Accomplishments

I feel accomplished! I have had a basket in my elfa stand labeled "Quilts to Quilt" and now I can proudly say, it is empty! Yesterday I finished quilting the Traditional Batik quilt and last week I picked up my Pumpkin Quilt from being quilted (I wasn't going to tackle this one on my Bernina, I'm not that industrious). Today I am cutting off the excess batting/backing and cutting the bias binding for both of these quilts. They turned out beautifully and I'm so proud of the piecing, applique and quilting in each one. My friend, Connie Keller, quilted the pumpkin quilt. She does awesome quilting and I'm so blessed by her friendship.
As soon as I get the binding on these quilts I'll post full pictures.

What I've Been Up To Lately.....

It’s hard to believe that it has been two weeks since I have posted, but when I look back to all that I have done…..
After my fun day of dyeing fabric, I invited several friends over for a Party to Dye For. Here are some of the pictures. We had such a great time sharing and learning from each other.



I manned the Parfait Dyeing table while Kathy taught us Soy Wax Resist and Screen Printing. Michelle brought natural dyes, Tumeric, Marjoram and I provided Avocado.
Many Thanks to Diana for taking pictures for us!

Most of the fabric that I dyed is now in my StudioJules ArtFire Studio. There are Fat Quarters, Half Yards and Full Yards of fabric. The colors that came out in the dye are wonderful and variegated. Some of the pieces are subtle, some are striking. Take a look, be enticed!

I just have the outside boarder left to quilt on the Traditional Batik quilt that I started quilting a few weeks ago. I’m hoping to work on it this weekend and finish the first of next week. I also got my pumpkin quilt back from being quilted. Just need to put the binding on it and I can hang it in the stairwell gallery. Okay, Jeff will hang it….

The planning and organizing for the Dallas Area Fiber Artist Annual Member Show is taking a lot of time right now. Contacting sponsors for prizes, working with the ArtCentre of Plano and our membership. Luckily most of my pieces are already complete, photographed and ready for submission.
Last week I also joined the Textile and Fiber Art List (TAFA). There are wonderful artists on this list! I'm inspired and in awe of what other artists accomplish and blessed to be listed among such wonderful people.
Well, that is it for today. I’ll try to be better about posting, but you know how time can just get away from you!

Dyeing and Quilting Day

This morning I got up in the mood to work on my Traditional Batik quilt and to try Parfait Dyeing (this is layering the fabric and dyes in a container for those of you that are new to dyeing like I am). I layered tank tops, 100% cotton fabric and a few pieces of silk from my stash. The dye colors I used (in order) were Indigo Blue, Chartreuse, Fuchsia, and Yellow. I love the results! I'm addicted now and Parfait dyeing will be my norm!








So, what did I learn? Well, be careful how you layer shirts to get the varieties in color and if you pull pieces out of your stash, make sure they don't already have MistyFuse on them. Yup, the silk piece did. It dyed wonderfully (picture not up yet), I just have to see if the MistyFuse is still fusible. Hey, if we don't make a mistake, then the learning process isn't as much fun!
So, I'm still working on my Traditional Batik quilt, almost done! I'm stippling, so it is taking some time to quilt and I'm taking a lot of breaks so I don't break down!
Wednesday some friends are coming over to have a Studio/Dye Party with me. Watch for pictures and what we learned in the process!

Project for the Week

Ever have a hard time starting a new project because you keep thinking about the projects you haven't completed? My answer - Constantly! So I told myself that this summer I have to complete my "Unfinished Projects" in between the new projects. This way I'm taking care of all the mental and visual road blocks that keep me from having a free mind to create. This week I'm quilting the "Traditional Batik Quilt" that I pieced two years ago. I participated in a Block of the Month with Cabbage Rose in Fort Worth, TX in 2008. We had a choice of traditional or batik fabrics. When the blocks were complete I designed my own quilt instead of using their pattern. I love Flying Geese so I chose this block to join the other traditional blocks together. Yesterday I started quilting and I'll spend today working on it too. I'm stippling the quilt and using coordinating thread colors for each block.

Here's a picture of the quilt top after I finished it two years ago.
I'll post again when I'm finished with the quilting!

Dyeing to be Creative

Here is my 1x1x1 Challenge piece that April Soncrant put out on her blog, Spice Drop Soup. I'm calling it "Dyeing to be Creative". I used fabric that I had either hand painted or hand dyed, hand quilting, buttons, beads, and stamps. One I got started, this was a fun piece to make!
Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks April for putting the challenge out there for us!
I'm off to finish my two angel quilts, postings to come!