A Day-Cation

Cherry Blossom Trees, Washington, D.C.

My husband and I took this last Friday off to have a one day vacation.  We decided to take the train up to DC to have lunch and visit one of the Smithsonian museums. Without actually planning it we were there when the Cherry Blossom trees are closest to their peak. Our timing could not have been more perfect as today we are experiencing a little bit of snow.



Union Station

Once we arrived at Union Station we decided to walk down and over to the Air and Space Museum.  Our walk took us past the Capitol building and the Botanic Gardens.  From the Capitol building we could see the Washington Monument which is always just an awesome sight. Inside the Air and Space Museum we were amazed and awed that some of these planes, especially the bi-planes, were so delicate looking but had managed to make some extraordinary trips around the world without all the navigation equipment we have available to us today.  In the space exploration area we shook our heads at how vulnerable the first astronauts were in their spacesuits, everything looked too flimsy to withstand outer space. Then there was the display of the American flag on the moon (it is such a classic).




Washington Monument



Spirit of St. Louis

As I looked at the photos this morning, I noticed a lot of neat design elements from the cherry blossom trees, to the writing on the Spirit of St. Louis. There was the engraving on the wall of the Air and Space Museum and of course the shadow photo I took of us and then the unique architecture of Union Station.  Our day wasn't without its unexpected moments like how cold the wind was or the 2-hour delay in our homeward bound train but all-in-all it was a perfect day.

Self-Portrait Shadow Play



Space Exploration Display

 

Air and Space Museum Wall



YoYo Hearts of Clover



YoYo Hearts of Clover Mom's March Card

It was the "luck of the Irish" I finished this card in March.  It still needs to be mailed but it's finished. I'm not at all sure about the difference between a 3-leaf and a 4-leaf clover (I'm sure I could look it up) but for the sake of this design I liked the 3-leaf clover made of yo-yo hearts the best.  The yo-yo clovers are made with both the large and small heart yo-yo makers.  For the centers I knotted some gold braid, it is the same braid that forms the stem.  The finished card is not exactly as I visualized it when the idea first hit me but the best part is next year I will get to try again as I absolutely love coming up with new ways to use the different yo-yo shapes in my cards.

Apple Salad

Apple Salad Hot Pad

Saturday my friend Connie and I got together for a play date.  Our project was weaving fabric.  This technique is one Connie had done before for a class and is in the book Fabric Embellishing the basics and beyond by Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle, Heahter Thomas and Lauren Vlcek.  I had so much fun with the fabric weaving technique and the book was full of other terrific techniques that this morning I went online and ordered it.  The hard part will be waiting for it to arrive!

Apple print fabric

We started out with our two pieces of fabric.  I chose this apple print I had and then a cream colored fabric.  These were backed with a double-sided fusible.  Next we cut wavy strips on one fabric going horizontal and on the other piece we cut our wavy stips going vertical.





Weaved fabric

 Carefully, we kept our pieces in order and started the strip weaving technique. When we had finished with the weaving we ironed (fused) the pieces together.  When my piece was finished we thought it looked a lot like an apple salad.  This morning I finished sewing a zigzag (mostly satin) stitch down each wavy strip first horizontally and then vertically and then trimmed my piece and finished the outside edges with the satin stitch.  I also had weaved a smaller piece (left side of photo) of this same fabric and I'm thinking of using it on one of my cards.  You'll have to come back at a later date to see the results of the apple salad card.

Back side of Apple Salad hot pad

Here is the back side of the hot pad.  My husband is thrilled that he now has a large enough hot pad to place under his french toast baking dish. Usually we need to place two pads under the dish.

Latest Binder Cover



Inspired by Old Sewing Notions

Each day I come into my craft room and try to create I look around, shake my head and tell myself there is just way too much stuff in the room.  While trying to thin out and pare down the amount of yarn, paints, beads, saved articles and you name it I ran across some old sewing supplies, I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog.  I saved the best of those old sewing notions but I didn't have the heart to throw out the ones that were "not so perfect" so my solution was to cover another binder using these items. Somehow I convinced myself that this project was helping to clean out my room - it's a weird justification but it allowed me to be creative while quieting the nagging little voice that was telling me I should be reorganizing and cleaning. Looking at this binder cover and my first binder cover I feel as if I have kind of got the knaack of it.