Pin It Weekly #139

We'll be celebrating Mardi Gras on Tuesday.  That means a break from school, parades, parties, balls, and drinking (for other people, anyway). I thought you might enjoy a few Fat Tuesday pins.

Mardi Gras colors: purple, green, gold

Beads everywhere. Yes, the trees do look like this after the parades. They get caught in the limbs when thrown. In some towns and cities (including NOLA) you can see broken, faded beads all year long: just look up.

Today my class and I decorated the classroom door to participate in the school-wide contest. Winners get a king cake!

Students decorated the masks and I hung everything up during my planning period so they'll see it when they come in tomorrow morning. I think it brightens the hallway just about right! And this is the extent of my Mardi Gras for this year.  I'll explain why later; so see you then.

Pin It Weekly #118

What are you pinning this week?  I've been pinning to 
"thread, yarn" (a new board) and "beaded, jewelry"

No School = Sewing and Quilting!

We've had a crazy week of winter weather.  Generally we get a bit of ice on and off during winter.  Occasionally we even have an ice storm, but this business of three days of ice and snow is unreal.  I'd say it happens about one in a 10 year span.  That means that we just can't handle the problems that ice and slush bring with them.  Driving is dangerous, so buses can't run, and that means schools are closed.  Finding sitters is difficult, if possible, but most of the stores and restaurants are closed.

I took advantage of our days off to sew, watch a few movies and spend time with Richard.  I bought a few magazines a while back and in Art Quilting Studio magazine, there's a great article on making bracelets from fabric.  I really like the idea and decided to play.  

Did I have fun!  I used a piece quilted muslin left over from a previous project and added silks, vintage lace and ric rac, and some buttons and beads.  The resulting bracelet is very artsy and bold.  I haven't had an opportunity to wear it, thanks to the snow days, but it's coming. 

I haven't decided exactly what to do with my bracelet, so I guess I'll just wear it!  

A Victorian Bolster

Not very long ago a friend from nearby contacted me to ask whether I'd like some fabric scraps.  I gladly take just about any freebies and, after picking up the fabric, I blogged about it here. 

A couple of days ago, Elaine sent me a Facebook message asking if I'd had a chance to use any of the fabric.  Well, I hadn't since we've been traveling like professional vacationers.  

Today, though, I spent the entire day in the studio playing with those beautiful scraps of store decorator samples.  I decided on a quick project...a crazy quilt bolster for the window seat.  

I started out trying to just stitch pieces together, but that didn't feel right, so I made a pattern which worked much better.

After making the pattern, the project went quickly.  By suppertime, I'd completed the bag shaped case to slip the pillow form into.  I added a zipper so that it would be easy to remove the form for cleaning.

And now I've begun embroidering the case.  I have plans to add lots of embroidery (some handwork for the evenings) and beads to give it a real Victorian flare.  I plan to get on Pinterest and look for some ideas, but for now I'm just dropping in a vine so that I can add beaded flowers and some crewel leaves. 

Happy Stitching,

Mary