Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Ironcraft Gets Its Stars and Stripes!

This Ironcraft challenge was to be inspired by stars and stripes. I had so many ideas for this and so little time to make any of them happen. That seems to be the going song in my life. And then I went to the Vermont Quilt Festival in Essex Junction and my mind filled with even more ideas and projects. What a wonderful day I had. It was my first time in a show this size and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The quilts on display were mind-boggling for a novice like me. I wondered around admiring, gawking and the like and then I'd get tired. So I would go find a place to sit. There was a wonderful room, air-conditioned, that hosted talks from the various vendors. I learned a lot about thread from a nice young man who sell thread as a family business. I learned about Japanese inks and all you could do with them. I couldn't resist them so I bought a bunch. Then I got up again and went to admire even more quilts. Then it was lunch time so I found a table to share with some nice ladies and they shared some funny stories with me. I met up with these same ladies during the rest of the day and felt like I had some new friends admiring along with me.
I pretty well spent the day walking around until I wanted a break then finding a place to sit and meeting some very nice people from both the US and Canada. I bought a few things and met back up on the bus with my guild ladies who had pretty well done the same thing I did. It was a glorious day! How is this related to this challenge? They gave us a tyvek bracelet as proof of payment when we came in. Mine had stars and stripes on it. When I got home I wanted to keep the bracelet and decided to play with it to make me a pretty bracelet as a souvenir of my day in Vermont. I busted my scrap pile and chose some jeans and a pretty blue fabric to make a cloth cuff. I inked the pretty blue fabric and then sewed the tyvek over both the jeans and blue fabric. For the underside I chose a red gingham from my stash and made a cuff that is held together with my bird button. To finish it and add a little more color I sewed an over-hand stitch along the side. I think it picks up the red in the tyvek very well.

2 comments:

  1. What a great way to reuse the bracelet and remember your trip!

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  2. Thanks Kat! First time using the Tyvek too. That was fun, I had read lots about it.

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