The Great Blazer Dyeing Experiment, Final Product

I dyed the blazer for the 3rd (& last) time. I decided to use a large tub this time so the blazer could lie flat. I hoped this would help even out the color. It helped, but the end result was still not an even color. More appealing than the color in Round 2, but not even. Pictures taken inside look pretty good, but full sun shows the extent of the unevenness of color.





Many of my other initial concerns were realistic. The poly thread didn't dye. I haven't found a marker which will color the thread and blend well. The corduroy seems to have shrunk while the lining did not. The jacket doesn't hang as nicely as it did. I knew the lining would not take any color, but the white looks good next to the blue. There weren't any surprises, which means I thought it through.

My client hasn't seen the final result. I don't think she will be satisfied. I wish she had liked the initial dye job. The color was much prettier than the color in the final product! See First Round and Second Round of The Great Blazer Dyeing Experiment.

It's True! April Showers Bring May Flowers

A flash of purple caught my eye in the yard yesterday. One clump (is that the correct term to describe a bed of iris?) is blooming - a little early! So beautiful!

Dear Josh, Happy Birthday! I love you! Mom

My favorite son turned 30 last month. (I don't think I'm old enough to have a child who is 30, but the calendar insists that I am.) I wanted to do something different, so every day for 30 days, I sent him a gift consisting of 30 of the same items. The idea for this came from a post on the QuiltArt list (see last paragraph).

My gifts were:
1. baseball cards
2. 6.5" fabric squares
3. pieces of Trident gum
4. smiley face pins
5. drinking straws (bendable!)
6. coasters from Chili's
7. crayons
8. marbles
9. green plastic toy soldiers
10. gel tab sponges
11. blue pom-poms
12. pipe cleaners
13. Capitol One fake credit cards
14. clear pony beads
15. round pasta (don't remember name)
16. chocolate pennies
17. mini ponytail stretchies
18. biz cards w/Happy Birthday notes
19. fortunes from cookies
20. baseball post-it notes
21. ketchup packets
22. $300 in $10 Monopoly bills
23. canceled stamps
24. Simpson cookies
25. green paint samples
26. origami cranes (folded by his youngest sister)
27. Legos
28. songs (downloaded onto cd by another sister)
29. plastic clothespins
30. pictures of himself from age 1 day to 13.

Last Paragraph: At the Chicago IQA show, I asked 30 people to write Happy Birthday on their business card as one of my gifts. Christine Adams happily did so, then told me that her sister had done "40 gifts for 40 days" for Christine's 40th b-day. Christine had posted about it on QuiltArt. I thought it was really neat that the person who inspired me to do this for Josh was actually involved in one of his gifts! Thanks Christine!