shift. I got there at about 11 a.m. and had more than enough time. I was disappointed because compared to previous years, there were fewer vendors, especially fabric related. There were also, IMO, fewer visitors which made getting around much, much easier.
I bought variegated purple thread for the sky and variegated blue for the flowerbeds in "Autum wrote". I vowed I wouldn't buy any more fabric but while browing in Len's Mills, I found the most adorable fabric, suitable for baby blankets and gender neutral, in oranges, yellows and greens for $1.49 a yard. At that price I bought 4 yards. And then I found two marbled type fabrics, one in yellow and one in green, so I bought a yard and a half of each at $5.49 a yard. Of course, then I had to go back and buy variegated thread in yellow-orange and yellow-green...
My stint at the YHQG guild was from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. I enjoyed the time because I got to meet some of the members up close and personal. At the guild meetings, there are 450 members so it's hard to actually get to talk with anyone.
Today, I'm doing a stint with SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Association). I am not a member but one of my FibreArt friends is, so I volunteered to person their table. (Did I mention that volunteers get free admission to the show?). My stint for SAQA is from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. so I'm again going down early and hope to do another browse afterwards. I'm going fishing at Len's Mills again -- that $1.49 fabric would make a lovely baby duvet cover... And there may be more gems lurking on their shelves.
Anyways, off to the subway.

woohoo! Quilting Finished!

I am not that great at free-motion quilting (in fact, I suck at it). So to quilt the border of Inbal's quilt, I used the walking foot and made waves around the perimeter. I hope it looks funky...
Anyways, I now have to trim and of course there's at least an inch difference between top and bottom... But once that's done, I can sew on the binding, a task many abhor but I rather like.
Still have to do the labels, but the quilting was the one thing I was really procrastinating about.

Casa Loma

I spent the day down at Casa Loma volunteering for "The Quilt" (www.thequilt.com --I think). Some of the quilts were absolutely amazing. Most of the quilts are traditional but there were a few art quilt pieces. I came home energized with a few more ideas for library exhibit piece #3.
I am almost finished embellishing library exhibit piece #2 and then it will be ready for quilting. I'm pretty excited about the way it's turning out.
I still have to finish my second quilt for the YHQG show and then do all of the sleeves and labels, including the labels for the two donation pieces.
Tomorrow we have a shiva visit in the morning, then a stop at Yunkie's for Menachem to pick something up, and hopefully we'll finish with a visit to Charles who is recuperating in the hospital from an operation. Tomorrow night is erev chag but we don't have definite plans yet.

FibreArts Group

Yesterday I hosted my FibreArts group. There were two planned activities -- silk microwave dyeing with Kool-Aid and shaving cream marbling. The latter was a bust because the shaving cream was old and didn't spray. So we did the k-a dyeing. It was fun but the dye colours come out rather pale. We all agreed it was a good activity to do with kids and grandkids.
It was supposed to be a show and share of what we've been working on for the library exhibit. I had my finished piece and my second one in progress. I received some lovely feedback for the first and some good suggestions for the second so I'm ready to get back to the drawing board and figure out how to embroider a feather on water soluble stabilizer.
I also have to get cracking on my other quilt show quilts -- finish quilting (not that much left), sleeves, labels.

Progress?

So Menachem brought me blue Kool-Aid. The colour is cool but the project was a bust. The cherry and raspberry which I hoped would be crimson turned out pink. I tried all of my blue cottons, front and back, but everything was too dark.
I was trying to tone them down by putting organza over them when the phone rang. My mother wanted me to meet her downtown. So we met up at Honest Ed's and went to Mirvish Books. She got the book she wanted and then we walked along Bloor a little. The weather was quite nice so we sat outside for lunch at the By The Way Cafe. We both had salads. Our plan was to continue walking but Mom was getting tired so we cut it short. I escorted her home by TTC, taking the roundabout way home to do so.
On my way home, I visited Fabricland and bought two half metre cuts of two light blue fabrics. I know I vowed not to purchase fabric and use up my stash but I just didn't have light blue for the sky. I console myself with the fact that the fabrics were both 40% off so they only came to just over $10. One of them is perfect for the sky. It's a batik with swirls and just a hint of purple which will suffice for crimson. So now I have to figure out onto what to print my word clouds (silk, organza), how many clouds to use, and how to simulate rain. I have some ideas so I'll just have to go with the flow.
Tomorrow I am hosting my FibreArts group. Unless someone has a better project, we'll be Kool-Aid microwaving silk scarves and maybe shaving cream marbling fabric.
Report to follow, along with the photos previously promised...

Auditioning fabrics

I spent the day yesterday auditioning fabrics for my next piece based on Ibn Gvirol's "Autumn Wrote" (translated elsewhere by T. Carmi as "Earth's Embroidery"--google it if you're interested). As many fabrics as went up on my design wall came down. They just didn't seem right and the precise concept wasn't coming to me.
There's something to be said about walking away from something and coming back with fresh eyes.
I am going to use my newly-learned Kool-Aid dyeing skills to dye a piece of white duppioni silk in sky blue and crimson "ink". And my clouds will be word clouds in English and Hebrew (on what fabric yet to be determined. And Autumn's hand writing with lightning will probably be organza.
I still have to figure out how to do earth's flower beds -- I may use some of my flowery prints for that but I am using bold silk flowers saved from a lei someone gave Menachem.
So once I locate the blueberry flavoured sugarless drink crystals, I'm in business.
And since I think I am hosting the FibreArts group on Sunday, we can try out the Kool-Aid dyeing techniques (blobs, mist spray, painting). I can hardly wait to get started.