Year of Making Stuff: Week 24 and 25

Between 12 Hour Comic Book Day and the two other programs, last week was a bit of a blur.  And now I can’t believe that tomorrow is Friday and this week is almost over, and that July starts next week.  Crazy!  I love summers here, but it is going too fast.  Last weekend was Taste of Bloomington and a fun night out with the girls.  And tomorrow I get to see Steph who will be down from Indy!

So this was finished somewhere between last week and this week, but it is a gift to be delivered next week for Cyn (very late Birthday), so here is a sneak peak.  I bought the lemon fabric while we were in Chicago.  So cute!

And since last week was running so late, I am ahead of the game for this week.  Sharpie Tie Dye!  Ok, so it was a program that I did with some teens at Ellettsville, but I love the way it came out and  I was in desperate need of a new night shirt.

Year of Making Stuff: Week 23

A quickie for a short week, but Week 23 is a little embellishment on this $3 dollar shirt I got at Old Navy.  I was considering doing some sort of red embroidery on the yoke or maybe collar, but it might be one of those things that is cooler in my head than in real life.  That sort of shit happens all the time. This shirt has been worn and washed, so I think it does hold up pretty well.

Chicago photos are up on flickr!

Chicago Birthday Weekend

So it was a little rainy and chilly, but we had a fantastic weekend in Chicago in part for Tim’s birthday and in part for the hell of it.  Andrew flew in to meet us and we went to the aquarium, the lake front, Millennium Park, Blues Fest, Cubs game, shopped on Michigan Ave., architecture cruise and in general had a blast.  It was really nice to get away.

I had big plans to upload all my photos this morning, but our power was out for a little bit, so I am behind.

I also have my Week 23 finished item around here somewhere….and I am busy on Week 24, but that will have to be a surprise for a little bit (even though it is already late for a May birthday).  Pictures hopefully will follow tomorrow.

50 Blocks

Update: 50 out of the 320 blocks are sewn together, leaving 270 to go.  Not too bad!

Also, come and join the Cutters Craft Brigade’s Facebook group!  Residency in Btown not required, only a love of crafts.

Year of Making Stuff: Week 22

The story of a quilt:  I signed up at my quilt guild to make a twin sized quilt for the new Middle Way House that is opening in the old Coca-Cola bottling facility in October.  I had fabrics picked out (Thiên, some of them should look familiar!) and a pattern in mind.  But I forgot the pattern at work on the evening that I decided to start cutting the fabric.  A prudent person would have either a)gone and gotten the pattern (I only live one mile from work) or b) waited until the next day.  But I am not a prudent person.  So what did I do?  I started cutting from memory.  Ha!  Of course I remembered incorrectly and have added one tiny piece to each block.  Instead of each 4″ block being made up from 5 pieces, each block is now made up of 6 pieces.  This doesn’t seem like a lot, but once you consider that I have to make 360 4″ blocks, it does.  At 6 pieces each, I have to cut 2,160 pieces.  I could have saved cutting 360 pieces!  I will never include 1″ pieces in a twin sized quilt again.  It just takes too damn many of them.

On the other hand, this is a quilt going to a facility for women to sleep under who may have left a bad situation in the middle of the night with their children and the clothes on their back.  Women who  hopefully can find little pieces here and there and put their lives back together again.  Maybe it only seems like a little tiny piece, but the idea of picking up the pieces really does make sense.  It is a quilter’s metaphor dream come true.  I can only hope that sleeping safely for the first time in a long time under a hand made quilt would be one of those tiny pieces that they can use to rebuild.

So internet, it isn’t completed.  But I finished cutting the remaining 2,160 pieces today and I am calling that finished for this week.  I also put together 4 of the 360 blocks so you can see what it looks like.  4 down, 356 to go.

First Streetdance of the Summer

After Tim’s softball game, I headed downtown for the First Streetdance of the Summer and caught the Pirate Flags and part of Zion Crossroads.  The location seems odd (on 7th inbetween Walnut and College…yeah, by the Taco Bell), but it was fun.

Tim is working on fixing some steps on the side of the house, and I am putting off preparing for a book discussion that I am leading tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll go and cut some more fabric.  I am close to having all 2,160 pieces cut for my next donation quilt.