Happy Fall

Various pictures of the season. There's color inspiration everywhere. The transparency samples are not an autumn colorway, but they are what I'm working with right now. I love seeing how the different backgrounds make the colors change.

Small business Saturday: some numbers, and eye candy

DippyDyes isn't the only merchant that has been filling your inbox with holiday shopping emails. Yes we have a sale too, and nobody else is apologizing for all the emails. Why do I feel like I need to apologize?

But anyway, this was to be about numbers. Today is the fourth day of the sale and it continues until Friday the second. Total emails sent: 1322. Total unsubscribes: 9. Total orders: 2. Gross profit: $85.16. So now you know why micro-businesses flood your inbox!

Now, borderline whine and gratuitous accounting stats over, here are some recent additions to the website. Click on any of the pictures to be taken to that fabric on the website. (Go ahead - you know you want it!)

Back to school and teaching and quilting

Greetings! Busy as usual here and ignoring the blog. Just took a look at my recent photos to try to figure out where the time has gone. My family surprised me with an early birthday present - a trip for everyone to the Phillies-Mets game. So now I have a Phanatic dangle hat, because I've always wanted one! And the Mets won, so the nice guy behind me was happy. And we got to see Rhys Hoskins first hit. Once he got that, he's been on fire! He's the NL Rookie of the month for August, and I'm personally taking all the credit. (Ha!)
It's almost time for our last show of the year, the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza at Oaks, PA. That's just west of Valley Forge, for those of you outside the area. There's still room in my Dye Basics class - and you can still sign up online here, by phone or in person next Wednesday 9/13 or Thursday morning, 9/14 before 9 AM. Let me know if you want to buy a kit with fabric.
Coming up next spring I'll be teaching at MAQF in Hampton, VA in February and - New Date and Location - QFNJ in Edison in April. If none of those dates or locations work for you - I have some really big news! I will be teaching at Pro Chemical and Dye on May 17 - 18. Sign-ups begin in October - watch this space for a link! And below is a picture of one of my class samples.

Look for quilts by Lisa in next year's shows - there are currently three on the to-do list that tie into either the upcoming classes or general business of dyeing.
The to-do list also has 'blog more' included - hope I will see you here!
P.S. - in you are coming to the show at Oaks and don't get the newsletter 'Hues & News' from DippyDyes, please sign up (we send show coupons.) There's a link at the top of the column to the right, or click here. Thanks!!

True Colors Class by Carol Soderlund

Here's my first picture from the class I took earlier this month at Pro Chemical & Dye. It shows a series of skinny quarters, each with an increasing number of layers and colors of dye. The last two have the same number of layers, but the top one was folded twice as much. Loved this class!

So you want to dye some fabric?

A recent Facebook post by Robbie E. turned into a wonderful discussion all about dyeing and washing out cotton fabric. I made a couple new friends that way; one wrote: "This is making me so confused. All I want to do is start dyeing! Any tips on where to start?" Lots of people pitched in before me to praise Ann Johnston's book "Color By Accident." It's still the standard reference, and I was happy to recently revisit some of Ann's techniques. I've been able to scale up to larger pieces of fabric, given the right container.
Another excellent book for beginners is "Tray Dyeing" by Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan. Time to re-read that one!
There are great on-line resources available at Pro Chemical & Dye and Dharma Trading, plus Paula Burch's website here.
And, if you're coming to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza show at Oaks, PA, I'm teaching Dye Boot Camp on Thursday, September 14.
Now that the nice weather is here, it's time to give dye a chance!

Testing, testing

Took a photo of my upgraded methods to test for bleeding.
1- fold a piece over and iron between white fabric
And
2- throw a white swatch into the hot wash to look for bleeding in the washer

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!