2019 Schedule!

There are just 25 days left this year. Yikes!! Time to share the plans for the new year. Click on the links below to get more information and Sign Up!
Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival: February 28 - March 3.
Metro Modern Quilt Guild, New York, New York: Saturday, April 6 (Vending)
Quiltfest Lancaster: May 9 - 11 at the old 'Host'. Class: Transparent Illusions, Saturday, May 11.
Dynamic Disperse Dyes class at Peters Valley School of Craft, July 26 - 30.
Lancaster Modern Quilt Guild: Trunk Show and Class: No Muss, No Fuss Thickened Dye Exploration, August 10.
(updated 2/21/2019)

Class preparation

Well, there are just under four months to go before my “No Muss*, No Fuss” thickened dye exploration class at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and Quilt Fest of New Jersey. I’ve been busy making samples and taking photographs AND planning what each workstation will contain. I will also be offering kits so you don’t have to pack your own supplies, which adds a whole new wrinkle. They need to be packed by February 1, or earlier if you ask hubby! So here are some photos to give you an idea of what you’ll be working on if you can join us.

Lots of techniques will be sampled.

A color sampler monoprint.

Screen printing.

Printed tree fabric.

Ready to spread dye through the screen.

Two examples of stamps.

Spreading dye with a scraper.

Stamping in action.
*Did you know that ‘muss’ is really a word? I didn’t. It is, among other definitions, a synonym for mess, or ‘a state of disorder.’ Well, there will doubtless be disorder in the classroom, but then that’s why I’m working on creating order this early!

Tempus Fugit, I think

Good thing I can look it up in the dictionary. Anyhow, time does fly.

Well, before I start kvetching about having too much to do, I should say that the reason I was inspired to post again was that I now, suddenly, have over 30 followers! Thank you all so much! I’m sorry I don’t have any more eye candy to post; don’t remember the last time I took time for photographs. Found one – it’s at the bottom.

Back to time flying – there are just 7 weeks to go before the first show of the fall, so I have to crank up the production numbers. I did get a lot of snow dyeing done last weekend – still washing it out. Family visit this weekend, and a trip to the Hershey show (as a visitor), then another week to snow-dye or work on poly. (More on that below.) Then I’m teaching a day class on discharge the weekend of the 13th, one-on-one, so I’m starting to dye and fold fabric for that. Then I need to prep for a demo at Oaks on Kanzashi, and a speaking engagement in October, the day before the Quakertown Show. There’s also the annual Chautauqua Show in the end of October, too! And some exciting news – I’m going to teach a 3-hour class at the Somerset show in March – Quilt Fest of NJ.

I read a great article in Quilting Arts today by Marie-Therese Wisniowski on her ‘Multisperse Dye Sublimation’ technique for polyester. I can start painting papers with dye right away, and pull out the heat press once the 90-100 degree F temperatures are over with. And I want to do more sun printing on poly, too, and try some mandalas. Plus I found a source for the sheer iridescent polyester, like I got at Jo-Ann. That’s been popular, so I must order a roll, plus more muslin, maybe. . . . So I’m keeping busy. Thanks again to my followers; if I had a tail it would be wagging!

PS - here’s a picture I have been playing with – it’s the leftovers on the lid of a bucket of spackle. I’ve learned a good bit about using Photoshop Elements in working with this one image. Maybe I should get a Thermofax screen made of it. Forgot it was there!

Classes on website

Finally! I have scheduled classes in dyeing, discharge and appliqué and posted them on my website. Appliqué is a monthly evening class held on the second Monday of the month. Well, this isn’t the usual picture of a quilt in progress, but I couldn’t resist. The quilt is done now, and the dog is gone, but he always makes us smile. The blocks are from Jane Townswick’s Artful Appliqué II book, which students can work from if they choose.

The dye class is an introduction for folks who haven’t dyed before and the discharge class won’t teach dyeing, but for people who plan to discharge only commercial fabrics, the dyeing step is not absolutely necessary. They are being held the first and second Saturday of June, and class size is limited to 4 people. Classes will be held outside; in the event of rain we will be in the basement or the garage. Here’s a link for a little more information.

That’s it for now; back to putting products on the website. Thanks for looking!

Back to work!

So much has been going on since returning from Lancaster. Tonight I have started updating my website, dippydyes.com - updating the calendar, adding products and classes, and remembering how to work the program. In the studio, the heat press has arrived, so I have started processing some Nu-suede yardage. (Pictures coming soon.) That fabric was very popular at Lancaster, especially, and I need to dye lots of it and the poly-cotton blend to sell at the Chantilly, VA show, which attracts garment sewers as well as quilters. I'm looking at adding polyester scarves to dye and sell, and have been trying to dye polyester fiber for felting, with mixed results. Have done a little experimenting with devoré, and some discharge work as well. Also, I have a couple speaking engagements this spring and summer, and I've been asked to write an article about snow dyeing for American Quilter! Here's a link to the calendar page - hope y'all can come see me sometime. Now I must go work on a sample!