Spring, Scraps, and Raggedy

Hello from the Simply Colorful Fiber Art Studio!

It felt like Spring today, sunny, though not much over 60 degrees.  I went outside and soaked in as much Vitamin D as I could

Warmer weather and flower blooms are coming to New England, I can just feel it. 

But when?

Will these babies ever bloom?

And will this snow ever disappear?

How 'bout my Clematis?  

Will a purple flush of color replace these beige puffballs?  And most importantly, is it CLEMatis or ClemAAAtis? That is the question.

While we ponder these and other Spring delights, let's talk scraps.

I had lots.

I've spent time here and there all week pressing and cutting and sorting.

Now I have them organized!

I still have more to go, and there's a whole other container of strings not in this picture, but it's a start.

  

From now on whenever I have scraps left over from a project I vow to cut them into usable pieces right then and there!  Stockpiling random scraps stops today.  (insert skeptical happy face here)

P.S. See the brown box in the picture?  That is a special family heirloom from Vermont.  I'm saving it for a special occasion to show.  (Yes, that's what we call a "tease.")

Meanwhile, it's finally time to make a new Raggedy Ann doll.
(I first blogged about Raggedy a few weeks ago here.)

Her body will be cut out by tomorrow.  Here's the pattern.   

I'm sticking with the smallest, 15" tall doll.  The Raggedy Ann in this picture is the one my mother made for me when I was a girl.  She'll be my model.

Here are the fabrics I'm planning to use.   

I'm thinking she'll be a "modern day" Raggedy with narrow red-on-white striped legs ... maybe... if I can convince myself to break from tradition. 

You'll just have to tune into tomorrow night's FiberCast to watch the progress and see whether we go thin or thick red striped legs.  

Oh, can you stand the suspense?

Grab a project and I'll see you tomorrow night,

Lynn

At 8PM EST, Friday April 4th, 2014, click this URL to watch live: 

https://plus.google.com/b/117305597376045829646/events/ckg2tu2hefs4hmkqo20at0dpif0  

 (You'll need a Google+ account which is free.)

Or visit the Simply Colorful YouTube Channel to watch the archive and past episodes.

Once a Piker, Always a Piker

Today's BLOG isn't about quilting.  

It's about sewing on a patch for a friend.

For as long as I've known him, our friend Mark has been making annual trips up to Lake Champlain, Vermont, to ice fish.  He tells me it's "catch and release" Pike fishing. (ice fishing images here)

I think he has as much fun planning the trip, the meals, and the sleeping arrangements as he does drilling the ice holes.  (No wonder, have you ever seen how thick the ice becomes up that way?)

The Pikers dress in style.  This is the back of the jacket.  The Flag patch is on the left sleeve. 

Which brings us to the patches on the right sleeve. 

I sewed the round blue "40th Annual" patch on this morning.  It took 10 minutes.  (Taking pictures and writing this BLOG is taking me longer!) 

40 years!  Seriously?  Mark CAN'T have been making the trek for THAT long?  Could he have?  I'll have to ask him about their math.  Seems a bit "fuzzy."

And finally, here's their group motto - emblazoned on the front.  Maybe for their 50th Annual, they'll add a line.  How about something like " If you can't take winter you don't deserve summer ... or you'll just have to move to Florida!"

That's all from the Simply Colorful Fiber Studio for today.  

I'm off to work on my Valentine's Day quilt! 5 days left.  Happy Sunday!

Lynn

P.S. Did I ever tell you my UVM ice fishing story?  A bunch of us college students drove out on the lake. I found what I thought was a frozen dead fish. I put it in my pocket, thinking I could play a trick with it back at the dorm.  The problem with that plan was that half-way home, while I was still packed in a care with10 of my closest friends (half of whom I'm sure I'd only met that day), the fish started to move in my pocket?!  It completely freaked me out. It was all I could do to roll down and fling that thing out the window.  Joke was on me. :)