Gala 2014

After lamenting yesterday that I'd misplaced my camera, I said as much to my husband who replied "Oh, it's in the back of the car.  Along with some other stuff."

These were what I was looking for.

Pictures from our school's fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.

We rent a venue way in advance; choose a theme; decide on catering; and go to work. 

Work the day of Gala, means hauling in all of the children's individual artwork and displaying it.

Same with the classroom art projects.  

Each classroom designs and creates, over many weeks, several pieces for our Live Auction.  

So many different mediums and techniques are used.

Children from as young as 18 months to as old as 15 years collaborate on all of these pieces.  

In addition to the Live Auction pieces, parents, friends, and local businesses contribute items for our Silent Auction.

This is my third year making items for Silent Auction.

Of course, I wouldn't be true-to-form if I didn't wait until the last minute.

So last minute in fact, I finished them Friday night.  

Actually, the wee small hours of Saturday morning.    

I mean, I knew I was making pillow covers.  The easy envelope kind, because with Kona White as a background, you know they're going to get dirty.  

I knew what fabrics I was using.  

I knew I wanted them colorful, and I also knew I wanted to use a pieces from our theme fabric.

Other than that, I had no idea what I was going to do until very late Friday night. 

My description for the Silent Auction table was something like this:  "Two, 18" Modern Geometric Quilted Pillow Covers with Inserts."

 "A color palette of tangerine, lemon, lime, avocado, and turquoise make you think of sipping cool citrusy drinks, poolside, on a hot afternoon."

These are just a little bit of the sewing I've done this year.  I am very glad my camera's been located and pictures downloaded.

HST Love? Maybe.

This is a little pillow top I started the first week of November as a Christmas gift.   

I'd just finished a last minute (selfish sewing!), Halloween HST pillow and I wasn't quite ready to put away the Halloween fabrics.  Besides, my VGF loves Halloween as much as I do, so receiving a Halloween pillow in December is no big deal.

I wanted to make it different than the one I'd just completed and I've always loved the medallion layout.  

With a few scraps she'd just sent me, as well as a selection of purple, orange, and black charm squares from two of Moda's Halloween lines - the Boo Crew by Sweetwater and Monster Bash from Sandy Gervais - I put this together really fast. 

Simple straight line quilting  a quarter inch apart also made this a really quick finish.  Just a couple of lines in the white bands and denser quilting within the colored bands added subtle texture.  I like how this doesn't scream Halloween.

So in the space of about a week, not one, but two HST projects finished.  

I can't say I like piecing and trimming HSTs any better, but I can say with practice, their precise lines look pretty darn awesome.  

While I'm playing catch up, I really really wish I had my sewing machine on this trip.  But if I did, I wouldn't be posting.  

Happy New Year y'all!

Cindy

Cross Something Off

My friends that know me, understand that being late is part of my charm, personality.
  

I go full out, often over committing, and consequently, run smack into deadlines like a speeding car hitting a brick wall.  It's not pretty.  However, I recover nicely and continue on as if nothing happened.  For this reason, I work best independently.  No point in frustrating others because of my idiosyncrasies.

Now that Halloween has passed and all of our school and family activities are completed, I've had time to actually sit and sew.  Sew for some of the swaps I signed-up for. 

This is a pillow cover I started the first part of October.  It was for a private swap from the Modernista Homemade Flickr group.

This morning, I finally finished all of my items. 

I know we said we'd do small things, but I just love pillow covers.  

Erica is receiving a pillow cover, a small lined container, and a QAYG potholder.  And a pair of cute Halloween spider socks because 1) I can't resist cute socks and 2) I don't wear them because I live in FL.  

I also have TONS of Halloween scraps, strips, and stash.  Sadly, this didn't even make a dent in it.  

From Erica, I received this adorable spider pincushion (we even have some of the same stash, just different colorways!), a crocheted dish towel, and a medium size goody basket. 

I love how she echo quilted the spider webs! 

More spiders on the goody basket, as well as hand quilting!  The lining fabric is something I also have stashed.  

I think I made out pretty good.  I hope Erica likes her items as much as I LOVE mine.  The best part though, came in the note Erica wrote.  "I had intentions of getting this sent earlier, but things got crazy."

Obviously, she and I have similar worlds.  It's okay to be late.  

I'm linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday because I really did just finish today!

Happy Friday!!     

Can There Be Too Much Halloween?

Not in my world. 

This is what I've made, Halloween-wise, recently. 

First there was the Spoo-ky Swap I instigated via Facebook the day after our September guild meeting.  I had 10 or 11 takers, which was exciting because most  had never participated in a swap.  

My partner was Amy, who loves Halloween as much as I do.  I made her three small items - a coffee cosy, an improv-pieced stand-up bag/container, and a little ticker-tape mini quilt. 

This is the ONLY picture of them, and a not very good one at that.  

I began working on what I thought would be two pillow covers for another swap.

Neither has made it out of the WiP pile.  

I did some selfish sewing for me. 

I spend Wednesdays at my friend Bobbi's.  She and I had our children in the same school, during which time we'd visit our favorite LQS and Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurant, bonding over fabric and food.  Now that her daughter is homeschooled, that doesn't happen.  

So Wednesday mornings, I pack cram a good portion of my sewing supplies and my children into the car, drop them (the kids) at school, and head up to Bobbi's.

She also participated in our guild's Spoo-ky Swap.  Last week, while rummaging through her scrap bag, I found all of her leftover HSTs.  They were calling my name!  I made a few more; added some of my scraps (the lime spiders) and by the end of the night, I had a pillow cover!

Thursday was the big day.  We cleaned.  I cooked.  The neighborhood driveway party happened as it does every year.  The kids trick-or-treated.  

  
Sunday and yesterday, still feeling the Halloween vibe, I played with more black, orange, and purples to make this.  

So you see, even though it's November, the Halloween spirit is still hanging out at my house.

I am linking up with Lee over at freshly pieced for WiP wednesday and Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.