Lori asked for instructions on how to make fabric beads like the one in the last blog post.  I found this wonderful tutorial that shows step by step what the lady at the guild show taught me.  You can view the tutorial here.

While looking for these instructions I also found this tutorial on the Girl Gone Thread Wild blog.  I hadn’t seen this method before.  I’ll have to try this one too.

I’ve had a copy of Alma Stoller’s instructions for fabric beads from The Fabric Arts Zine for almost three years now.   I tried to find the instructions online, but no luck.  Out of respect for Alma’s copyright I will not reprint them here, but you can see a picture of the beads on her blog here. 

It was bound to happen sooner or later with all the running around I did this week.

Yesterday I met four friends and we drove to Port Clinton, Ohio for the Ohio Star Quilters Guild quilt show.  For a small show they had some interesting demonstrations, plus they had vendors.  I made this fabric bead at one of the demo tables.

From there we went to the Nautical Needle in Marblehead.  I bought a yard of fabric and received a free fat quarter.  In my own defense, who could resist $6 a yard batiks?

From there we drove to Norwalk to visit the Nifty Needle and Sew Little Time.  The Nifty Needle stocks more novelty prints than I’ve seen anywhere, except for The Doormouse.  We ate lunch at Berry’s, a family run restaurant in downtown Norwalk that has been there forever.  Everyone had a wonderful meal.

I’m still in the positive, just not making much progress.

Fabric in this week:  1.25 yards

Fabric in YTD:  11.25 yards

Fabric out this week:  0 yard

Fabric out YTD:  22.25 yards

Judy L. had another quiltathon yesterday and today.  I thought I’d sew like crazy, but I ended up doing related tasks instead.  Yesterday I pieced the backing, then layered and pin basted the fall round robin quilt.  As soon as I figure out a plan I’ll start quilting.

Today I dyed fabric for the first time in years.  I had to dig out my notebook and reread all the instructions, plus my notes from prior dye sessions.  I moved my dye mixing from the kitchen to the laundry room.  This saved me from scouring my kitchen when I finished.  I’ll leave the fabrics in the dye overnight.

As they sit, I love the reds and I’m disappointed with the yellow and brown.  The chino dye overwhelmed the yellow.  I had so much fun with the chino when I bought it.  I already have a stack of brown fabric and I wanted to add more yellow to my stash.  I can see I’ll need to dye the yellows again.  The containers to the right rear have salt covering the tops.  I’m hoping the salt will make these browns look different from the ones I already dyed.

Progress on the May TIF challenge continues.  Flowers bloom across a grid of green.  A few more blossoms, some beads, and an edge treatment will complete the piece.  Sketches and notes pile up for the June TIF challenge.  As one design finishes, another is born.  It is the cycle of creating.

I’m on vacation this week.  We decided to stay home and take day trips to nearby attractions we’ve always wanted to visit.  We tried this a couple years ago with poor results.  This time I’m determined we’ll leave the house and do fun things.

We took our first outing to Fossil Park in Sylvania, Ohio.  People from all over the world come to this site to dig for fossils.  The Toledo Blade published a full-page article in the Sunday paper that you can read here.  Sitting on the ground sifting through dirt and rock for fossils from one of the “zoic” ages didn’t sound like fun, but it was.  The dads were in little boy heaven playing in all that dirt.  Here’s some of what we found.

 

I’m sure we’ll be doing that again soon.

For our second daytrip we visited the Museum of Natural History on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The coolest part was seeing the same fossils we’d dug up the day before on display.  Some displays helped us identify the things we’d found.  We expected a much smaller museum than three floors of exhibits.  Like any good quilter, I went crazy over the ceiling tiles in the main entrance.

Both activities were free, although the museum did have a donation box at the door.  Today we plan to stay home and relax, so maybe I’ll get some sewing time in.

I finished the star quilt last night.  I love this technique!  The openings may or may not appear in future quilts, depending on whether or not it adds to the design.  I don’t plan to put an opening in a quilt just because I can.  It needs to serve a purpose.

The star quilt used half a yard of fabric.

Fabric in this week:  0 yards

Fabric in YTD:  10 yards

Fabric out this week:  .5 yard

Fabric out YTD:  22.25 yards

I have lots of book summaries to catch up on.  Here’s some of what I’ve read.

Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris – Ferris gets better with every book she writes in the Needlecraft Mystery series.  In book eleven, Betsy Devonshire tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of a friend’s husband while restricted to her apartment with a broken leg.  Because of all the history between characters, it’s best to start with the first book in the series, Crewel World.

The Quilter’s Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini – The tenth book in the Elm Creek series takes us back to the turn of the century to tell the story of Sylvia Compson’s cousin Elizabeth who moves to California to start a new life with her husband Henry.  This series also builds on the relationships between characters.  However, you can read the books that explore the family’s history out of series order without losing the storyline.

Illusions by Richard Bach – Most people know Bach as the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, but this is my favorite of all his books.  A quick read, Illusions tells the story of a pilot traveling the Midwest selling airplane rides that meets a modern day messiah.  I bought this book at 19, and I still get something new out of it every time I read it.

C & T Publishing’s  Art and Inspiration Series:  Yvonne Porcella – This book contains dozens of pictures of Yvonne’s quilts through the years and her story of the inspiration behind them.  The pictures alone make it worth reading the book.  The publisher could have improved the flow between chapters, but it didn’t take away from the content.

I’m done quilting the piece from Vikki Pignatelli’s class.  Practice has improved my machine quilting, but it’s still a little jerky.  I used variegated thread to add interest to the hand-dyed fabrics. 

I’m keeping a list of all the things I want to do different the next time I use this technique.  I can’t wait to start the process with one of my own designs.