And the Winner is,,,

It's Tuesday, the First of September, and a package will be going to,,,,,,

Monica in Australia!!!  You will be receiving 5 fatquarters of hand dyed cotton. Two are a single hue with plenty of texture. The other three are nicely textured pieces of multi hues. Also in your package will be five hand dyed pieces of an insertion type lace, each about 12" long. 

Monica left this comment on the post "VIP PLEASE READ THIS Hand Dyes and HOT Water":

Thanks for this useful info - I'm going to soak my hand-dyed fabric in hot water overnight in future.

Posted by Monica to  Let's Create Today on August 16, 2015 at 6:43 PM

Monica,

I trust you will make good use of your new treasures. 

Thanks to everyone that commented. Next giveaway is in the works,,,

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

Giveaway Reminder

Just a quick post to remind you that I will announce the giveaway winner(s) on Sept 1, 2015. 

Each comment you have made is counted. So, you can always drop by and just say, 'Hi'. 

I'm anxiously waiting to find out 'where in the world' I'll be posting things out to. 

My week has not gone as planned. The intentions are being worked on, but not to the extent I had hoped for. Only 'hand dyed fabric' got a lot of attention. Here are some pictures of 3 days of dye-workshop!

There are 4 color wheels of 15 steps each. Below is an image of this week's 4 batches and stacked behind them are several others that I worked on last week. 

I also had two appointments with clients. 

Went to the beach yesterday. Did the grocery shopping today! 

In 10 minutes I leave for the Salon to get my hair trimmed! This hot and humid weather is making me welcome a short pixie look!  

I'll do a review of August intentions and forward look at some for September on Monday. 

Don't forget to check back on Tuesday for the giveaway winner(s). 

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

Fun with Color Wheels.

I've been working on some specific color wheels for hand dyed fabric.

Here's my favorite group of 30 steps. They have a deep saturation, lots of texture, and are jewel tones. 

These 21 were created by combining the same three primaries that I used for the 'jewels' above. They are more muted and earthy looking. They still have a lot of texture, somewhat like cracked ice. 

I also put together a small group for a customer. She wanted a special color collection for a project she is working on.  

It's so encouraging to have clients that request a color palette be made for them. They know I will be very meticulous with the record keeping. If she decides she likes the top one but wants a more subtle blending of colors I will be able to make those for her this week. The 'dye lab' is always calling my name, and I love answering the call. 

On the more mundane side of things, I purged a large basketfull of clothes that wear just 'hanging around' and 'taking up space'. It is such a mood lifter to get rid of unused items. BTW I love the hat sitting on top of the pile, but in SC it's too warm to wear it. 

That's the update for this week. 

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

Remember to post a comment for another entry into the giveaway. 

Weathered Inspirations

George went to McLeod  Plantation on Tuesday morning. They hoped to take some sunrise pictures but the overcast skies didn't clear in time. He did capture some other very interesting shots. He said I could use them on the blog to inspire us in our creative adventures. 

And this last one is of a live oak tree with Resurection vine growing on it, and moss hanging from it. 

There's a live oak tree not too far away that is believed to be over 1400 years old! I typed that correctly! It's called The Angel Oak. Can you imagine the events that it lived through? 

Remember, every comment gets you another chance at winning the giveaway. 

Have a wonderful day

Luann

 

A Craftsy Overview

First off let me tell you that I am not getting paid in any way to write this overview of 'CRAFTSY'. 

I have taken many classes with them and I just want to share what a great opportunity they offer. 

What I like:

You can join the site for FREE. 

There are, at present, over 40 FREE classes/workshops that you can sign up for. 

They have a FREE wish list feature so when they run a special you can easily find your previously chosen items. I've shown my current one above. 

You get access to your class on a 24/7 basis. I really like this because I haven't enjoyed much on the television for quite some time. I can review a class that I went thru a couple of years ago and glean another tidbit of information. 

They have several features on their purchased classes that are invaluable. For instance, if you post a question, your teacher will generally respond within a day. Note taking right on the app so you can bookmark a specific point and come back later. A 30 second repeat button enables you to listen to a more difficult concept, or see a process, over and over until you feel you 'get it'. 

There's a lot more that you can check out. 

I want to show you some snapshots I took of available classes. I typed in a word such as crochet, modern, or wood and then did a snapshot of the top few items. 

And a few of my favorites of the moment. 

I encourage you to check out Craftsy. I know that my gift of the Artisan Bread Making class was well received and continues to be enjoyed by my friend Sandy. 

Let us know, by leaving a comment, if you are a Craftsy user, or if you have another platform you are enjoying for online learning. Only two weeks left to get your comments entered into the giveaway. 

Somebody's going to be getting a special package in their mailbox in September, will it be you?

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

An Art Quilt, Rita's

Here are a some pictures taken last week on our early morning trip to the beach. 

I can feel an art quilt coming on.  I could do an abstract one. I haven't done this  but would enjoy the adventure. 

What draws your eye the most? Is it a color, a texture, a specific spot in one of the three images?

Please leave a comment, each one gets you a spot in the drawing at the end of the month. 

Drawing items:

Hand dyed shibori piece

Hand dyed multi-color piece

Hand dyed trims

 Some teaser images,

Hope all is going well in your day,

Remember to leave a comment for additional entries into the drawing,

Luann

Important Dyeing Info, Inspiration Pictures, and August Giveaway

First and most importantly is the dyeing information. I was so disappointed when I experienced a major color loss of some hand dyed sheets. They had been properly processed, or so I thought. They'd also been washed several times. They looked like this, the colors were very saturated and we loved them. 

Well they didn't stay that way. About two months later, and many washings, the top sheet decided to 'go pale'!  So, I've been trying to figure this one out. I ended up asking Candy Glendenning, from Candied Fabrics, if she had any thoughts on the subject. In her response she pointed me over to Vicki Welsh's blog and the extensive experimenting and post about a similar situation. The address for this is  as follows.  

http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/2014/01/bleeding-quilts-please-read-this.html

Rather than me going into the whole process, I will let you read it and decide for yourself if you will change anything in your dyeing methods. I am going to do an experiment with previously dyed fabrics and all of the sheet sets that I did recently. I'll keep you posted on how things work out. 

Now for the INSPIRATION. Here are some pictures taken on Folly Beach, SC at sunrise. First my recent art quilt. I'm inspired to make another one with quite a bit of color change. 

Aren't those incredible colors? And it really did look like this. The wet sand radiated with the orange glow from the sunrise. We were standing on the pier, it was breathtaking!

And just a reminder about this month's GIVEAWAY ! The studio has too much in it, and things are going to find some new homes! Trims, buttons, commercial cloth, hand dyed cloth, etc etc etc. 

Post a comment to be entered. The winner(s?) will be chosen September 1, 2015. Best of luck to all. 

And if you share about those creative things you like to do, the package will be more in tune with your activities. 

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

Intentions and a Giveaway

As August gets underway I need to get a plan together for the remainder of this year. I'm in the midst of startup with my business. This will be focused on two aspects of my creative life, hand dyed cloth and longarm quilting. There's a lot of aspects to this that would just bore you. Suffice it to say that these will be taking place in the background. As each step gets underway I'll keep you posted. 

Now for the list of 'bloggy' intentions. 

1- I have put together a schedule for when and what I will try to blog about. Each week I will check in and: review a book or product, share something that's inspiring me, and/or update my progress on the rest of this list. 

2- Work on charity quilt bindings. I want to finish at least four of the ten that are sitting on my chair at present. I also have been given two tops that I need to make backings for and then get them quilted up. Their bindings can be done by another guild member that likes to do that. 

3- Finish my Princess quilt

4- Finish my Canberra Tree quilt

5- Quilt up my deconstructed quilt top

6- Quilt up my 'Poppy Field' quilt top

7- Quilt up the improvisational tablecloth, placemats, and table runner

8- Quilt up the three table runners I made from my hand dyed cloth

9- Get at least 2 pieces out of the mending basket and back into my closet

10- Dye up some specific color wheels, and color combos I've been working on to go with Superior Thread's King Tut group that looks like jewel tones to me

This is an enormous amount of 'want to get done' items. But, last month I wrote down three and got none done, so if I get even one done from this list, it will be better percentage than last month!

AND DONT FORGET THE GIVEAWAY!!!

Leave a comment to be entered in the August  giveaway. I'll be revealing some of the goodies in future posts, so follow by email, so you don't miss out on anything. 

May God bless you with intentions that will bless others,

Luann