The Mistle Toad

O.K. here I am better late than never. Last month I kept myself busy trying to catch up with my commissions and I managed to teach a quick dye transfer class in Columbus last month. Christmas came upon us so fast that I could barely get time to put up a tree for the holidays. The stockings didn't get hung.... come to think of it where were they this year? Probably in the dirty laundry! I seem to cut things down to the wire and even got my customer quilts done two days before Christmas. Whew!!! Now for a few days to relax and regroup again. My fiberart group in Columbus had a Christmas get together at an Italian Restaurant, Buca Di Beppo. My favorite of all was the Dolce with a sampling of a lot of desserts! We had Italian again the following week. My daughter and her husband took us to the ShadowBox in Columbus for a show and then we went to Easton to have a fabulous Italian dinner at Brios. Of the two, I can undoubtedly say that this one was my favorite! Afterwards, we did some last minute Christmas shopping, enjoyed the singing on the streets and the magic of Christmas with all of the lights. I only wished that I would have brought my camera with me to share some photos. Speaking of photos, I really didn't have much to share this time and it dawned on me that I haven't had one photo of me on the blogspot! So here I am decking the halls with the after effects of Christmas Cheer. With a few glasses of wine below my belt, I am able to sing any Christmas song I want and feel pretty good about it and of course kiss the Mistle Toad for good luck!

Feathered Friends and Sunflowers

Today I finished machine quiting a top quite fitting and appropriate while I watched the birds outside feasting on the sunflowers. Feathering the background reminds me of all of the fluttering going on with the finch amongst the 7 feeders. It seems there are more than usual. I always thought the expression "eating like a bird" meant that you didn't eat much at all, but it doesn't take them long to empty the feeders. If I were a bird, I think the warmer weather migrating south, would attract me more! Last October we were off in the Carribean. Ah, to have the option of having wings and fly there when we want to soak up the sun and drink exotic alcoholic fruit drinks!

Wings Of An Angel

It's been awhile since I have posted as I have spent much time with a dear friend who is terminally ill. It's just been so hard to believe that someone that shares the same interests with you, will be gone soon, so I have spent a lot of time quilting her quilts to leave reminders to her family of her behind. Besides her quilts it seems that every thing I have touched lately has turned to feathers as symbols of angels that lurk among us. May there be a quilted heaven.

How to have a meltdown

At the request of another quilting art friend, I have decided to post the makings of one of my postcards that I had entered into the art card event. It was a fun process and can be quite addicting in experimentation. Below are the steps I did to make the post card. I am missing a few steps but you will soon figure it out when I explain it. I started with drawing out a design on a recycled tyvek envelope that I marked with a water soluable marker. Then I cut out a peltex piece post card size and fused on black fabric as my background. (a step not photographed) I laid the tyvek on top and stitched through all layers. Then I used Dye Na Flo and colored in the areas with a mop brush. I let it dry and then took a heat gun and melted away as much as I wanted to and even some as much as I didn't want to! lol (Notice I was too busy melting away to get a photo of this step!) I also melted angelina between teflon sheets and cut out any extra designs I wanted to add and stitched them with metallic thread. Lastly I fused crystals on and satin stitched the edges with rayon thread. I entitled this piece Galactic Melt down.

A few extra feet

I have enjoyed having the granddaughters here the past week. They are such a joy in my life and I miss them terribly when they live 4 hours away. They have had a lot of fun playing with iphoto and computer programs, a wonderful oppertunity that they have now compared to when I went to school. We also had the best time dyeing and couldn't resist tie dyeing so that we would have matching tshirts and socks. It's hard to believe how tall that they have gotten as well as the size of their feet! Kitana, the youngest, wears a size 7 shoe. It's the same size as I wear! She will be 11 this month. The other two, Hayley who is 14 wears a 9 in shoes and Kristal who just turned 16 this past week wears a size 11 shoe! Just how did they get so big? I remember when I was 21 and I wore a size 5 1/2 shoe. At 52, I wear a size 7. I can't imagine the granddaughters when they get to be my age! Unfortunate of all, gone are the days of the pitter patter of little feet, sigh!

Gallery Showing

I belong to a fiberart group "Off our Blocks" from Columbus Ohio. We periodically show quilts in various galleries. For the next couple of months it will be viewed in Logan, Ohio at the Logan Art Gallery. Be sure to stop by anytime or join us at the reception, the first Sat. in September between 6-8 PM during Late Night Logan.

What's Old Is New Again!

There are so many fabrics we end up with that no longer appeal to us, so by over dyeing you can created some new beauties without alot of added expence. Here is a sample of a quilt finished with many new over dyes. The quilt is called Star Struck. A scrappy and snappy new piece:) Click on the photo to take you to my webshots to view more of my quilts and customer pieces.

My Friends dyed and are now in heaven!

Below are more shared pieces from from the dye classes. Mary was so excited that she dyed everything she could get her hands on! She had purchased a slightly mottled cream colored sweatshirt at NQA this year and made herself a cat shirt. After her class in dyeing, she was so thrilled with the results, that there will be more cat sweatshirts in her future! LOL Isn't the green one gorgeous? Joan also displays her "dye"namic tshirt that she was wearing on her trip to Florida. She said she had so many complements and they want one too! They will be off to another dye class here next week. I will also have another full day of dye classes on the 22nd of Sept. if one would like to get in on that one as well. Here is the info below. You can take either full or half day workshop. Be sure to view photos of dyed pieces in the previous posts.

DYEING TO TRY IT: Working with Procion MX dyes. In the morning class you will work on 8 step gradations of dyeing. This will also include scrunch dyeing. By afternoon, we will work on surface techniques where we will be doing some stripping, skinny dipping, streaking and who knows what all between the sheets (of fabric, of course!)

We will begin with PFD fabrics (2 yards are provided) but you can also purchase extra yards in class. You can also bring tone on tone white fabric and ugly duckling fabrics to revitalize to create some beauties! You can also bring bleached/ unbleached muslins to play with. Perhaps no more than 6 yards or so and you may even bring a tshirt or sweatshirt or anything dyeable! Items you bring on your own, you will need to prewash in a hot soap detergent. Tide works well.

Other things you will need : are to wear old clothes and shoes, Bring rubber gloves and zip lock baggies that can range from sandwich size to gallons. You will also need a container to carry your fabrics home in. The excitment begins with the fabrics that you will be able to view and pet right away while others will need to cure overnight before you can see the finshed results! You are guaranteed to have a good time!

The class is $40.00 and will be held at my home, 35884 Moore Rd. in Union Furnace, Ohio.

Email me to reserve your spot and if you need directions. needlewings@mac.com

Bring a pot luck to share, beverages provided.

Color my world

It was a gorgeous day today and I took the oppertunity to go out and photograph some summer color.

Attached to the front deck is a thistle feeder that attract 4 finches that come daily to feed. Usually when animals stick around long enough, they are given a name and these birds were no exception. The 2 females are Mona and Lisa, while the males are Michaelangelo and Leonardo Da Finchy! Unfortunately I couldn't get all 4 in the shot at the same time. It's much like photographing relatives. LOL

My butterfly bush was loaded with blooms and not only butterflies were attracted, but I captured a hummingbird hawk moth that was busy at work. It's the kodak moments like these that one wishes they had a faster shutter speed.

My mystery lilies were also in full bloom. I adore their irridescent pink, yellow, lavendar and periwinkle glow in the sunlight. Unfortunately they don't last very long by their natural lack of longivity. It quite possibly is their defence from not being discovered and devoured by deer!

Die or Dye

O.K. So I haven't been on in a long while. Lots going on with learning a new operating system, work and every other excuse I can think of! So.... you may have thought I really did die, but I'm back, only this time to put a bit of color into my life with dye!!!!

This past week I have been doing a few of my favorite things and that is to teach and another is to dye. We started out with just perfect weather. Not perfect for the garden or the pond that is in need of rain, but dry and not too hot! Adults and children were both in Saturday's classes. There was one here as far away as Venezula! Saturday was an experimentation with color and pattern doing tie dyes. As the week progressed, we went on to gradations, rusts, discharges and salts. In the later weeks and months it will be doing hopefully some marbeling and batiks, airbrushing, screen printing, painting techniques on silks, satins and mixed media fibers including dye transfers. Not only does everyone enjoy doing the process, but the animals seem to enjoy the inspection process as well! I had a rust colored butterfly find it's way to the rust dyes to blend in and then flew off a short distance away for me to capture it on camera. Early in the morning while I was getting the dyes ready, a doe and her twin fawn were out inspecting some of my equipment. Another morning In the distance along the creek bank stood a Heron although I suspect he was inspecting the fish more than what I was doing! Elmer, our Muscovy duck seems to get into the act too. In the evenings I am quilting but during an oppertune perfect day, you will find me outdoors with nature and color.

Lost episodes

So what the heck happened to May? What about June? In between all of this, I got a new computer and found me being quite challenged from switchin from a PC to a Mac. Along with all of this, I took a trip to Kansas City to go to MQS. I was lucky enough to go on $10. flights from Skybus! Wow, I couldn't drive to the airport for what it cost to fly! I really hadn't planned on going this year, but it was a really nice bonus! I was there the year before last and taught dye and transfer classes, but this year I took a class from Renae Haddeden. She is ever so delightful. I teach something similar, it just seems we get the same outcome with a different process. It's nice to have so many techniques in doing things! After I got back, I was able to go to NQA in Columbus. Another wonderful experience of enjoying so many different quilts.

Men Are From Mars And Quilts Are From Venus!

Time has really gotten away from me as usual to update . I had quilted a quilt for a friend of mine and decided to play with it in a couple of different computer programs. They turned out pretty awesome! The last one reminds me of planets so hence the name I chose... Men are from Mars and Quilts are from Venus!