Indigo Treasures

We spent the earlier part of our day clamping, tying, stitching and even a bit of ironing of various fabrics... All so we could dip them into the indigo pot and watch the magic. The first bit of magic is that everything goes into the pot turns green... lovely greens that you immediately say 'how can I get it stay this color'. Then almost as fast as it hits the air it begins its transformation into it's final shades of blue. This should be plenty of magic for anyone, but we get the additional treat of undoing the clamps, pulling the stitches or pulling off freezer paper bits for more fun magical revelations.

One in our group brought amazing books to sharing on indigo dying and shiborri. Both were wonderful not only to look at but gave very useful information that added to the fun.

Double, Double, Toil & Trouble

Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing.

Double, double, toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble

The words are familiar to our ears, and they were chanted in fun as the members of my design group and I prepared the 'Indigo Pot'. Though no eye of newt was thrown in the blue gunk that forms as the lovely blue dye chemicals gets it bit of oxygen does give the appearance that it could make a blind-worm sting. We churned up a batch of Jacquards Pre-Reduced Indigo   This is much easier to use and we have been having a great time experimenting with clamps, stitching and another bunch of resist options as well as different fabric types.

Today I'm sharing some photos of the mixing and clamping and dipping....
Tomorrow I'll post some additional photos of the the fabric results. Hope you decide to pull out the cauldron and make some trouble of your own!

The Winners Are

The three lucky winners of the latest Someday Quilts Mystery are....
OK, there really was a drum roll here...

EILEEN
DEBBIE
PAT S.

If  your name is here and you don't show an email address on Blogger ID please forward me an email with your addresss.... your book is waiting to be sent out!

Congratulations!

Last 2 Days for The Double Cross

Last week was filled with lots of stitching, but in between all the sewing fun I received the giveaway copies of The Double Cross from Clare. She signed them all, and in a special one to me she told me to 'check out page 22'. There I found a very special personal treasure....

Will you be one of the first ones to get a copy and find out what's on page 22? The books go on sale tomorrow, and that's when I'll be pulling a name for 3 lucky winners!

JUST BY POSTING A COMMENT HERE YOU WILL BE ENTERED!

New England Fun - More Catching Up!

Last week I headed off to New England - Franklin, MA and I had a wonderful week with the Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild (RNQG). There I met some wonderful quilters and had a great time. I first shared my lecture, Color It Bold with the guild membership. There, members joined in the making of our human color wheel and proceeded to try out different color theories. This was followed with my two-day Dream Landscape workshop....
here some travel pictures that showed up of Ireland, Africa, the Caribbean and even some of closer to home favorites like Nantucket and backyard gardens. All were worked up into fabric designed pieces!

A very special part of this trip was the adoption of my new best friend Sarah, and her partner (in quilts) Sharon. These woman have been working on their own 'world' quilt project that I wanted to share with you.

It's a bit of story on it's own and I'll be posting more about it later in the week. For just a hint today, I'll tell you it involves travel to Africa(lots!). And, for just a visual temptation I'm including here some photos of quilts that Sharon has been working on that include hand painted panels of African scenes. Hope you enjoy!

Catching Up...Phew!

It has been a wild couple of weeks-hard to find time to post, but it has been fun and I'll begin to share a bit of it all here today. First off - There is just 10 days left 'til the drawing for the new Someday Quilts Mystery.

The DOUBLE CROSS, is the 3rd book out in this fun series written by my friend Clare O'Donohue.

In this new book we'll be checking into, once again, to the life of Nell Fitzgerald. Nell moved upstate from NYC in book one and became hooked on quilting while developing quite a nose for mystery.

I can hardly wait!
And, JUST BY POSTING A COMMENT HERE YOU WILL BE ENTERED!

The Double-Cross /A Someday Quilts Mystery -- GiveAway

It seems like I've been waiting, and waiting for the this latest in Clare's series to come out.

I met Clare O'Donohue on the set of The Quilt Show, way back when we both had our first book coming out and there was little talk of blogs, FaceBook or Twitter... things have definitely moved along since then.

This time around I get to help spread the word about The Double Cross, the further adventures of modern quilter, Nell Fitzgerald.

I can hardly wait... so while we're in the final countdown of days you can help cast our own quilt murder and maybe even win a copy of Clare's book.

To be in the drawing - set to be pulled on September 28th!
It's easy, just leave a comment telling the where and/or how do you see the next quilt murder taking place

(do you see the husband found dead of starvation while his wife's off stitching in the studio, or maybe it a gingher scissors found in the chest of the local quilt guild show judge... it may just be endless)

 I can hardly wait to see what you come up with!

Fall time Wonder

SPRING bursts forth upon us with all it's beauty and newness. Summer provides a comfortable, sometimes wild backdrop for moments of delight and jumping in - 'both feet - nothing holding you back'... now on to that time of contemplation, gathering, taking moments to appreciate - learn - wonder... fall.

Fall is also that amazingly busy time - school starts, moms get to work on some personal projects, everyone is pretty much settling back into that time of working. The pace changes, but the wonder it brings doesn't. It's just repackaged and waiting for us to untie the bows.

Thought I would share few of the photos I took last fall while visiting Seattle... a little reminder to take a moment and enjoy the wonders of the season. Have fun/ rip open those packages!

Day Trippin - Part II

It has been a week since my DG's day trip and it has been one filled with lots of drawing and design work on my part... very little exploring, so it is a good thing that I have pictures & memories of the fun and inspiring day at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Last week I shared the Sister Corita inspired exhibit, but really my favorite part of exhibit was the fashion. OK, I admit I am a fabric junkie and when you see what these artist did with 'the stuff' well... enjoy!


These feathered beauties escaping their cage were each wonderful handbags.
I'm going to post a few more pictures from the fashion part of the exhibit out on my FaceBook FP... stop by for some embellishment fun!

Happy Friday....