Question for You

I try to post a reply to all my comments (a big hunkin thank you to all of you who leave a comment) but don't know if you receive my reply post as an email.

If you don't, does anyone know how to make it happen in Blogger? or Wordpress?

The reason I ask about Wordpress is I'm actually thinking seriously about switching over to them. My art group blog, FAB (a wonderful bunch of ladies if I say so myself) is there and everytime I go to use it I find it a more managable thing to use. I like the format, ease of use and the fact that your photos are stored rather that have them floating in space with access only thru the posts.

I know some of you use Typepad (a pay-for-use service), how is that workin for ya? Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh...and hear's a peak at one of the fabs I dyed before the family invasion. Just got around to ironing and photographing them. I'm calling this one "Scrumptious Mud Pie". Wanna take a bite????




See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

And the Winners of the Dyed Fabrics Are....

I'm So Excited!!!!!

Thanks to all of you for leaving a comment on my Dyed Fabrics blog post. I loved what each of you wrote and can't wait to get your little pieces of colour heaven on its way to you.

As I mentioned before I used a random number generator (RNG) to pick the 7 winners of my first dyed fabric give-away.

Each of you were assigned a number and to make it easy I just used the chronilogical order in which you posted, Joyce would be #1; Karoda -#2; Karrin -#3 and so on. Plugging the numbers into the RNG it scrambled your numbers and spit out a list which is (drum roll please).........................

2 - 3 - 9 - 6 - 7 - 10 - 1 - 5 -4 -8.

The 7 winners are Karoda, Karrin, freebird, Karen, Judy, Yetunde and Joyce. Congratulations to all and look for me to have more give aways when I dye more fabrics. (y'all don't know how hooked I am on this now...oh boy, there goes the budget).

(Unfortunately because I got a comment from "Anonymous" I could not put you in the running because I have no way to get in contact with you. Sorry bout that).

I won't tell you which fabric you won because I want it to be a surprise when you get in in the mail so get cracking and email me your mailing address now (see sidebar for my email addy).

Please email me a pic of whatever you decided to make with your winning fat quarter of fabric. I'd love to see them and post them here.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

p.s. don't know if you know but I gave each fab a name, click on the individual fabrics in this post and hover over the enlarged pic to find them out.

Dyed Fabrics

I know I gave you just a small glimpse of the fabric I dyed last week. Well here's a close-up.

Wet your appetite!

Feast in the colour!

Indulge your imagination!

Random Drawing

I'm feeling indulgent so for the next week I'll be holding a drawing. Leave a comment and you will be in the running for one fat quarter of one of these lovelies. I will be using a random number generator to pick the winners so everyone gets a chance to win.

Don't forget to leave your email addy so I can contact you if you're one of the winners. Good luck! Drawing ends June 15th.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Colour Play

For the last few weeks I've been promising myself a treat...to dedicate a day to dyeing some fabs (finally). Let me tell you I am soooooooooo exhausted because Wed is also the day we had a high of 100 degrees. BOY was it hot.

First good decision: do not set up in the back garden which was my original intention. so off to the garage I go and pull down the table and set my area up, my trusty dog Logan right there to keep me company.

It was also better this way cause the large sink was right there to use instead of the garden hose out back.

Today was just experimentation to get back into the groove of things. I went at it with no set agenda, no specific colours to dye or any expectations on the outcome. The only thing I had I my mind was "What if...?".

Safety first, I donned my respirator and made my dye concentrates and went at it. Only had a few dye pots left so I knew this was not going to be a big batch of fabrics I was coming away with.

But experimenting was so very cool. Look what I did...I played with the leftover dye that wasn't enough to dye fabrics with (teaspoons left) and made a small dye study chart for myself. Just kept mixing and mixing and recorded each one.

Now this is nothing compared to the colour study you make when you take Carol Sonderland's workshop. Oooh how I would love to do that one. I keep checking her schedule and one of these days......ooowee!

Anyway, for now I have these to work from. Am about to order more fabs and dyes for my Annual Dyeing Party in July. I am so looking forward to that.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

New Small Piece

I have not had much of a chance to get into my studio lately and sorely miss the action that happens there. So, last week, instead of working on a big quilt I chose to cut up a piece of fabric that I hand dyed last year with my group, Pandora's.

I like to work small sometimes cause it gives me a chance to keep my fingers and head busy with some creative stuff but it doesn't take a ton of time!

I've always wanted to work with just one fabric but I always thought it would be with a commercial fabric, finding some way to try and make each piece I used look different. You know how hard that can be.

For this piece I just cut strips from the yard of fabric, then cut those into smaller rectangles. Because it has a nice mix of toned down blues and purples it worked quite well as a one fabric piece. I wanted to work quickly and not think about things too much so I fused the rectangles to a large piece of fusible web. Next came a frame for it.

My daughter helped me audition the border and we settled on a cool eggplant batik. I cut a rectangle to include the borders I wanted, fused a piece of fusible to the back then...beleive it or not, I cut a whole in the middle for the hand dyed center section. I told you, I really didn't want this too take long. I then fused the two to a larger piece of batting. Top was done!

It's not quilted yet, been testing out some ideas and I still have to add some embellishments, thinking about beads or bundles. Got that last idea from Sonji Hunt (June 25th entry). You have to take a look at her work, the colour is what drew me in at first. Ooohwee!!

Gotta run, you may have not noticed the time of this post but I really should get some rest. I have an early day tomorrow.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",