Wasp Nest Pin Cushion

Yes, you read the title correctly!
A wasp nest pin cushion:

Apologies for the bad image, it's a screen grab from the Zoom!

The maker found a wasp's nest and wedged fabric scraps into the individual cells to make the pin cushion. Genius!

This was found by Steve Wiman, the owner of Uncommon Objects in Austin TX.
Yesterday, Atlas Obscura and Weird Homes Tour hosted a virtual tour of Steve's home:

It was a wonderful presentation!
It was recorded (I want to see it again). Hopefully, they'll offer it online.
Worth the price of admission!

I will close with this quote from Steve:

"If you're not OK with dust, you shouldn't be a collector."

Linking up with
Michelle's Creative Compulsions Linky Party

Obstacle Course Project

I started a fun online sewing workshop with Hadley Clark called Obstacle Course.
Little did I realize how prescient that title became!

Hadley gave us a list of 25 potential items or processes to use and we were supposed to use at least 6.

I decided to combine two Indian skirts and make a dress.

I think the fact that I was experimenting "beyond the rectangle" (not making a loose tunic) was one of my big hurdles.

My concept was to make a dress in the style of peasant blouses that I used to make in the '70s.

Hard to see it, I'm wearing one of my creations.

I was doing it from memory. Mistake #1!
Why didn't I Google one?

[source] This would have been helpful!

First fitting:

neckline too low! too wide!

Second fitting:

not yet sewn - totally held together with safety pins

Third fitting, after stitching:

way, way, WAY too tight!
I require a better gusset.

The seam ripper will become my BFF this month.
Yes, my August sewing challenge is to continue working on this.
I refuse to give up on it!

How did I do with the Purple/ Green sari upcycle that I was planning to complete for July?
Nothing. I did nothing.

Linking up with
Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal Linkup

VOGOFF!

Miz Bagg on the cover

VOGOFF 2020 has finally hit the virtual news stands. Woohoo!
It's a whopping 120 pages of wonder (and only two pages of ads).

My contribution is on page 13:

layout by @bagandaberet

I also made a little video from the above:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jul 3, 2020 at 7:15pm PDT

I must thank Melanie for inspiring us all to get creatively crazy in isolation.
MWAH!