Weekend Warrior

We came home from Atlanta Saturday afternoon and I was eager to begin my afternoon of fun and games. As you can see, I was armed and dangerous:

While Kristin and I had clothes shopped on Friday, dear C had gone to Trader Joe's and gotten me the Dark Chocolate covered Ginger....oh my goodness! Did you know that ginger is good to counteract motion sickness? I figured I was going at such a full tilt that I needed all the ginger I could get, plus the dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, so it can't hurt either!

Surrounding the TJ delights are the silk ties that I picked up at the thrift store on our way out of town. Aren't they gorgeous!! Gerrie had talked about Martha Stewart's method of dyeing Easter eggs, where you wrap them in old silk, then muslin and then boil them in water with a bit of white vinegar. So of course I had to give it a try!

I just loved this tie, and obviously its owner had too...look how worn it is on the edges. It's a beauty and I will put the rest of it to good use in either a crazy quilt pillow, a Sowz Earz purse, or a wall hanging.


So here are my results:

The lightest colored ones are those where I used my own hand dyed silks....isn't that interesting! My silks lost less color than the manufactured ties!! I had hoped for some yummy chartreuses and turqs, but alas, sigh.......................

I was on a roll and feeling mighty good until I opened my mail and found this bummer:

Ya know, if I won the lottery half as many times as I got summoned for jury duty, I'd be one wealthy woman!!! We have lived in this house for 9 1/2 years and I have been awarded jury duty three times, once on Grand Jury (which was fun and I loved it) and twice on the regular. I'd be willing to share with some of my friends who have never enjoyed this honor! It just sort of rankles me (can ya tell?), and yet I know that if I was on trial, I would want me on my jury!!

I attended the sunrise service at our church yesterday morning, and then C and I prepared a yummy Easter feast for my Mom: Prime Rib, steamed fresh asparagus, roasted sweet potatoes, Spinach Pie and my grandmother's custard pie for dessert. YUMMMM!

After Mom went "home", I took a nice little nap and then got busy on this:

It's an Amy Butler purse. Wish I could say that I had batiked the delish outer fabric, but it was purchased. However, I did quilt it. I read a blurb about how the Chicago School of Fusing gals were making this purse by first quilting and washing the quilted fabric and then proceeding with the pattern. It takes only about a 1/2 yard of fabric for each the outer part and the lining. I did use my own hand dyes for the handles and the lining. I will make more of these, perhaps adding some inner and outer pockets.

Here's another view, showing my lining fabric:

It was a fun day, and now I'm back to working on Sweet Fusion.

Hope your Easter was swell too.

PEACE!