16/16

Pumpkin, Cerise & Tangerine. Yes. Blocks done. Betcha you can figure out which color I had the fewest scraps of! Now to find a backing.

Also today--- man, I love the Missouri Star Quilt Company! I bought their daily deal jelly roll (Flurry) and a Moda candy bar pack on Tuesday and here it is Thursday and ---here it is! Fantastic service from this company. I can't wait to get into that jelly roll!

Finally some Bottled Rainbow time-

This week is still not totally my own; I've been cleaning costumes for the indoor run of Shakespeare (two nights; really, is it worth it?) and trying to get the kids to do their summer school work ("Hey, you guys mess around during the year--- don't blame me if you're behind. I can only warn you so much...") But I did get to play. The results through Wednesday: Plum, Raspberry and Ruby. Added to last FNSI's Petal, and the Eggplant I snuck in right after FNSI, it means I have 13 done, three to go for the Bottled Rainbow quilt. I really, really want to finish it by next week-- July is camp month, when I go to work at a Christian camp for inner city kids for a week. The first year I went, my co-dorm mom made her bunk with a lovely Irish Chain quilt someone had made for her. I had a piece of fleece on mine. I decided then and there that 'next year I will make my bunk with my own made-by-me quilt'. Well, it's five years later, my piece of Mickey Mouse fleece has huge holes in it and I want my Bottled Rainbows quilt on my bunk this year!

Think good thoughts for me, would you? I have to finish the wedding gown, too.

Graduates, Shrews and Sweet Hugs!

No sewing this weekend but we did celebrate a new chef, another successful run of Shakespeare in the Grove and two wonderful days with Kal_El and his mommy & daddy. Wonderful weekend... now can I please sew for me?!

Chef Corey and his proud and happy parents-

"Shrew" cast Becca and Rachel with Jacie-

John as the gunslinger Petruchio-


Andrew as the manic sidekick Grumio...




Rachel and Madison-- the Shrew that is as far from a shrew as you can be!

...and...

Kal-El is eighteen months old!

Just the best a weekend could be!

Almost there...

... to sewing freedom that is! 'Shrew' opened last night under a beautiful clear sky, no bugs, hot and humid as hell but the crowd was good and the performers are excited to finally present their hard work to an audience. Before I can sew my summer away I have to finish up the wedding gown and then my sewing time is my own! Oh, there's still the week of camp I have to do crafts for and family will be visiting in July but it's almost playtime. Yay!




Tomorrow is a big day: Congratulations Corey Joseph! Graduating from the Culinary Institute of Virginia-- I am so proud of you, son. Tomorrow, 'maaaaaaa-ma' will cry happy tears. Get over it.

FNSI Accomplishments-

Okay, so the plan really was to work on costumes. I went up to the cave to get my shoes so I could go out to the car to get the pieces I needed to work on. I kept them in the car because some are rentals and they're quite stinky. Then I saw some piles of fabric I had pulled earlier this week for a few after-the-show summer projects and, well, I never made it out to the car. I grabbed rulers, templates and rotary cutter and got busy. When I was done I had turned one pile into tumblers, another into 5 1/2" squares and a third into circles for yo-yos. (Arrow Sewing Cabinets is having a contest--check it out on Facebook!)

<--This became this-->

<--This became this-->









<--This became this-->

And just because I had already blown getting any costume work done, I threw in one of these:

Bottled Rainbows. Petal.

Then I drank some iced coffee, took Tylenol PM and went to bed. I dreamt my actors were onstage wrapped in quilts and one was naked but for a few yo-yos placed in strategic locations. Go figure.

I'm looking forward to Monday when I'll have a little time to browse what everyone did last night! Right now I must go de-stinkify and trim some dresses and hem a few pants.
Have fun y'all!

Swamped with the 'Shrew'...

... but it's a FNSI andI have some costume work to do. So do alterations count? I say yes! I'm extremely late in signing up because with a show opening in less than a week I didn't think I'd have time to play but the kids and DH are off to a party and I'm alone with a pile of costumes that need altering, pressing and trimming so Friday Night Sew In here I come!

Killin' Time Between Scenes-

I did a bunch of cleaning/ re-organizing last week (the usual routine when I finish a show and get ready to start another)and this time I bagged fabrics with the quilting magazine that has the project they will go to. I wound up with a pile of scraps that didn't go into a Bottled Rainbows block but were still fun so I decided to use 'em to finally try English paper piecing. I don't know why the idea of wrapping fabric around a piece of paper, basting it, and whip stitching them together was appealing to me but I've wanted to try it for quite awhile. I discovered it is the kind of repetitive, doesn't require close attention process that is perfect for filling time between scenes at the theatre. As with "Leaving Iowa", I have long stretches of time between backstage duties at "Into the Woods" so I packed a sewing bag with scraps, pre-cut papers, needle, thread and scissors. I make myself comfy on a sofa in the green room and I cover away. I found a couple of patterns that can use these 1 7/8 (I think) hexagons. Most of 'em may work their way into a quilt for the new grandbaby. Did I mention I get to finally make some RUFFLES?!!!

I also bought a template from the Missouri Star Quilt Company for making 5" tumbler blocks. I've had my eye on it for a little while as a way to bust some of this stash. This beauty from the Empress ( ;) ) convinced me to go for it! http://imperamagna.blogspot.com/