Lots of Color

Kids Day

The kids had a blast today. They dyed shirts, socks, pillowcases, sheets, and I managed to get a little fabric dyed. We finished just in time. About 2 o'clock we had a monsoon come through. The lightening was awful but the rain was great. I had to hurry and get everything in the garage. We are supposed to get more rain tomorrow which is not good. They were supposed to start my patio tomorrow.
If you know how to dye this is such a great way to spend time with your kids, grandkids, and their friends. There will be alot of dyed shirts in middle school next year!
Song of the day: "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Shopping Spree

I sat down and watched the second series of my Quilting Arts dvd yesterday. I was doing everything I could not to go outside. It has been miserable here with the humidity. So, my 2 favorite people had 2 segments. Linda & Laura Kemshall from England. I really like their work. It is a mother and daughter and they are textile artists. I have had their book for a while. I am a visual and hands on learner so watching a few of their techniques was inspiring. It got me so excited I went to the art store today and bought supplies for my trip. We are leaving friday for Sanibel Island, Fl. My favorite place in the world. I am sure there are places that are more beautiful and full of culture but Sanibel holds a special place in my heart. Back to the Kemshalls, I really liked how they worked on their paper journals and filled them with ideas, color, and inspiration. I do not want to copy what they did but bring my own ideas to a journal for me. This will be great especially if I cannot sit down at my sewing machine. I will use what I find at Sanibel. Seashells, leaves, and photos I will be taking. I am very excited! I will be posting unless we get hit by a hurricane or something. I am just nervous because the last 2 times I have left there has been a tragedy.
I have been mixing dye tonight. My sons friends are coming over tomorrow and we are having a dye party. Shirts, socks, pillowcases, and anything else we can find. I just have to remember to take pictures.
Song of the day: "No Rain" by Blind Melon

A Little Birdie Told Me

I received my copy of Quilting Arts magazine yesterday in the mail. I have been waiting patiently for it to arrive. I have a piece published inside. Thanks to Frieda for including me in her article using silk in quilts. She picked up one of my pieces while she was here for the fusing workshop. It is "Sunshine Daises" pg.41. So if you do not have a subscription to the magazine go out and buy this copy! It is my favorite quilting magazine.
Now on a totally different subject I am excited about Shark Week starting on the Discovery Channel today. I love watching those shows. It always comes on the week before we go to the beach. I really do not like to swim in the ocean for alot of different reasons. None really to do with the sharks. I had a shark swim by me in about 3 feet of water back in 1986. When it happens you never forget it. It was right when I moved to Florida. All of a sudden its fin appeared right by my leg the went back down. That is what is scary, when you loose where it went. My friend and I walked very slowly until we could pick our legs up and run out of the water. Now I feel more educated about sharks than I did back then. I would really like to go on one of those expeditions where they study sharks. Especially the sharks that come up out of the water attacking the seals. It is somewhere off of South Africa.
The show I watched earlier today was about sharks and tonic immobility. It is how you can put the sharks in a trance by rubbing the ends of their noses. They tried it on Reef, Tiger, and Great Whites. The bigger the shark the harder it is. Very cool!
Song of the day: "Jaws Main Title" by composer John Williams

Second day of Dyeing

We started out doing some more gradations. Most were dyeing fat quarters. I dyed full yards so now I have about 38 more yards to take to Nancy Crow this fall. If you have never taken her before you have to bring 100+ yards of fabric.
It went much faster because we in our groove. Some had a hard time stopping for lunch. I can stop anything for food. The afternoon was playtime. We went outside and used our platters. Frieda mixed all of the dye for this. It was great. She went over how we could apply the dye to the fabric. Squirt bottles, syringes, sprinkle dry dye, thickened dye with a brush, and you could even dye your friends. The wind was blowing so it was hard not to get any on you. I am a messy dyer. It's ok it washes off. It does not come out of your nails. Now I look like I have a fungus on my toenails.
I remember the first time I dyed, I went crazy. If it was white and in reach I was dyeing it. This was the first time for some and they were doing the same. It was comical to watch. Now we are going to get a dyeing group together and have some fun.
Song of the day: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by George Michael & Elton John

Mentally Returning

So much for having a relaxing weekend in Ky. My family had a shooting-suicide that weekend. I wasn't really prepared for that, like I am sure nobody is. I did come back and go to the dye workshop. I think that helped me mentally. It was great having friends around and their support. So needless to say I have not felt like blogging at all. I want my blog to be about fun and exciting things so that is all I am going to say about that.
We had a great time with Frieda. If your guild does not want to bring someone in just get a group of people together and make it happen. We did. I know a few of the ladies were nervous about dyeing. Once they saw how easy and fun it was they had a blast. I love taking workshops from different people. You learn something just a little different from each person even though you are doing the same thing.
These are pictures from the first day. We started out discharging on black. It is hard to be a female and not laugh everytime you hear that word! Some of the shirts that were done could have been in a boutique. When we moved to the dyeing of gradations we had to be in pairs. There was a dirty girl and a clean girl. I was the clean girl but the dirty girl, Vanessa made sure I got dirty. With each color she put glove prints all over me. That is ok because I have one outfit that I dye in, and now it is very colorful. The weather for the 2 days was great. Sunny and not very much humidity.
Song of the day: "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite

Dyeing

I am getting ready for our dye workshop monday and tuesday. Frieda Anderson is coming here for a 2 day fun-filled dyeing extravaganza. I am hoping this will get me motivated to dye. I usually start right when school gets out. There has just been too much going on around here.
I am getting out of here for the weekend. I will be back monday with some great pics of dyeing. Have a good one!
Song of the day: "Sailing" by Christopher Cross