Can you guess what I've been doing?

Yesterday's dyed fabric that I rinsed and washed this morning to get out the excess dye...



Today's batch of dyed fabric...



Tonight's, or maybe tomorrow morning's, batch of fabric ready to dye...



You get one guess on what I've been doing lately. : )

Quilter Carry-All

My friend Frances has been writing an informational blog series on how to travel well, and her blog for today is about which sewing project(s) to carry on her next international trip.

My suggestion is to carry needle-turn applique with circles. The project requires a handful of simple background blocks, some circles with freezer paper shapes, needles, a few pins per block, and thread. I carry my thread on bobbins.

Here are the circle blocks that I've sewn in the last few weeks in my spare time, generally as I sat in waiting rooms, etc...


The bottom three blocks will go into a quilt for my vendor booth. Some will have pieced backgrounds and some will not. Either way, they're easy and fun to sew!

Dye Days

As I said in an earlier post, we'll have a vendor both June 3 & 4 at the Mobile, AL Azalea City Quilt Show, so I have been busy dyeing fabric...again, and again. These are yesterday's dye tubs...

...and today's tubs...


This piece is on the design wall. I started it a couple of years ago and never finished. It will make a nice sample for our hand-dyed fabric booth. Sure wish I had more of these focus fabrics for the border. I'll have to get creative.



Our son, former soldier, has been creating too while waiting to move to Alaska.


He's making these yard art fish for friends..

So cool.

Mom's Day Fun & New Technology

It has been a fine Mother's Day with a breakfast invitation from our wonderful neighbors, Scott & Kim, and botanical beauties from our two sons. I'm a blessed lady.

Here's a sweet basket of flowers from Darrell (he's in NM on vacation)...


These are the plants that Bry got for me: first a Passion Vine which will have those wonderful flying saucer type flowers with multiple layers...


...and an orange flavored mint plant. Mmmmm, it'll make a wonderful tea.


My new technology for this month is my first iPhone and a little gadget called a Square from www.squareup.com. The square (the white square plugged into the iPhone below) will scan credit cards when we're vending. It's so cool, and so much easier to use than that bad finger-crunching, manual credit card terminal we've been using.

Fun

The Mobile, AL quilt show, called the Azalea City Quilt Show, is fast approaching and I've been busy dyeing fabric for our vendor booth and over-dyeing some pieces that were not selling. Here are some of the over-dyes...



Love these yummy colors.

Jane, my beginner quilt student, just finished her quilt top and is ready to spray baste it...



...and my husband and son have been making these fish in the garage out of military surplus items...

Creativity is a whole-house event lately.

Teaching Travel Log

We were in Florida last week in Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Ft. Walton Beach where I taught two quilt guild programs and an all-day fabric dye class. We lived in the area for seven years and it was wonderful to be back to see good friends.

Following the long drive south, we visited the chiropractor in Destin--always a lovely drive...


Love that white sand and turquoise water of northwest Florida.

Our wonderful friends Ann & Greg hosted us for the week, so we had plenty of quality time with them.


Ann, Bill, me, Pat and Greg

We three ladies are part of the Killer Bees quilting group in Pensacola. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the ladies on bee day.

The Santa Rosa Quilters Guild hired me to give my Green Ideas for the Studio program and then an all-day fabric dye class at the Naval Live Oaks Park in Gulf Breeze. It was beautiful and we were just steps from Escambia Bay...




I gave my Stretching the String lecture to the Silver Threads Quilt Guild of Ft. Walton Beach.

All around, it was a wonderful week!

Moving Forward

I'm in high gear--preparing to give two lectures and an all-day class in Florida next week.

--84 yards scoured & cut for fabric kits for dye class
--two more samples quilted
--binding on one of those samples
--two table runner tops finished
--samples partially packed for one lecture
--found copies of my handouts to type into the laptop (after the desktop died).



Today:

--teach a beginner quilting class
--make a pillow cover out of new quilted sample
--type in handouts and then save on disk!
--finish top of fabric-knit purse for sample

I knit these scrap 1/2" fabric pieces into a hat pattern, but it will be used for the bottom of a purse.

Need more tea, and then time for fun!