March is National Craft Month

Sandyquiltz asked in big tent quite a while ago what we would be doing to celebrate the crafty month.  Well my celebration this month included doing a festival where I was hoping to make a huge debut to the world.   Well guess what...

The festival was a total bust!!!

A volunteer showed up to tell me my cup cozies were unwelcome because "they were an art show and the cozies weren't art".   I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and barely contained my disdain since the guy in the booth next to me was selling Native American wares that were obviously store bought. I had no idea that my crafty art was not welcome I didn't see it anywhere on the application but who knows.  So my Lego earrings are "art" but a hand made from pattern to product cozy was not!!! I was allowed to keep them in a discreet place because she hadn't had the nerve to call me and let me know they didn't want them there.  I am so very glad I hadn't made any more of them...or the other quilty things like the change purses I was going to finish.    

I am sooooo not thick skinned enough to be doing all this apparently.  Would love to say that I didn't let it get to me but it so killed all the excitement I had for the day.

The show didn't prove to be good for my friend and I...we will not be back.   The economy is hard right now too...no one really seemed to be selling much. I had not a hope in the world of selling a thing but this was the first time I have ever shared my paintings with the world in this way and I had really hoped to get a lot of feedback on my art since I use a lot of odd things in my paintings.  That is my favorite part of the festivals is to talk with the artists to see what inspires them and how they go about making their pieces.   But I can count on one hand the number of people who asked about techniques or what things were used to create our pieces. 

But our booth looked okay :) for a newbie...

My friend Dottie made me an "earring tree" to put my Lego earrings on...






Left Table..

Right Table


And you HAVE to see this shirt...my friend Dottie took inspiration from one of my Kaffe Fasset quilting books...The Jeweled Squares Quilt from Kafe Fassett Patchwork



It is fabulous from top to bottom...hand painted and it took her over 5 years to finish!

I wish someone had bought it I am way too plus to wear this size large!

BRIGHT SPOT FOR THE DAY!!!

The lady in the booth to our right was selling the most wonderful wind chimes made of vintage housewares...leaning heavily towards old kitchen goods...they are one of the most creative things i have ever seen.  And with a massively windy day Saturday it was lovely to hear them chime all day long...Her name is Linda Holt and I can't find a website for her...I wish I could because not only were her wares wonderful but she was a super nice lady!!!

A really bad storm ended our day early and put us out of our misery....

But it was good weather for the ducks!!!

This one totally sucked the life outta me....

Hopefully I can gather my courage to do this again someday. 

NOTE...SOMEDAY!!!!

When my skin has thickened up properly!

Fail and Win!!!!

So I am turning my fail into a win.  This is the fail....  

leftover fabric from a baby quilt I designed especially for a friend.

I loved the fabrics and wanted to take the scraps and "throw" them together into a very lopsided and wonky quilt. 

Well...lets just say that it didn't work out....over the course of several months I patched and sewed and cut and made strips.  Then would lay them out and HATE the way it looked.  Would rip seams and move blocks until finally...this !@#$% project defeated me!

This UFO has been in my sewing room stacked in a plastic bin for over 2 years now just dying to get made.  I have been ignoring it to the best of my ability, only catching it glowering at me out of the corner of my eye occasionally.  

Now to the WIN...  Fast forward until the present when I was asked to make a Nook case by a friend.  "Make it pink and black with skulls...you know what i like". I couldn't run to get that plastic bin fast enough. I dumped it out on the floor and began to plan. 

Now honestly my case is a bit wonky and I have to do some major work to get a pattern I like but I think that I can honestly say that I turned a fail into a win!  Yeah me!!!!!!!!!!1