These ladies, in Oakland county, Michigan, did a great job in a recent “Double Reverse Applique” class. Check out their awesome apples. Cathy As you can see, most students made red apples, which was consistent with the class sample. Very striking, right? Can you believe that most of these gals finished their…
These ladies got a lot done in our 3-hour “Love It and Leaf It” Class! Carol chose a lovely medium-scale printed fabric for the background. It was the first time I’d had a student make such a choice, but it worked beautifully. (Can you tell she’s happy with it?) Janet chose mostly solid fabrics, which…
Well, after two years, I finally got to teach an in-person class recently. I taught the class “Love It and Leaf It” to a welcoming group in Avon Park, FL. Of course, we had fun! Rose did a great job on her quilt. Don’t the veins make it pop? Lorri had a beautiful piece of…
When you combine one of your favorite activities (dyeing fabric) with one of your favorite people you KNOW you’re going to have a good day! Such was the case when my friend, Perlie, came for a dye play day. She’s an experienced dyer, but we have very different ways of working, so it was interesting…
When dyeing fabric, it’s not at all unusual for me to wash out a fabric, decide it needs more, treat it (again) with soda ash, and continue on. Such was the case with this one. The eyeballs/ovals on this piece were originally pale yellow. Well, that was just creepy! It looked like a lot of…
I’ve been wanting to dye some luscious terra cotta and rust colored fabrics, but wasn’t having good luck with my usual primary mixtures. Therefore, I bought some “Strong Orange” and set about learning what it would do. First, I made swatches of it mixed with each of my other colors. Yes, it took A WHILE….
I’m beginning to realize that dyeing fabric is an endless process of learning. Although I can now predict much better what my results might be, I still miss the mark pretty routinely. And, of course, I’m still trying new things, so I can always count on surprises with that. But it sure is a heck…
I’ve finished my “kiwi quilt,” and I’ve named it Bounty Down Under. This photo shows it in the “tetris,” or puzzle stage. I’d about decided where I wanted the largest pieces, but then I had to figure out how to fill in and make it all fit. It definitely kept my brain engaged – which I…
I got brave and decided to cut into some of my specialized fabrics. These are hand dyes that have a variety of motifs, scales, or colors. They’re not “yardage” and are a little more challenging to use. These were my starting three. The left fabric reminded me of kiwifruit, so I began to think of…
After starting a new quilt at a retreat, it was time to continue at home. Now, where was I? Something like this. I studied the arrangement and knew I wanted to change a few things. (Remember the abundance of that favorite fabric bottom left?) While that was percolating in my brain, I looked for areas…