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)

Dye Cadets, at ease.

Dye Boot Camp is coming up at MQX - the Machine Quilters' Festival in Manchester, NH. I will be teaching and lecturing there all week - the first class is Dye Boot Camp on Wednesday, April 5 at 8 AM! It will be a quick four-hour version covering everything you need to know about dyeing cotton quilt fabric - AND about washing it out! #MQX
Sign up here! (It's the third on the list.)

Class hard at work, learning something new. :-)

 Colors, colors and more colors!

No hat this year, but the whistle might have to be pulled out!

One time event!

This week is the Quilt & Sewing Fest of New Jersey. It's in Somerset, at the Garden State Convention Center. I'm teaching on Saturday, and it's the only time I'm taking this class on the road. There are only three seats left, and you can sign up Thursday and Friday at the show. Here's a peek:
https://youtu.be/0ugDcsgLvr8

It's show time!!

The spring quilt shows are here!
Join us at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, February 22 - 26, booth 605.
Join us at the Quilt and Sewing Festival of New Jersey, March 2 - 5, booth 604.
Join us at the Machine Quilting Exposition, April 5 - 8, booth 180.
If you receive our newsletter, you already have a coupon you can use in the booth. If you don't get it - why not? You can sign up here in the box to the right. Thanks!

A bigger booth

Today the invoice came for my show booth at the Mid Atlantic Show. It is both scary and exciting. I have a bigger booth this year, so my location has moved. The new booth number is 605, and it's very close to the front door, and across from wearable art! Woo-hoo!
I've posted the schedule for the year here: DippyDyes Calendar

This is a partial view of the first booth I ever set up, in 2008, plus my neighbor's booth behind.

Mixed news, mostly good

Well, where to start? The big news - the Kickstarter campaign was a success, and my first coaching call happens next Tuesday! I've been shaking things up around here in preparation - it's time to get

One thing I realized in writing this post is that I share different information on different sites. One thing that never made it to the blog is that I entered two works for jurying into "Material Matters" at the Union Street Gallery in Chicago. Neither was accepted, but that means I have them here when I speak to the Denton, Maryland Heartland Quilters tonight. Here's the new work:

Impaired

One thing that's not too visible is the needle felted distressing on the fabric. This was an upsetting (or distressing - grin) work for a lot of boring reasons, but it was also fun to make. Nothing like focusing on process to get through the tough stuff.

detail, Impaired

And I'm working on stenciled painted polka dots on a polyester organza for a wedding gown. Sounds nutty, but the piece I've finished so far is fun! Using paint is a little outside my usual comfort zone, and using black paint on white fabric requires real diligence in the cleanliness department! So far, so good.

And we're getting ready here for the show in Oaks, PA. If you haven't signed up for my mailing list, click here, or follow the link at the upper right, and you'll receive a coupon to use at Oaks in the next newsletter. Preregistration ends tomorrow, 9/5, and is available online. I'm teaching the pipe wrapping class again, on Friday afternoon - it would be great if you could join us! And I will be teaching next March at the Mancuso shows, so I have been working on samples for those classes.

Show and tell at pipe-wrapping class

We're also returning to Chautauqua, New York at the end of the month. The day we head home is our 35th wedding anniversary - where did the time go?! There will be another newsletter and coupon for that, so click the sign-up link if you're not already on the list.

One thing that has resulted from the Kickstarter campaign - I have folks coming here to dye. Candy will be here for a week to play, and Gail will be here the following Monday. Margaret and I have yet to set a date. I'm so looking forward to all of those visits! 

Now I need to stick price tags on some items before they go with me to Maryland. Thanks very much for reading!

A Good Week

Last week was a good week. Finished the layout on the ten-year-old quilt and started assembling the top (more below.)

The progress on the Kickstarter campaign, or experiment, has been gratifying - I'm halfway there and have 11 days to go. So, if you can, please use this as an opportunity to add to your stash of dyed or PFD fabrics, or schedule a one-on-one class. And if you can't, can you share the link? I'm going to use the funds for coaching to make my business better. I love what I do - the making, selling and teaching - and really want to keep doing it as long as possible. I need to do it better. Do I deserve the support I've already gotten? It has been humbling to have so many folks give me such a vote of confidence. Deserve - no, not just as a matter of begging. But the other way to look at it is as a 'sales drive' with the proceeds earmarked for this specific project. So I hope you can "shop-pledge" through Kickstarter before Friday, August 8.

My sister came to visit for a couple days (so I actually cleaned) and we went to the Quilt Odyssey show in Hershey. I took a few photos with my phone:

This quilt is made with Radiance, and the sheen is wonderful. And of course the design and execution are awesome. Margaret Soloman Gunn made this.
Also saw this quilt by Lee Ann Paylor - nice to see an online friend's work in person.

And - almost forgot! My Pythagorean Prism quilt (made of hand-dyed and commercial Radiance, and it's a reward on Kickstarter) will be part of the BAQS exhibit at Chatanooga! Here's a detail:

Thanks for looking - and sharing and clicking and re-posting!

Life After the Latest Quilt Show

It’s Monday afternoon after the West Virginia Quilt Festival and we've been home about a day. Laundry is done, suitcases unpacked. Still have to move the booth stuff in, once the road-weariness has had a chance to abate. (And if my language is a little stuffy or odd, that's a side effect of fatigue.)

Recently, I've been getting emails from Alyson Stanfield of www.ArtBizCoach.com. In her video series, 6 Tips for Improving Your Art Business, she speaks about creating ‘ecstatic encounters’ between people and your art. I've seen two such encounters at shows this year – customers who were visibly moved by a piece of my fabric. That's really gratifying and awe-inspiring. And it's the kind of feedback that makes me keep going back to shows.

That said, all the ego-enhancing experiences I've had at shows over the years don’t impact the bottom line. But, lest you think I’m planning on throwing in the towel (which is often how I feel when I get home), I’m considering how to get more buck for my bang. Another vendor who was at the show selling hand-dyed fabrics also sold commercial fabric, which accounted for 85% of her sales. And she did four times what I did in sales. What do you think: would adding select bolts of commercial fabric dilute my brand? Or enhance it?

Finally, I was thrilled to see the Dare to Dance Art Quilt Challenge hanging at the show. Here’s a picture of me with the book and some of the quilts, including mine, of course!

Home again, and some news

Last night I spoke at the meeting of the Berry Basket Quilters in Medford, NJ. My usual speaking engagement is a trunk show, starting with some early quilts, and ending with the latest quilt in the works, with lots of hand-dyed fabric in between. It was fun, because I can always talk dyeing!

My friend Karin is in the guild, and I stayed the night with her, and we talked quilting, fabric and dyeing most of the time we were awake. I also spoke about my business and the recent craft show experience. One goal with a real deadline was applying for state-wide juried status with the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. So, the deadline is tomorrow, November 15, and I got my submission done today! And, by the way, I have already been juried at the Lehigh Valley Chapter level.
One of the quilts I am submitting for jurying is not currently in my hands. It is with Shannon Shirley, and it is going to be included in an upcoming book to be published by Schiffer Publishing. But if I am selected for the jurying session (no guarantees) I'll be able to get the quilt here in time. And the really cool part is that Shannon told me it will be included in the exhibit at the upcoming Quiltfest Destination Savannah in the end of March, 2014. Keep your eyes open for it, and I'll post a picture of it on this site when the exhibit is unveiled.

The show that wasn’t

Recently I posted on some of the several lists and groups I belong to asking for feedback on whether or not to vend at a fine craft/art show. Here’s what I wrote:

I just got back from a fine craft show for which I wasn’t prepared. The booth cost $100 and I sold $55, and I slept at home. I didn’t promote it to my mailing list. There’s another one November 8-10; DH thinks I should stay home and I’m on the fence. I’ve already paid out $400, but if I go, there’s lodging and travel (which is painful for hubby) – say another $500, plus a door prize that I’d have to make. I can learn from my mistakes and advertise it to the folks on my mailing list – there are lots in the area – and go there anyway and take a chance. Will quilt show attendees come to a fine craft show?

I got a lot of great feedback on both sides of the question – 33 emails and a phone call. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to reply. The bulk seemed to be on the ‘stay’ side; on top of which I went to the show’s website and Facebook page, which in my opinion didn’t do anything to instill confidence. Plus there’s another show with a similar name about 80 miles away that is competing head to head for a lot of the same attendees.

The final result – I decided to stay home and work. I told hubby he could feed me. (Is that just cashing in too much on his guilt?) Then I told him seriously – “let’s try another, bigger show that’s close to home.” And of course, we’ll be at Hampton, VA and Somerset NJ in the late winter again next year!

Here’s a view of my booth at the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen show – the Holiday Marketplace at the Swain School. There’s a new look for me – a canopy frame with black drapes.

Here’s a new idea – matted pieces of fabric displayed on an easel. One of the good ideas I picked up at the Allentown show.

The show was very nice, and many vendors had good sales. Maybe next year I will too! Thanks again to those who responded, and thanks for reading!

The Brass Ring & Economics of Quilt Show Vending

Some of you may have seen this already: I have entered DippyDyes into Intuit’s ‘Small Business Growing Strong’ contest. They will grant $5000 each to a total of 15 small businesses to help them grow. You can see my wish and vote here, and please vote as often as you can. Why should you? Not because I’m any more deserving than all the other entrants. Dyeing is my passion and I want to share it with as many people as possible. I’d also like to be able to do this as a living. That means more on-line sales, plain and simple, plus more teaching gigs, and to get those means more exposure. What better place than Houston to find it?
Right now, getting to Houston and back, paying for the booth/s, having reliable transportation, etc, will cost over $3000 before I make a single sale. For an idea of how that compares, I did a summary of the three shows I vended at this spring. After subtracting booth fees, hotels and mileage, my gross profit was about $2800. Subtract the estimated cost of good sold, and the net profit comes to about $640. Remind me why I’m doing this again?? Well, I know why, but it’s certainly not logical with such low profits. Committing to going to Houston on my own looks even less logical – it’s great advertising, but not a real profit-making venue. So, I can try for the brass ring (now I AM dating myself), or never go to vend at Houston, or build up to it as a “few years down the road” goal. Can’t hurt to try! Thanks for your support.

Gender and ignorance (and humor)

Just found this draft – it was going to be a reply to a post on QuiltArt in January 2011, but my mind started wandering down so many avenues I didn’t know where to start. I (and my husband) have often been entertained by different incidents relating to being the ‘wrong’ milieu. It helps to know that I am tall – close to 6 feet, and live in jeans and other unisex clothes. (Is that word still used?) More than once I have been called ‘sir’ by someone who didn’t look closely, or high enough, when I was at a typically male environment. Then there are the times that women gasp when they see me in the ladies room – it embarrasses them, and I figure I can laugh at them freely.

One big part of life for me and hubby has been Bahr’s Mill, a 19th century woodworking historic site. It’s an amazing place – the sort that looks like the operators closed the door 75 years ago and left it untouched. We have worked there and given tours to thousands of people. Lots of times someone will ask hubby a question that he has to refer to me, which confuses the visitors to no end.

Now he has moved into the quilt show world with me, and he always gets to chuckle when he demonstrates something to the largely female crowd. It’s less funny when they don’t buy from him. He finds it interesting that the high end products – long arm quilting machines in particular – are sold ‘by men in suits.’ But he’s not yet ready to put on a suit for the shows. I wonder if it would make a difference; I do plan to upscale my wardrobe a bit this year.

When men come into my booth I try to treat them like other customers, but I find that it can be tough. That’s my fault, and I certainly don’t want to insult anybody.

Fast forward to 2013 – I just got home from the Creative Arts Business Summit, and we had a speaker discuss how we present ourselves. She suggested fitted tops that are flow-y, not fitted, and that I can wear comfortably over my jeans. And to wear my scarves – around the neck or the waist. So I’ll give it a try! Keep an eye here to watch the other results of the summit!

A Tale of Two Uglies

We’ve all made these – something that’s just plain ugly to our eyes. I made the square at left as a potential sample for my manipulations class. I really did not care for it so the first recourse was to overdye it.

Still no improvement, I think – two layers of color, but very flat.

The next step is naturally (in this studio anyway) discharge. I decided to fold it back into a triangle, then I pole-wrapped it with string. What an improvement. This piece sold last week at the Quilt Fest of New Jersey – I can’t wait to see what happens to it next!

The second fabric was part of an ugly fabric exchange. Nicely dyed, but not a great color. Again, the steps it went through didn’t immediately improve it, but at the end it’s pretty neat.

Here I have put the fabric into my wooden pleater. The piece is longer than the pleater could accommodate, so I taped the folds together before moving on to the next length of cloth.

Here is the fabric in a tote with thickened dye spread across the pleats in stripes. I think I used an old tin can with both ends removed to hold the thickened dye. Uglies are great to experiment with.

After batching, this is how it came out. A good illustration for an experiment, but still blah.

The final picture shows a section of the fabric that was folded into a mandala from the center, like the first piece above. Again, not a huge improvement, so this time I pole-wrapped it with string and dyed it with a dark brown-black. It is now living with my class samples.

Thanks for looking, and don’t forget to stop by and say Hi at the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show at the Host Hotel and Resort. The show runs 3/13 – 3/16. If you sign up for our mailing list, you will get a admission discount coupon, and a DippyDyes discount coupon. Thanks!

Fabric manipulations class

Hi all – I will be teaching at the Quilt Fest of New Jersey again this year, in a class called “Manipulation – It’s a Good Thing.”  Here’s a picture of some samples:




For more information and a supply list, see the Manipulations Class page, also listed at right. I hope you’ll join us!

Off to Cincinnati in June

I’m trying a new-to-me show with ‘The Original Creative Festival’ in Cincinnati. I’ll be in booth 106, as of this writing, and I am going to be introducing some new fabrics for garment sewers, as well as my snow-dyed and discharged fabrics, polyesters and wool roving. And I will be teaching ‘Dye Boot Camp’ again – come and join the fun!

Two destinations in New Jersey

Found this link on the Surface Design website: Textility, at the Visual Arts Center of NJ - that page has a slideshow.  It's located about 20 miles from the Quilt Fest of NJ. Both will be open March 1 - 4, so plan on going!

Friday night on the road

Nothing all that exciting to post about, at least not without sounding really vain . . . . I'm in the lobby of the Lancaster Marriott listening to a jazz trio (?) - maybe more - catching up on my email and winding down for the day. They're good, just too loud to get close to. I've met so many new friends and old email-only friends that now have faces. I have had a good run at the shows this spring, and have gotten wonderful reviews of my fabrics (that's our booth above.) I've seen some growth in sales, which is a good thing, but have had less than I hoped here in Lancaster, so that will keep me focused and hopefully realistic. Off

soon to take a vat dye class in New England, then it will be time to get a temporary real job AND make lots more inventory. I am still planning to try to vend at Houston, just have to figure out how. Having a fair bit of fun with the 5th roommate - 10 month old Ashlyn. Pictures will follow. If you don't have kids/grandkids, adopted grandnieces are just as good!

Fun fabric flower bowls

Had fun making these – they seem to be addictive, like I need another one. I will have dyed Peltex and the pattern for making them at the upcoming shows. Still dyeing like a madwoman getting ready for those – over 100 yards of new work and counting!

The shows we will be at:

Hampton, VA, February 24 - 27, 2011

Somerset, NJ, March 3 - 6, 2011

Lancaster, PA, March 16 - 19, 2011

Reviews and Previews

Hard to believe 6 weeks have passed since I last posted. If troubles come in threes, we’ve had it for a while. After the bad brake incident in September, we came home to a hole in the roof, with water running down from the third floor to the entrance hall.  Yuck. Got it fixed (there went any profits,) and a couple weeks later the heater started making loud noises and shooting flames. Well, it was about 55 years old, like us, and that’s a pretty long time for a boiler. In the picture at right, the covers were removed for the funeral. It didn’t run like that all the time. Anyway, it got kicked to the curb and a new Energy Star gas unit has been installed. What a difference – and the basement smells much better! Plus, I will have more and hotter water for washing out MX dyes.

We did a total of six shows this fall; still haven’t crunched all the numbers, but it’s time for some other source of income. My current plan is to do the spring shows in Hampton, VA, Somerset, NJ and Lancaster, PA, and then probably no shows except Oaks, since it’s 20 miles away, until (drumroll) Houston, next fall. I spent almost as much to do the show in Chantilly, VA this fall, with the poorest results of any show. It was a good opportunity to have a different set-up (see picture.) The ladies from Quilters Remedy and I had our booths side-by-side, and we each had a cross-aisle next to us, so we both had corner booths.

Thanksgiving is a week away and as always there’s a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful for all the opportunities that have come my way this year, and all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. I’m thankful for the optimism necessary to keep trying for a while longer, and for the common sense needed to realize that some sort of ‘Day Job’ is necessary too. I’m very thankful that I won a ribbon at the Oaks show, and have the snow-dyeing article coming out next month in American Quilter! (Both of those actually came with a check!) Now I have to get more work done, including posting lots more fabrics on the website, and upgrading my inventory without spending a lot more money!

Back home – another interesting week

Once we got over the whole problem with the brakes, we went on to vend at three shows in three weeks. Oaks, PA (see below), Chautauqua, NY and Chantilly, VA. As usual, we learned from every experience; the big lesson this fall has been to cut the overhead as much as possible. That means we need to sleep and eat cheaper. We got a microwave and TV dinners; to do that better we need to get the TVDs the day they’ll be eaten, not before. Pop Tarts still taste good when the hotel doesn’t have breakfast.

Got home on Sunday; then had to deal with the credit card issue and do household chores on Monday and Tuesday. Then Wednesday I headed down to Philly to report for jury duty at the Federal courthouse. Took the train to get there, and got a copy of the sports pages from the lady in front of me. That kept me busy in the assembly room, because I wasn’t smart enough to change scissors in my sewing bag. However, it took three guys to get them off me! And yes, I am back working on appliqué. Nothing like a little positive reinforcement for motivation. There’s a picture of the block below – it’s one of 256, and I’m halfway there. When I got home from the city (not selected), I sat back, watched Roy Halladay pitch his no-hitter and stitched. Aaahhhhh . . . . .

There’s an appliqué class this Monday evening (the 11th) in Red Hill – you can sign up at DippyDyes.com if it’s your first time. Thanks!