I'm almost finished with this cute Spa Bag that I found at the Better Homes and Gardens website. I think I would make a few changes to the pattern if I were to make it again in the future. I might put a little elastic at the top of the little pockets to help keep things in them and maybe even put a set of pockets on the inside. The bag has worked up quickly, there are just three pattern pieces, two of which can be cut with the rotary cutter and most of the sewing is straightforward. I've just got to attach the bottom and add the drawstring ribbon to finish it. BH&G also has a pattern and instructions for cute star shaped pillows.

We drove up to Dallas on Friday to attend the Texas State Fair. As usual, we had a fun time. The weather was in the mid to upper 70's, with a nice breeze and we had a really great day. As usual, the Border Collie show was terrific. Those dogs just have so much heart and are always a joy to watch. We also enjoyed the Birds of the World show once again.

Since I'm into quilting these days, it was fun to see all of the quilts that had been entered into the fair and had won ribbons. There were some really beautiful pieces. I was quite taken with a pattern called Snail's Trail. There were a few quilts done in this pattern in shades of blue and the look reminded me of waves - very pretty.

We got caught up on some movies this weekend. We saw Lost in Translation, which was really good, though would have benefitted from having the projector lamp turned up more, despite my asking about it twice. Oh and it probably would have helped to not have the movie stop right in the middle due to a blown fuse or some such nonsense. We also saw Kill Bill at the Alamo Drafthouse on Sunday. Given all the hype and Tarantino's strong history of success, it was disappointing. I had expected more of the witty, snappy dialogue we enjoyed in Pulp Fiction, instead I got lots and lots of action. If that's your thing, you'll enjoy this movie, but don't get your expectations up for another Pulp Fiction-esque hit.

If you navigate to the photos and projects section of the site, you'll see that I finally posted some pics of bags that I completed over the summer. I've also been working on my quilt top. I've been using the chain piecing technique recommended in the book and it works really well to speed up the process. I've been working on sixteen blocks at a time and it's quite rewarding to sit down and add another piece to sixteen blocks in such a short time - all told it takes me 20-30 minutes to add a new piece, clip the threads, press the seams and trim the block so it's a really good return on the time invested. The block I've been making is called Crazy Log Cabin and is similar to this one, but mine only has six pieces making up the block.

I had a chance to watch an episode of Simply Quilts earlier this week and the guest was a guy who hand dyes silk and makes quilts out of the dyed fabric. The silk dyeing looked very easy. Essentially you just soak the silk in white vinegar, fold it into a glass dish, drizzle with dye and put it in the microwave for five minutes. Then you let it dry and have beautiful hand dyed silk. They also said that the final product was machine washable and dryable.

It appears that the guest, Jim Kankula has been on the show before with a shaving cream dyeing technique for a Father's Day quilt. I searched the show schedule, but couldn't find reference to this show coming up any time soon.

Of course, I'm now itching to try hand dyeing some silk myself. It looks like I can get all of the supplies at Dharma Trading. So now I just have to decide on which dye colors to order. This site has some good info on dyeing and recommends starting out with the "primary" colors of fuschia, magenta and turquoise and maybe black and brown to adjust the depth of the other three. So that should probably be my guide to start out.

I went to the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild's quilt show this weekend. They had some really great quilts on display, it seemed like each one was more gorgeous than the last. I bought some fat quarters from a few of the vendors, including Honey Bee Quilt Store where I bought a nice package of hand dyed fabric in blues and purples. I've started my first "real quilt" from Quick and Easy Projects for the Weekend Quilter
by Rosemary Wilkinson that I picked up at Half Price Books for $7! There are a few other projects in the book that I would like to try. I can't say that I could finish one of the quilts in a weekend, but the projects do seem easy - I've already completed about a third of the required blocks and I just got started on Sunday.

I spent the day doing auction set-up for Celebration of Choice TARAL: Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League's (frames) annual fundraiser event. This was year number seven for me and I think it was the best yet. The event was held in a new venue that was very well suited for the auction. The band was great, and not too loud (a problem we've run into in the past) and we had tons (~240) of great donated auction items. The Dysfunctional Family totebag that I made using this Michael Miller fabric was a hit and went for $50, even more than I had expected. Jenny Hart, the artist behind Sublime Stitching donated a great embroidered piece that brought in a nice chunk of change for the cause too. Her work is really great and has been in a number of magazines recently.