Current Challenge

Beads, sewn to black netting, once adorned this dress.

Sans beads.

My DIL found and fell in love with this soft orange dress at a local thrift shop.  It was decorated with tons of beads, some of which had come loose.  She thought a patchwork of blue, cream and brown fabrics would be a great substitution.

The beads were fairly easy to remove, as they were sewn to a net base.  Once I'd gotten them off, I noticed the triangles weren't uniform in size.  My solution?  Print a copy of the beads themselves and use it as a guideline.  

Bead trim

That idea proved impractical.  Next, I cut a paper pattern for the proposed patchwork and folded it into equal segments.  Not a winner either.  After fooling around with ideas for a while, I decided to do my own little Project Runway!

The dress was draped on a dress form (also found at the thrift store years ago).  I was amazed at how much easier it was to design the patchwork on the actual dress.  My prototype was finished tonight.  After a bit of tweaking, I'll do the final stitching tomorrow.

This has been a challenge, as I don't usually work within certain parameters.  But I enjoy figuring out how to make things work, so this has been fun. 

Film at 11.

Saving a Quilt

"Ray of Life" top - unquilted

Very visible pencil lines!

Marking Pencil Remover

When I finished the top of the large New York Beauty made for my son and daughter-in-law's wedding, I knew I could not quilt it myself.  It was huge and I was having problems with trigger finger and carpal tunnel.  So off to Pennsylvania it went.  Of course I worried about my "baby" the whole time it was gone.  When it came home, I was heartsick.  The quilter had marked it with lead PENCIL!   Everywhere!

I tried various erasers to no avail.  I tried removing the marks with a dampened  cloth.  Nothing. I was frantic, to say the least.  Since every fabric used in the quilt had been prewashed, I felt fairly safe in taking it to a laundromat.  I put it in their largest drum washing machine (which does not agitate in the traditional manner) with a little bit of Orvus paste and a little bit of Synthrapol, said a little prayer, crossed my fingers and waited.  Although most of the marks came out, the pencil remained in some areas - mostly on the lighter oranges.

Marking Pencil Remover from Quilter's Rule (thanks, Patty) worked very well in removing telltale pencil lines.  But one block needed serious repair.  It was an area where the deep indigo blue bled/crept into the orange from the seam allowance underneath. 

What to do............what to do?  I finally decided on paint, a tip learned from a friend years ago when hand-dyed teal silk bled all over a yellow fabric.  The trick is to not just paint the small area where the bleed is, but to paint several areas so that it appears "planned."

I tightly taped off the area around where I needed to paint.  Using a dry-brush technique and a very small amount of diluted acrylic paint, I dabbed the fabric lightly and let it dry.  There was still a bit of shadow-thru from the indigo seam allowance.  I used an orange Caran d'Ache neocolor watercolor crayon over the dried paint to correct this.  That was the magic fix!

Most Favorite

Cluster Roses and Baptisia

My most favorite rose in the McGill Rose Garden was the cluster-like plant shown above. I really like the way the 2" blossoms gradate from palest pink to lavendar.  I'd love to have one near our blue baptisia.

Mother's Day

I shot this lovely pink rose in the late afternoon light.

Mother's Day always includes a visit to McGill Rose Garden on North Davidson Street.  Begun in 1952 by Mrs. McGill to beautify the area next to a railroad spur, the garden today is a serene sanctuary containing more than 1,000 roses.

McGill Rose Garden, 940 N. Davidson Street, Charlotte, 704.333.6497
Open Tuesday - Friday, 9-4, Saturday 11-3
http://mcgillrosegarden.org/

In the Garden

Columbine

I don't remember where I bought this columbine, but I do remember being disappointed by its bloom. I'd expected the old-fashioned, more familiar flower.  I call this is a "nodding" columbine, as it drops its head, making it difficult to photograph.

I'll be blogging again soon.  Things are crazy here with lots of appointments and trying to get quilts ready for the NC Symposium show.  And, our grandpuppy Numa tore her second ACL last evening and will need surgery.

Back soon.  Thanks for being faithful, dear readers.  xoxox