Colors Abound!

Here are a few of the new scarves I have been working on. I have been doing a lot of dyeing in the last few weeks to prepare for some upcoming shows. I had a big show on the 4th of July, but people weren't really in the market for scarves that day since it was so hot! lol!! School will start in August, so this is my chance to get some dyeing done before the school year gets going.

Scarves really are my favorite "medium." I feel like I can be the most creative when I am working with a scarf. My newest passion has been with some painting techniques with thickened dye.

My Favorite Sites

I spend quite a bit of time online, and I love finding fun "free" stuff. Here are two of my favorite sites that have some free patterns, instructions, and tutorials (or links to those things!) I hope you will enjoy looking through them as much as I do!

http://www.primmart.com

http://tipnut.com

Me at work!

Since I am posting today, I thought I would go ahead and add this. I know sometimes online, it is just a random page, random postings . . . so I am going to post a few pictures of me working on a velvet scarf.

This is my arashi shibori technique.








And here is the finished scarf.



You can find it in my etsy shop! Time to go create some more!

Spring is in the air!

With a busy Christmas and New Year's well behind me, I realized I had no other excuses for neglecting my blog. I am still dyeing, I am still selling online, and I am still showing at craft shows! It just seems like I get too busy to talk about it!

I recently sponsored a prize for a game on the Primmart board. Here are several yards of hand-dyed fabric that I sent off as the prize.



I hope that it will make some beautiful gifts. If you are interested in fabric for quilting or projects, please visit my etsy site or contact me.

This is why I went on Vacation!

I have been fortunate enough to go on several vacations and trips this summer. For those of you who don't know, I am a high school English teacher (in my spare time.) Teaching affords me many "luxuries," a long summer break being the best one. So since school let out at the end of May, I have gotten to go to Alaska, Dallas (twice), and a recent mini-vacation to Colorado. You may ask: Why so many trips? Well, for one, I like to go and the other is that I NEED A BREAK!! Just to illustrate why, this is a picture of my 2 year-old daughter. As I was packing to leave for a trip to see my two best friends from college, she got into my make-up bag, and this is the result.



Ah well, they say that they only get to be more of a challenge as they get older. She is such a mess, but I have a feeling she will be worth the trouble! I love you, baby girl!!

Sugi Celebration

With the help of Clare from Silk Cat Design, I got these two scarves. I am so excited and feel like this is now a technique that I can continue working with. Yeah!! I think these two scarves are going to go to my college friends that I am going to go see this weekend.

I have recently been in contact and receiving tips (really lessons) via email from a very talented artist named Clare. She owns Silk Cat Designs and her scarves are breath-taking! She has been kind enough to send some instructions for some of her Shibori techniques and I am practicing at this very minute.

Stop by her site and admire her creations. She also creates beautiful jewelry and other accessories. I hope to share some of her influence when I get them washed and dried. http://www.silkcatdesign.com

We celebrated our 4th of July by setting up shop in Canyon, Tx for their annual 4th of July Celebration. We had a great day and had a great time talking to people about hand-dyeing. But the "hit" of the day--Donna Sharp Tote Bags. I sold tons and I was so happy to see people leaving with stylish and fun bags on their shoulders! I have already placed another order and I hope to have those ready to go for our next show.

Here are a few pictures of our set-up!




After the festival we spent a great evening at my sister's house. She lives right next to the park in Amarillo where they shoot off their HUGE fireworks display. It was like a front row seat. We hope everyone else had a great holiday, too!