Flour Paste Resist Dying Result is in!

This is my rinsed flour paste resist dyed fabric piece! I am so pleased!

This is the Dynaflow dyed, crackled flour paste piece before. Sharon lead our art quilt group last Tuesday and taught us all how to do it. She had prepared dried sheets for each of us. The flour paste (approximately 1 cup flour to 1 1/2 cups cool water) takes days to dry after application. We each got to crackle and crunch it to create cracks in the flour layer that allow the dye or fabric paint to seep into them and leave an awesome design! I loved this! I have painted the two pieces of crackled flour fabrics and coated a prewashed yard of fabric with flour paste. I am patiently waiting for the paint to cure and the paste to dry!

Sharon over dyed the background fabric in this piece that was in a gallery show last month in Rochester. I like that it uses non toxic and readily available materials. I especially like the results!
Next month Marylee is going to show us the process from Sue Carlson's book Serendipity Quilts. We will use scrap bits and glue! This is a really cool book, starting with a simple design and gradually increasing the challenge using value and a more-is-more approach. Looking forward to it!
Quilt guild Saturday was a busy one! I had arranged for the annual Demo meeting this month and signed myself on to demo my Singer ER10 embellishing machine I relied on my enthusiasm to convey and demonstrate, in four 10 minute sessions, just what an intriguing machine it is! Martha demo-ed the Double Diamond ruler; Elaine showed everyone how easy it is to make the lanyards we need for our NYS Quilt Guild Consortium luncheon we are hosting in June and Melanie shared with us a pieced batting technique that makes machine quilting less troublesome. These meetings allow people to be exposed to something new and are always a success.
Martha taught our 1st of 2 jacket classes after meeting. We all cut out a muslin of our pattern that will become the base for the pieced fabrics we are making. These are a few of my "fabrics".

My "wonky" piece and 2 Seminole pieces. I really like Seminole. I have some instructions for other designs from an online class I took last year. I plan to make some of those for my jacket as well. They look so complicated but are so simple. We will end up sewing these in a grand scheme onto the muslin that will become our jackets we will wear to quilt shows for all to admire!! Great time sewing with great people. I love my guild!
We are having a UFO sewing day after the June meeting where I plan to be reminded how to cut the One Block Wonder pieces out and make more for my quilt. I don't have enough variety in the few I made already so hoping this spur me on to finishing mine. I love every OBW quilt I see.
In 13 1/2 days I will be in Charlotte NC with old quilting friends and new ones as well as we gather from all over United States in the 5th Annual HGTV Quilt Retreat. Four fun filled days with people that love the same things I do! Excited? Very!
Snowed today. Longjohns on again. Another reason NC weather (apart from the recent tornadoes down there) is appealing to me so much. Need to know better weather exists......somewhere.....
Melissa's wedding plans are all set. October 15th is around the corner. All I need is money now!
Michael graduates college on May 7th. Those 4 years went fast~!

I have learned:

1. The Killing, on AMC is really good. Well written. Excellent acting. I wasn't drawn to watch this from its name. I read someones blog that commented on how good it was and gave it a shot. Thanks whoever! And it's On Demand.
2. The King of Hearts is the only King without a mustache.
3. Very interesting quilt using a formula. Sunrise Sunset quilt. 2 1/2" strips with inserts.
4. I actually had the food channel on yesterday. Anyone that knows me knows I abhor cooking. Some woman was making this Swiss cheese stuffed endive, wrapped in ham, baked in oven. Looked delicious and I don't even know what endive tastes like! I bought 3 little endive today, have the ham and cheese. I am going to make these tomorrow. 
5. The Streets of Laredo, the sequel to Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is not great. I am going to read it to see how it all turns out for Captain Cowboy Call, but it seems like another person wrote it. I find there is a lot of repeating, so much so that a few times I had to actually check I was in the right spot since I know I read this already. Editing maybe? Me maybe?
6. Gas=$3.91=less driving out of Batavia. Not acceptable.

CQ RR Block and other bits...

My work on the last round of the Steampunk CQ RR on CQI. Hard block for me to stitch on....blue. Not my favorite. I appliqued a corset, adding tiny lock nut washers down the front. Metal bits are a key to the Steampunk genre and I love the spiky rounds! The bars on the black strap over the corset are actually the flat hook from hook and eye closures. The silver tinsel trim to the right was a ribbon Elaine gifted me for my birthday. I put rhinestone trim over that. The vintage silver button with black tulle gathered under it and the fabric paper bit to the left was a remnant from another project. I have the last block now. Need to get that finished and mailed before leaving for Charlotte at the end of the month.

This is the backing for Melissa and Cory's quilt. Improvisationally pieced with all the leftover blocks and fabrics! I used just about all the fabric I bought. It is ready for the quilter now.

Ruth Ohol made this gorgeous quilt. My friend Melanie and I attended Twin Cities Quilt guild meeting this past Wednesday where we got to see the gorgeous, unbelievably detailed and dense machine quilting Ruth specializes in. She has won numerous awards and has been published many times in Quilters Newsletter. Very talented woman. Great show. Thanks Penny!
Yard work was the theme of 1/2 of my weekend. I live on 6 acres. Of course I don't tend to all that but when your bending for hours picking up limbs, sticks, twigs and nut tree residual nuts and shells, it feels every bit of 6 acres! I have much more clean up to do yet. Back ache reserved already!
Today I spent time rearranging living room to accommodate my new-to-me loveseat. I live minutes away from Bontrager Auction Barn where every Wednesday evening they auction good stuff and junk. Of course it is all in the eyes of the junk lover. I have gotten many an interesting item there including oriental rugs, cool wire mannequin, couches, chairs, birdbaths and other treasures I couldn't live without! I left a bid for both the couch and the loveseat but apparently two men battled for the couch and surpassed my maximum bid. So I got the loveseat that no bidder wanted enough to spend more than $180. It is a Sofas & Chairs custom piece. My 14' x 15' living room is perfect for the love seat. Love it!
I have a very busy month. Tuesday, Sharon will show us how to do the flour paste crackle resist dying at our little art quilt group meeting. FUN!
Saturday is quilt guild day and I am demo-ing my embellishing machine and sewing at a workshop after that. Martha is guiding us as we piece fabric for a jacket. Prep and gather and gather some more!
And then there is the HGTV COF (circle of friends) quilt retreat in Charlotte NC to wrap up the month! I am teaching a class there, so I have to prep for that as well as pack and hope my reservations are all squared away with United Airways. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

I have learned:

1. My friend Maria got her puppy, Blue, last week. A very handsome Golden Retriever. She had to put down her beloved Wyatt a few months ago. Her dad had to put down his Black Lab a few months before that. Along with Dean's resent demise, we all have had our share of heartache. Blue is healing all that. What a pleasant disposition! 
2. Ray LaMontagne. Listen. Good. Watching Live from the Artists Den now. 
3. The Poisonwood Bible was a very good read.
4. I actually have a window open right now! Winter over!? No more snow? Long johns put away? Please say it is so!
5. I need a pedicure, bad. Soon. I like pretty toenails!
6. My favorite color is mostly red. Sometimes black. A certain shade of robins egg blue too. I know it is not yellow, unless it's mustard yellow.

Little CC Case

Last night Lynne taught us how to make this credit card case on Friday Night PJ Party on HGTV message board. Of course I made it to the second side of zipper and well, I lost steam! So today I finished it up. My zipper is not wonderful, but it will work for me! I will actually use this too. I will slip the key ring onto my jeans belt loop with credit cards and cash zipped in. Thanks Lynne for a great project.
Tracy and I went to the Twin Cities Quilters Guild quilt show today. Very nice show! I am hoping to win one of the many awesome raffle baskets they are giving away! Any day spent with quilts and a good friend is a great day!
While there we saw a demo on locker hooking. I know I have this tool somewhere, having been enticed by a demo at another quilt show years ago! I actually did a few pulls and it is fun and easy. Makes me want to find it and design something cool and hook away!
I did find a great book. Had to have it now, not in Amazon time. Comfort Zone by Maggie Bonanomi. Wool projects including slippers and a jacket, as well as wall hangings, runners and quilts.
We lunched at the Panera Bread from Saturday afternoon, shopping mecca region, crazy Amherst hell. If their salads and sandwiches weren't a commodity to us Panera starved people, we would have ditched the effort. Serious table diving just to sit and eat. I was intercepted by a high boot fashionista on my first attempt, and was welcomed by a young man, while his less-than-thrilled girlfriend was less than that as we all honed in on another recently vacated table. Finally Tracy and I contracted for a booth as a party finished up their lunch fare. I was so keyed up from the table hunt by that time I was extra pleased by my Mediterranean veggie sandwich and Fuji Apple Chicken Salad.

I have learned:

1. Melanie will be 41 tomorrow! Happy Birthday my friend!
2. Tracy's sister pulled the best April Fool's joke off on her and their mom yesterday. She made a sponge cake. a SPONGE cake....yes, sponges were the fools surprise, complete with frosting, real frosting, in and on it! How funny is that. I love it.
3. Hailey is my American Idol pick.