447 Fiber Arts Friday: Art Quilt Thingamadoober

As usual I didn't start working on this project until 1AM last Friday morning ... then I spent all day enjoying my family, so I skipped last Friday. Sorry, most of the pictures are off my phone.

I bumbled my way through creating this. First I made a batting and fabric sandwich, two pieces offabric, batting, and one more piece of batting (that I hoped would cut down on snags, failed). I left a small opening so I could turn it, planning on sewing my pieces on top and having the finished edge ... then I realized that I would still have the raw outer edges (DUH). *sigh*

So, I cut another base piece to construct my quilt thingamadoober on. I placed my Earth piece and stitched it down. I then started adding my pieces around in a crazy (lazy) log cabin type way. Placing the new piece right side down and sewing it down, then ironing it flat before cutting.

Then I placed it facedown on the padded piece I had already created, stitching around except for a 4-5 inch opening to turn. I purposely did not make it perfect. Promise. And this is what I got ... and then I slept ;)



All ready for the fun part... embroidery! I slowly added some images over the past week.

Trying to decide what I wanted to add was both fun and a little frustrating. I didn't have a set idea, just making it up as I went along.

I wanted to add a tree ... it is one of the images that speaks to me most. I cut a shape from black felt and stitched it down while I watched the kids play in the front yard.



I am still adding to it. Stitching around the blocks, little designs. It is something small enough to schlep out to the park when the kids want to play, and it has been fun to work on. Nothing overwhelming.

Although everyone keeps asking me what it is supposed to be.... It just IS. It serves no purpose. It is something to do, and hopefully something that isn't horrible to look at. It can't touch the gorgeous art quilts that are out there, so I will just call it my thingamadoober and leave it at that.

446 Easter Weekend

My mom came to visit last Wednesday (since I finally uncovered the bed in my craft room/ guest room), and we were all so excited to spend some time with Grammy! Meals eaten at the table, cups of coffee consumed. Mostly time spent relaxing and just enjoying having my Mommy in the same room with me.
Katie wore her t-shirt to school last Thursday since there was no school on actual Earth Day. She was super excited to come home and have me force her to stand still for a picture. Such joy on her face... and please ignore where the hamster peed on her. *sigh*
Sidenote: Chip took her to have her hair cut last Monday ... AND HE LET THEM CUT LAYERS IN HER HAIR! Boys just don't know that layers are a hair stylists way of making you come back soon. Sure, it looked good when she blew it out and straightened it, but I can barely get the girl to comb her hair. In other words, a week later it looks like it was butchered.

Friday we headed down to Batesville to visit our cousins. Katie and Connor had a blast! Grammy insisted we take some pictures in this wicker chair that had belonged to my great grandmother. Grammy introduced Katie to headbands. She has worn them before, but they have never been a big part of her accessorizing. I hope they stick around! Anything to keep her hair out of her face.

The kids had a BLAST on the four wheeler. I think it was hard to keep Connor from grabbing the throttle.

Saturday we managed to make it to an egg hunt BEFORE the hordes were released upon the Easter Bunny droppings. A petting zoo area and a bounce house and the kids were happy.



The kids were split up into age groups, and I am so glad Chip was able to go with us because he took Katie to her section while I had Connor. He was so cute waiting for the hunt to begin. He enjoyed the wind blowing through his hair, and he was a pro at egg hunting!

Well ... Katie can pout about ANYTHING!

An after Easter Egg Hunt lunch at a Chinese buffet seems to have cheered her up though.

I also managed to ruin three dozen eggs. I tried hard boiling them all at one time with a towel folded between the layers. One, I didn't use a white towel ... it was yellow, and so were all of my eggs when I was done. Two, they were shy of being hard boiled. Impossible to peel, and soft. The yolks were a gorgeous yellow though ...

Not that the kids cared if the eggs were slightly yellow. We had so much fun dyeing them! Even Connor got in on it ... and on dyeing his arm blue.

We couldn't let the fun end. We broke out a white crayon. Katie went crazy drawing and writing on the eggs. We tried transferring temporary tattoos, but that didn't work as well as I had hoped. We also broke out the Sharpie markers to draw on the dyed eggs. 

An Easter Morning Egg Hunt to round out the Easter festivities...

The Easter Bunny hit it out of the park with the Play Doh filled eggs. That Easter Bunny is awesome! 

Another great thing about my Mom visiting this past weekend was that she watched the kids so we could go out for our NINTH wedding anniversary ... I use the term wedding loosely since it was a super quick JP ceremony, 13 minutes from the car and back. Makes it seem silly that we overslept the first appointment to get married on the 23rd, but really, I could sleep through anything back then. Especially in those precious days before children when sleep was one of my greatest talents.

We went out for dinner to celebrate. We decided to try a different sushi place... I know you are shocked.... We tried sake for the first time. We opted for the Sampler to get an idea of what we might like. I like the green apple and the watermelon. Well, truthfully I can live without the sake, but if I had to choose.

 CHEERS! Happy Anniversary to us!

We were a little concerned about whether or not it would live up to our experiences at Nagoya, but when the rolls were delivered we were quite pleased (though we prefer the ambiance at Nagoya). We ordered the Super and the Fuji rolls. If I remember correctly then the roll covered with a MOUND of crawfish is the Fuji, and the Super has soft shell crab. They were DELICIOUS! 

Oh, and I did start my Fiber Arts Friday project ON Friday, but I was too busy enjoying my time with Mom to get on the computer. I will post it this Friday and we can pretend it is still Earth Day ... and shouldn't we love the Earth everyday anyway?!

Thank you Mom for coming out to see us. We loved having you here .... you know there are a ton of houses for sale nearby .... I wish I could sip coffee with you everyday. I love you so much!

445 Earth Day T-Shirt - Fiber Arts Friday

You can just start blaming the kids for my lack of posts. Connor is on a mission to destroy as much of my home and sanity as possible, so there is very little time to sit in front of a computer. Only to get worse once school is out for the summer I am sure.

I decided to make Katie an Earth Day T-shirt on Friday... Hey, it counts for Fiber Art Friday... t-shirt is a fiber! I procrastinate, it is not news...

I googled pictures of the globe, and decided to use a heart shaped version. There are a ton of royalty free image out there. Enlarge and print out a copy.

Place your cloth or t-shirt over the image and trace with a fabric marker. It won't be perfect, but then all you really need is the basic shape of the continents to get your point across with this image. I first did this on a piece of cloth with the idea that I would then sew it onto the shirt, but decided to paint directly on the t-shirt instead. I think I will use my first attempt to make a small art quilt hanging. Perfect for next week...

I used a textile medium to convert my regular acrylic paint into a washable paint. This bottle is at least 8 years old, so I am sure the look has changed. It is very easy to use. One part textile medium to two parts acrylic paint.

Begin filling in your image. Try to get as thin of a coat as possible while still covering completely.

It says to let it dry for 7 days ... I let it dry for 24 hours. It seems to be working fine, but you might want to actually follow directions ;)  Hand wash and hang to dry. You will also need to heat set the paint. Make sure you use an ironing cloth. My iron dribbled on my piece and I had to re-wash it. Good news though, it definitely held up through two washings...

Connor's shirt is from one he had stained. There is a small picture on the chest that I painted over. Gotta love recycling a shirt for Earth Day.

Now to get my children clean and cooperative for a picture of them wearing my masterpieces ...