Fibrefest Follow Up and Studio Clean up

Catching up on my blogging after a week of recovering and cleaning up from Fibrefest. After teaching a Hand-dyed Threads class, we set up my booth on Friday. I'm sharing a few photos before the crowds came. Yes, we had crowds! It was a successful weekend. Here's a view of my entire booth. I purchased some grid racks for the back so I could hang some work and samples of patterns made into quilts, along with patterns. There is a shelf along the back displaying the hand-dyed kits that go with the patterns.

In laying out my booth I decided to organize things in terms of colour. Right at the front I set up an autumn theme. I can't tell you how many people stopped just to pet the velvet!

I'd say the top sellers of the weekend were velvets and Textile Temptation packs. The visitors to Fibrefest are a more diverse crowd than just quilters and so I found it was the non-cottons that really attracted customers.

However, a lot of my past customers (many of them quilters) came out to purchase the cottons too.

 

Whew ... I was tired on Sunday night! Ended up taking Monday and Tuesday off. Standing and walking on those concrete floors all weekend caused a lot of leg, knee, and lower back pain. I was ever so glad I had a massage booked for Tuesday. 

In the past few days I did a major studio clean up. The tables are cleared to begin work on the sunflower commission next week. My sewing machines have been sent for servicing.

In cleaning up I even managed to excavate the chair in my studio, which has not been seen in two years ;-)

The fabrics that resided on the chair were put away so I can easily find them, in a cleaned out cabinet.

I straightened out the closet and moved some of the seldom-used teaching bins to the basement. Now I have a better idea where everything is, and some space to work in.

But of course I am back in the dye pots too. Trying to plan ahead for upcoming classes in the Maritimes at the end of October and early November. I'm not concerned if I dye too many kits because I need some for my booth at Quilt Canada next year. I just don't like to work in a last minute panic.

Looking forward to making some progress in the studio this week.

Quiet but Busy!

If I've been quiet, it is because I've been living in a fabric dyeing and tomato processing factory the last few weeks ;-)  I am busy preparing for my vending experience at Fibrefest Almonte the weekend of September 8-9. I hope I will see you there!

I have a great selection of Textile Temptation packs, velvets, and of course lots of cottons.

I've dyed a whole bunch of value gradations, including a 9-step neutral grey. I am in love with it!

As part of Fibrefest I will also be teaching a one-day workshop on Friday, September 7 on Hand-dyed Threads. Below is part of my collection. We will be dyeing thread in the morning, and in the afternoon I will share and demo a number of ways to use the thread.

Here's a photo of the tomatoes going in the oven for roasted tomato soup! Putting lots away in the freezer for winter. I've also made a few batches of pasta sauce.

If you are a member of the Canadian Quilters Association, you will have seen my article in the latest (Autumn) issue of the Canadian Quilter. If not, you can order single issues at this link.

I don't think I've mentioned on my blog that I will also be a vendor selling my hand-dyed fabrics, patterns and kits at Quilt Canada Ottawa, June 12-15, 2019. Since it is taking place in my city, I will avoid hotel, travel, and meal expenses making it more do-able financially. 

It's that time of year when sunflowers are blooming everywhere. Here's a two for one in our front yard. Reminding me that when Fibrefest is over I must turn my attentions to starting the sunflower commission.

It is also hosta blossom season. I'm enjoying photographing with the HDR setting on my Samsung Smart Phone. I feel that the results are often better than what I am able to master with the macro lens on my Canon Rebel. My shoulders thank me too as I am not carrying the weight of the Canon.

It's a long weekend coming up (Labour Day). Having worked in universities and colleges most of my working life, I always feel that this signals the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. I wish you all a fantastic last long weekend of the summer!

Dye Another Day!

I just returned from a week-long teaching trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I will be sharing photos shortly. In the mean time, I am preparing for an Intro to Dyeing class I'm teaching for the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild tomorrow, Saturday. Just wanted to let you know that I have a follow-up class at Textile Traditions of Almonte next weekend, Saturday, November 1. In this class we really get into the nitty gritty of how I use colour and different methods I use for different results. You can expect to dye fabrics that look like these:

You will also have an opportunity to dye a Textile Temptation pack (each fibre uses the same dye bath but each takes the colour differently. We'll be dyeing cotton, silk-rayon velvet, silk dupioni, silk organza, and cheesecloth. Here are some colour options.

Oh, and by the way, Textile Traditions of Almonte also carries my full line of Northcott fabric. They have it beautifully displayed in their store window.

You'll Love Our Fabric ... THIS WEEKEND

You'll love our fabric! This weekend purchase my luscious hand-dyed fabrics at the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild Show in Canada's beautiful capital city, Ottawa. We played hard last week, but this work we've been working extra hard. We have about 100 one meter cuts, and lots more.  Scroll down to see.  My best selection of fabrics is always available at this biennial show and nicely laid out for you to contemplate your choices. We also have a larger booth this year to make your shopping experience even better.

Hundreds of fat quarters ... maybe our best selection ever!

Dozens of colour series bundles ... and we haven't bundled them all yet.

Really luscious and vibrant hand-dyed silk/rayon velvet.

Textile Temptation packs in a variety of colours. They include a fat quarter of velvet, cotton, dupioni silk, silk organza, and a half meter of cheesecloth. All fabrics in each pack were subjected to the same dye bath but each fabric takes up the colour a little differently.

While you are in Ottawa, enjoy our beautiful Tulip Festival. These photos were taken at a previous Festival (we haven't been out much all week as we've been in our dyeing dungeon). Well actually, a wonderful trip to Renfrew to teach yesterday offered a reprieve for a day.

Kissabelle and I also took some time to get groovy in the garden. The weather has been glorious!

We tried out the macro lens again.

The apple blossoms are budding!

 Fabrics travel with me as well when teaching by car (limited selection when flying).

 

Fun with the Yellowknife Dyers and Quilters

We arrived home from Yellowknife in the wee hours of Friday morning. I had to shift gears quickly because I needed to be ready to teach the first part of my Uncommon & Unforgettable Threads class at Dragonfly Fabrics on Saturday. Too bad I didn't take my camera because the students in this class turned out some great work. I will try to get pics at our next class in October.

 

Instead I'll be blogging tonight about the fun I had with the Yellowknife dyers and quilters.  From the photo below, it would appear that some of this fun took place in a bathtub!  

 

I found it rather amusing that the Yellowknife Guild of Arts and Crafts has a bathtub installed in their studio!  I dared Donna to pose for me, and she willingly did, all decked out in her mask and gloves, and showing a plate of fabric.

At Donna's request, I put together a new class called "Dye Another Day", which provided instruction on how I dye many of my multi-colour combinations, as well as how I dye the velvet, organza, dupioni and cheesecloth in my Textile Temptation Packs.  This class will join my roster of available classes for any groups that are interested.  I'm sure there will be one at Dragonfly Fabrics in Ottawa soon.

 

Below you can see Pat (in rear) and Shona (at front) intently pouring a variety of colours of dyes, using a variety of techniques, on their fat quarters.  Shona flew in from Inuvik to take this class.  

 

Later in the week, Donna came to our apartment to show me her fabrics after they had been washed.  In this pile you can see the wonderful multi-colours she dyed.

 

This photo shows five different fabrics in each colour that were dyed using the same dye mix.

 

My other class, "Liberated Strip Piecing", was held at the Quilted Raven Quilt Shop. 

Here Shona contemplates how she will form her units into a design.  Those who know me well know just how much I love this chartreuse and purple combination!  Below is how the piece was looking by the end of the day.

 

Christine also finished her piece (except for quilting of course), and what a luscious colour combination, reminiscent of a summer sunset.



 

Lilian's piece was coming together very quickly with just a few units.  BTW, she made the quilt to her left as well!





 

Donna and Hazel contemplate Donna's design below.

 

Love the addition of just a little bit of orange to the blue and brown combination (from my "Winter on the River" hand-dyed fabric bundle.  

 

My next post will share some of the amazing creatures and natural phenemona I saw in the Northwest Territories.