Little of This, Little of That

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post!
I was so busy getting ready for the workshop on Tuesday that the time flew by!

I don't know if other teachers are this way but for a day or two after my workshops, I am just exhausted.
I think that I (and others)  put so much work into each class, so much of myself into each class that it just
wears.
me.
out.

(Well, now that I think of it, there are a couple of extenuating circumstances involved with that.)

I have an auto-immune disorder that saps my energy sometimes, well a lot of times actually.
So, I'll try to give myself a break here...

I try not to use my health issues for an excuse and at times I make it so hard on myself because of my stubbornness.

What?

Did I hear hoards of family and friends moaning at that comment?

Oh, not the one about my health issues but the stubbornness...

Okay.
I can be a little stubborn.

But I'm here, at home.

I'm working on cleaning out my studio space and a room upstairs in my house.

I'm trying to get rid of things that I no longer use (but continue to hang on to), things that I said I was going to use one day and the things that I will never, ever use.

I did list some eBay auctions today - I started with rubber stamps.

I'm going to try and list more every few days until I get tired of doing it or I begin to give things away.
I've got a feeling that it won't take too long for me to begin walking away from most things...
just to get them out of my house!

I hope that everyone is feeling well,
that Spring is upon you (or will be soon)
and that your creativity is in high gear.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos that I shot at the workshop on Tuesday - during our lunch break.
Notice the piles of goodies around everyone.
I had 10 beautiful women there, including my lovely assistant Meg.
Thank you Meg for helping!

New Art Work

While tending to an injured husband,
I have managed to find a tiny bit of studio time.
I've had this piece percolating in my mind for quite a while
I just couldn't get into the studio long enough to make it happen.
So, I finally let everything else go (after I had my husband situated best I could)
and headed into my studio.

POW!

"It" happened.
"It" being those precious times that things just flow...
Have any of you out there had that to happen?
You begin a little slowly, trying this or that...
changing that for the other...
and before you know it -
you are surrounded by the magic.
I almost completely finished a new piece of art work that day.
Even placed it in a shadow box.
I was looking for a quote or poem to go with it and decided to just write one myself.
I used to love to write poetry
and that day I remembered how...

I just let the magic of doing what I love guide me.

Here's a peek.
It's not finished at the point of this photo but this is the chick that inspired me.

Fabrics To Dye For

On Wednesday, August 20 (last week) I had the immense pleasure of participating in an Awesome Workshop by

Judy Simmons.

We met in Asheville, NC for a fun & color filled day.

Have you ever taken a class or workshop that Judy teaches?

No?

Wow! You should!

She is one of the most organized teachers that I had taken a class from!

She gave us a prepared packet of info with everything that we would need to begin dyeing our own fabric.

And copies to take to our tables to work with!

I will include pictures of all the beautiful fabric that I dyed...

including this one...

Dyed? Did I say that I dyed the above piece?

Yep...I just forgot to add the Soda Ash...

She warned us about that...

The ones that follow obviously had their soda ash...

I wanted some pieces of pastel colors,

so here are a few of those that I managed to dye.





These next few pictures were of microwave dyeing.

Judy taught us an extremely easy way to dye background fabric.

Isn't this Chocolate beautiful?

It looks like it has a pink tint to it...

This is another section of the Chocolate piece.

Look at the pink undertones...

This is one of my favorites (Judy's too!).

Havana Brown.

Look at the blue undertones...

only one color of dye used as well.

Here are more of the low immersion dyeing fabrics.

Don't you love this piece? It looks wonderful in person. I plan on using it in the 3 commissioned pieces that I have coming up.

I can just see all the different areas in a forest/landscape piece...

I had a great time that day and learned so much!

Thanks Asheville Quilt Guild for offering this class

and thanks to Judy for teaching such a fun filled yet educational class!

You wouldn't believe how much fun we had...

Hot Flashes and all...

Rust Fabric

I made some rust fabric , using Fiber Art Workshop as a guide. It was so much fun to do...my husband thought I was kinda crazy though..looking for rusty things in his shop. I have posted a few pictures of how it turned out. The 2 pictures are of the same piece , just front and back. So that's cool that you would get such different looks from the same piece. I might try to do some more , it was very simple to do. Oh, and I do recommend the above book. It's an invaluable tool to have around.