I bought something really cool...

but before I get to that, let me just say that the show on Tuesday went great, and then on Wednesday I had an amazing birthday! A ton of people showed up at the show, one of them being the head of the Studio Art department. After seeing all of our work, he told Jeanne (my professor) that we really need to do an actual exhibit. So for the first week of fourth block, our work will be displayed in Coburn Gallery, which is on campus in Worner Center. I didn't realize how big of a deal Coburn is, but evidently it's pretty exclusive, so we're all really excited.

Here are a couple of pictures of my final project. The outer panels are gold and orange cotton thread woven in a honeycomb pattern. I dyed the gold myself. The inner panel is Italian silk, which I dyed gold and brown (ish) in a pattern using a Shibori resistance technique. I then embroidered stems with brown yarn onto the woven pieces by hand. The piece is approximately 2 feet by 2 yards. I really like how it came out. It is viewable on both sides, and the honeycomb pattern creates a really cool raised pattern on the other side.

You can really see the honeycomb pattern in this picture, plus, you can tell that I was continuing the stem from the silk onto the weaving.

On my birthday, I went to class in the morning to clean the studio and do our final critique, then went home and took a nap! This block really sapped my energy. I met up with a few of my friends, and we went out to Red Robin for dinner (This wasn't my choice, but it was still yummy!). I ordered a plain cheeseburger and got one with EVERYTHING, so I had to wait a really long time for them to make me a new one. That was kind of annoying. I ordered my very first drink, and Ashleigh took a picture with her iPhone of me and it. (Sorry for the horrible quality!) It was called Sand in Your Shorts, and it was pretty good.

The Red Robin people came and sang to me, and brought me a TINY ice cream sundae that we all shared. Then we went back to Susanah's apartment and watched So You Think You Can Dance before going over to Bemis to watch Glee with a bunch of people. After that we went out to Mimi's Cafe for dessert. Megan and I split the really huge triple chocolate brownie and vanilla bean ice cream. We went back to Ash's house (she's the RA for Ticknor, the sub-free house), and watched a scary movie. By the time it was over, it was super late and cold and I was creeped out, so I slept on the couch at Ticknor instead of walking all the way home.

Yesterday I was browsing the Craigslist Arts and Crafts section when I saw that someone had posted a ton of fabric and sewing stuff for $27. I emailed the lady, and she emailed back saying it was still available. So I called her and asked if she could possibly deliver it since I don't have a car. She said she could do that for $5. We were talking about how I was just starting to learn how to sew, and I said I was looking for a cheap used sewing machine. Surprisingly, she was the owner of a thrift store, and they had a machine she thought would be perfect. So last night she brought over all the stuff and the machine, and after seeing it I decided to buy it because it is exactly what I was looking for and was only $35.

The boxes of sewing stuff had been donated, but not sorted through at all, and there was all kinds of cool and crazy stuff in there. Some things I found: pictures from a wedding in 1984, artificial sinew, a Singer sewing machine buyers certificate and receipt from 1939, a child's tooth in an envelope that says "Ian's tooth, Age 7", fabric paint, sequins, buttons, elastic, tons of supplies to make earrings and dream catchers (and dream catcher earrings), fabric, embroidery hoops, glitter, measuring tools, and basically anything you could possibly need to start crafting. The only things missing and that I still would like to get are oil for the machine, a nice pair of sewing scissors, interfacing, and a seam ripper.

Everything came in these nice plastic storage containers, too.

My machine is a Singer 1120, which is a very basic model, but I love it. It's perfect for what I need it to do and it works great so far.
Since Christin asked me a few days ago to make her a little wristlet purse, I thought I would get some practice in. I made this little envelope clutch last night. It has a strap I could attach to make it a wristlet, but I forgot to sew it into the seam and now I don't think it would look great sewn to the outside.

The inner fabric is light blue with bows. If anyone wants this, just say so and you can have it. Also, if you want the strap sewn on I can do that.
This morning I was browsing the internet looking for free sewing patterns, and I found one that promised to be a one hour purse, so I tried it. I really love how it turned out, even if it did take me longer than an hour.

Yes, it is the same brown fabric as the other one, I just really like that fabric for purses. In this picture you can really see the bright pink pattern of the lining and the buttons on the straps.

Inside there is a little pocket, and my phone is demonstrating how it works. The phone isn't pushed all the way down into the pocket, if it was you wouldn't be able to see it. Oh, and Mom has already said she wants this purse, so it's hers.

So, does anyone else have anything they need sewn? I'm trying to practice as much as possible so I can get great very fast.

I hope everyone has been having as great a time as me the past few days. I'm enjoying my block break and I start my next class, Mentoring At-Risk Youth, on Monday. Sorry this was so long, I guess I just had a lot to say!

(Christin- I forgot to take those pics of different fabrics that I said I would, I'm so sorry! Also, if you want to send me some pictures of styles of wristlets that you like, that would be great.)