My oh my. I’m insanely busy and kind of loving it. I’m exhausted and I don’t really know what day it is, but, wow, am I having fun!
I’m very excited to report that awesome apron designs have been submitted to the first-ever CraftSanity Apron Show to benefit Safe Haven Ministries. Thank you to those of you who have submitted designs! And for those of you might be on the fence about participating, please consider it. The deadline is April 19 and you can download an application here. All the aprons will be available for purchase through silent auction and on display at the week-long show that opens April 30 at the David D. Hunting YMCA here in Grand Rapids. There will be prizes for the winning entries!
If you’re local, I’d love to invite you to put on your best apron and come have a slice of pie on opening night. I hope to see you there!
The other project that I’m working on is super exciting for me as a paper piecing addict. Above is a box of ties donated by a prominent West Michigan men. As part of my Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K Road Warrior mission, I’m organizing the creation of a paper-pieced hexagon charity quilt that involves transforming this box of ties into beautiful blooms. I’m recruiting local stitchers for this project that just might be entered in to a seriously big art competition. But, I don’t have time to think about that right now because I have to stay focused on getting the quilt made. First things first.
To get the ball rolling, I turned this tie donated by a local judge in to these two hexagon flowers…
Did I mention that I LOVE paper piecing? Seriously. And the truly awesome woman named Kate who answers the phone every time I call paperpieces.com, gave me a great deal on the paper hexagon pieces to help keep our supply costs low on this project. (Thank you so much! ) She also gave me some sample packs that I will be giving away at upcoming stitch-ins and the apron show, so there’s one more incentive for you to get involved in these fun community projects.
Working with neck tie fabric is a bit of a bugger, but I figured out a way to use fusible stabilizers to take the swearing out of the process and now I’m totally stoked about stitching hexagon flowers with people from all walks of life to make a fun quilt to auction off for charity. Contact me if you’d like to help with this project. I’m also looking for someone with connections to help me get one of President Obama’s ties to stitch into the quilt. Ties from rock stars and other famous people are also welcome.
For those of you who are wondering about the podcast, I’m pleased to report that I edited episode 114 while stitching the flowers above and will release that very, very soon. And I think you’re going to really like it. : ) Thanks for being patient with me, folks.
Somehow, I’m still managing to keep up with my family commitments, my actual paid freelance work, loom sales and training for the race, (I ran 14 very memorable miles on a very hilly course Saturday morning and then some steady 400 repeats yesterday evening on the track.) Although, I am behind in my e-mail and writing thank-you notes to two very sweet CraftSanity listeners who sent me goodies including aprons and soap. (Thank you, ladies! Proper notes will follow as soon as I come up for air.)
I’m looking forward to taking a long nap after I finish the 25K on May 8. In the meantime, I’m going to have as much crafty fun as I can and I hope you will join me. : )
Cheers!
