Snow dyeing

Here in the Pacific North West we typically don't get much snow and if we do it's gone in a trice. The last few weeks have been frigid and we got some snow. When it was still hanging around at lunch time I abandoned my afternoon plans and did some snow dyeing. Here are my results.

Storage Solutions

On the Real Studios Tour we are looking at how we store our stuff. The plastic lidded bins have been a real boon for us in recent years and I'm sure we all use them. But when my studio pieces where being build I don't think they were available, so my big padded table and counters where built to accommodate laundry baskets stacked 2 high and 2 deep. I used to sew home dec and have lots of scraps sorted into colour-ways. Home dec scraps tend to very large because of the pattern repeats so my baskets are very full. Quilting cottons and fashion fabrics are also stored in laundry baskets.

 As we don't have a basement or attic for storage we have re-purposed the den to be a gym and storage area because everything does not fit into my studio. Shelves were built for the closet and a shelving unit also lines one wall. Mostly supplies are stored in bankers boxes or copy paper boxes. When I'm going to do a craft, I just grab the appropriate supply boxes and take them to the wet or dry studio to use. It isn't very pretty and I'm thinking of running a curtain on a ceiling track to cover the wall shelving to make it more inviting to do my yoga in the 'gym'.

My Best Tool

Today starts the "Real Studio Tour" and our first showing is our best tool that is not traditional. My hands down best tool is my DH. He build everything in my studios except my chair. Everything: sewing desks, counters, padded work table with meg under storage, shelves, extra lighting, my wet studio/dye center, and on and on.

FMQ December

Our guest instructor this month is Patsy Thompson, with a great lession. After a year of lessions, I made an actual quilt for this lession using some of my ice dyed fabric in the cornerstones. I left the cornerstones free of quilting as I did not want to detract from the great dyed fabric. Like Patsy said, this was lots of fun! I'm going to add some beading to this but don't have the correct colours and so have to make a trip to town.

Free Motion Quilting November

 Our guest instructor for November is Sarah Vedeler and she had us do spirils. I practised and practised with pencil and paper and eventually moved on to fabric tryouts and then put them in an actual quilt.

October Free Motion Quilting Challenge

This month Teri Lucus was the guest tutor and it was a good lesson. She had us use a silk top and a multitude of threads and stitches. I tried metallic thread but it looped hugely on the back; after endless tension fiddling I just gave up on the metallic and ripped it out.

September Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Paula Reid was our guest instructor and she gave us a circular feather wreath template to quilt. There is a lot of backtracking which I did not like; I like better the technique of making each plume come from the spine