Weekend

Yesterday I figured out what to do in the middle of the chuppah. An embroidered dupionni silk circle with birds. I managed to get the circle and lining cut out and edges zigzagged and determine the placement of the birds. At noon, Maggie picked me up so we could go to the Creativ Festival. She is very active in her guild and needed a volunteer to "person" their booth at the Festival. I managed to sell 12 raffle tickets and bought 3 myself. I also got to browse and am proud to say that the only purchase I made was some batt to finish the baby quilts. Not that I didn't see nice fabric, threads, etc. but I'm trying to be frugal. I also managed to finish binding three tartan pieces. Since I had one done before, I now only have 8 left. Ha ha.
Also, while browsing, I stopped in at the Brother display to ask a question about my sewing machine and learned a few neat tricks while I was there. But I also taught the teacher a thing or two she didn't know about the machine!
When I got home at 7:30 p.m., there was no power. Discovered I find it difficult to sleep with no music, TV, computer and fridge humming noises. The last time I remember looking at the time (on my cell phone) it was 10:30. Still no power. I'm not sure when it came back on.
I started the embroidery on the circle. Flowers in silk and embroidery threads. Not sure how to make it cohesive but I'll work on it. I want to make serious headway on the chuppah today. So I'm off to bind, embroider, bind, embroider.

Quick Update on the Chuppah

I have decided to do the bindings in white on white cotton. I figured it would easier to find than match to the colours in the tartan. And indeed at Fabricland it was. I have several more to do but should be finished this evening.

Stephen & Dee's Chuppah

I haven't been in my studio in a l-o-n-g time, partly because I was suffering from post-exhibit stress (apparently it afflicts many artists who feel a let down after an exhibit of their work), partly because of Pesach and being away from a routine, and partly because I was stalled on Stephen and Dee's chuppah.
My starting point was this: using Dee's clan's tartan and words from the wedding "seven blessings".
I made templates for the lettering, fused steam-a-seam to dupionni silk, cut out the letters and fused them to strips of the tartan. So I had twelve words fused onto tartan.
I wasn't happy with the background fabrics I had purchased (not to worry -- they will be used in other projects) and the synthetic organza I had just didn't seem right.
On Thursday, I came home by bus so "had" to go by the Fabricland at Empress Walk at found a semi-sheer synthetic drapery fabric in white. It has white on white flowery embroidery. Once I had the background with it's visual texture, things started falling into place. I sandwiched the word panels with a layer of blue tulle on top of the lettered tartan fabric , a layer of thin batting, and a blue backing. I am going to bind them in the tartan colours. I was going to use the polyester suede but it was too clunky. So I opted for cotton. So far I have done one in red. I just have to find the other colours I need ( chocolate brown, a beigey-white, a hunterish green and maybe a blue, although that's pretty much the dominant colour in the tartan so maybe not.
Once I have them all bound, I will decide on their placement (it's also tricky because although the panels all the same 4" length, the width of each panel is different, from three letters for "joy" up to eleven for "brotherhood" . (It's so much more easy in Hebrew -- all those words are three and four letters so they can be identically sized panel [thinking ahead for Johanna and Warren's chuppah]).
Once I have the placement, more or less, I can figure out the additional stuff such as small panels with silk ribbon embroidery, beading, embellishments, etc.
I will try to post a photo so it makes sense.

Note to Self

If one cleans more often, one isn't overwhelmed by the tasks.
Pesach usually falls in spring --is a time of renewal including spring cleaning, decluttering, etc.
I had great plans in that regard for the weekend. Ha ha. Yesterday, I tackled the kitchen. I have a large well organized kitchen with lots of cupboards and drawers. Which means there's always room to put "stuff" that you're just not sure about.
And it means more stuff to move around, wipe under, etc.
I am methodical so I do my cleaning/organizing methodically. It took me 6 hours straight to go through the cupboards and drawers, assessing what I have, wiping down the surfaces and doors. This is without cleaning the oven, fridges (I have 2 in the kitchen from when we had multiple family gatherings with many participants. These days, only one fridge is in full-time use and the other I only plug in when we have a large gathering, maybe two-three times a year.)
I have started putting stuff aside for a garage sale. Really, dishes I don't and won't ever use, gadgets which looked good at the time, etc.
By the time I finished the kitchen, I was too pooped to wash the floors so I left that for this morning. This morning, after a rather sleepless night because of backache caused by overdoing it yesterday (up the ladder, down the ladder, on my knees, etc. -- I'm not 18 anymore!), I did the front hall, purging for the most part, and organizing. Then I washed the kitchen and front hall floors and moved on to my next task -- the living room, dining room. Didn't make a lot of headway here either. I did get the upper reaches of the wall unit (requiring ladder) done. And trimmed plants and dead leaves in Menachem's houseplant jungle.
And that's all I'm doing for now because I am going to my F.A.T. meeting at Laura's at 1 p.m. Meaning I have to be out of the house by 11:30 to catch the bus. So I have a bit of time to have a cup of coffee, read my emails, and shower before I go.
Our meeting today should be fun. We'll evaluate the exhibit, plan our next project -- slice quilts, talk and nibble.
Hopefully I'll get some more cleaning/organizing done when I get home.