Friends and Sharing

Had a couple of friends over this morning for a little journal making. Sally and Helen both went home with finished journals and I hope they had as much fun as I did. The pictures are of the journal I made using fall colored silk leaves and lot's of fun stuff.

Retreating and Quilting and classes

I'm just back from a 3 1/2 day quilting retreat with friends. After lots of sharing, planning, and marathon stitching, I feel fresh and inspired to do that thing I do.

I've taught 2 classes since I last posted, one was a layered journal coverr class, and I've posted pictures of two blue journals that I made, both which have been gifted to 2 friends. The other red journals are student



pieces. I think they are so much fun and practical.


The other class I taught was the floral fiber layered art quilt. After the class was over , I finished my demo piece by embellishing.


















This last piece is a quilt top made at the retreat from exchange blocks I received at quilt guild. I still need to attach a border, and maybe some 1/2 square triangles. I'm really liking the fall colors in this one. And I think I know where I want it to go. My daughter and son in law requested a fall colored quilt and I think this one would look lovely on their bed. There will be some special quilting in the beige offset blocks.

And the winner is!

After a lot of mixing of the names for this random drawing, we have a winner. I used my in house random picker, (Mike my dh) who is unbiased and was more interested in looking at hunting stuff online during the pick.

The lucky winner is Gari! Thank you to everyone that commented for this giveaway. This notecard project was super fun, quick, and very satisfying. Thanks also to Sonya for showing me those that she made. Would I make them again? Heck yes!

I hope you take a little time out this weekend to try making some for yourself.

In The Deep Blue

I've finished my piece for the very cool blue show. I really enjoyed finishing this art quilt. There are many different techniques used, and I'm feeling pleased with it.

I hope you are able to make it for the showing at Art Beat in Hayward WI to enjoy all the pieces that will be available to
view and purchase. It's not an easy thing to sell art that you've put so much of yourself into. And with every piece an artist sells, it helps to validate the feeling of being on the right path.

Note Cards with Quilts

Look at what I made this afternoon! Thanks to my friend Sonya Anderson for the great idea. She made note cards from her layered scraps. These cards are from my left over quilt art. I save the cut off ends just in case I find something fun to make. Looks like hoarding can be a good thing.

Leave a comment to this blog entry for a chance to win 3 of the note cards that I made today. Drawing will be Friday, February 11th at 5pm.

Snow Dyeing Part 2

Here are the 2 groupings of fabric scraps that I snow dyed a few days ago. The Blue gray is closer to a soft teal and the other is a soft peach with lovely fractures of light green. They are washed, ironed, and ready for using in any project that inspires me.

Now for a confession that the dye purests will cringe at. These were snow dyed with concentrated Rit dye that is in a liquid. I do not have procions, or any other






professional dyes. I tend to make do with what I have and this is what I had. They turned out very well without any surprises.

Here are the instructions:

1. wash fabric to be dyed to remove any chemicals in the fabric. Prepare For Dye.
2. Using 2 ice cream buckets, place wet fabric in bottom of buckets, scrunched.
3. Fill and pack snow level with top of bucket.
4. Drizzle generous amounts of several dye colors on top of snow.
5. Leave it alone until the snow melts. Depending on how warm your home is, it will be half a day.
6. After snow melts, remove and squeeze out excess dye. Rinse until water comes clean.
7. Wash fabric in bucket with a little laundry soap. Rinse again.
8. Hang to air dry. Then iron.

You are ready to go! Have fun using your fabric.

Working on Blue

Working on a couple of pieces for the blue entry for Art Beat. Beading like crazy.

Snow Dyeing

Doing some inside snow dyeing. We'll see what happens.