Independence Day and a Fabric Sale at Dye Candy

Meet my Independence Day Baby. We brought him home from the hospital 21 years ago just in time to see the 4th of July fireworks. That seems like a lifetime ago.

It has been such a joy watching him grow into adulthood. We are proud parents of this young man. Happy 21st birthday son - Rock On!

It has been a while since I have been able to post. The last two months have been a whirlwind of visitors at the Shady Grove and a few weekend trips to visit friends and family. It was good to see everyone but it is really good to be settled in at home for a while.

I'm looking forward to having enough time to blog again. I have been trying to catch up but my Google Reader stopped counting 4 weeks ago when I hit 1000+ unread posts. It was down to 750 unread posts as of last night. I just can't bring myself to hit the delete button and make the posts disappear into cyberspace.

In honor of many days of independence ahead all of my one of a kind hand dyed yardage is on sale in my Dye Candy Fabric Shop. I also wrote a short post the fabrics I use and the dyeing process here.

Wishing you all a wonderful Independence Day!

Missing in Action

Yes, it is true. My blog has been sadly neglected as of late. I have been keeping myself so busy that it has been hard to slow down enough to find the words to write an intelligent blog post. I have traveled to vend or retreat every other weekend since the start of this year.

My day job is in the construction industry. I sell commercial roofing products. Last year new construction starts were non-existent. The majority of the business we received was in the public sector. Because of the downturn in business I have had 10 furlough days since Christmas.

I have been working hard to supplement my income with sales from my hand dyed fabrics and miniature quilt block jewelry. Since mid December I have dyed over 300 yards of fabric and sewed 100 tiny quilt blocks to make into jewelry as I restock the art galleries that sell my work. I also dyed 6 dozen velvet & silk scarves to sell at the local retreat and art gallery. I added 10" velvet sample sample packs for embellishing and needle felting project to my Dye Candy shop (currently for sale here)

I also started and completed a play quilt for my new nephew. Photos of the quilt can be found on my Dye Candy Blog in these posts: Machine Quilting Close Up and Cornflower Blue Play Quilt.

I have tons of photos taken and four tutorials ready to write. The travel will stop soon. I just have one more weekend away and it is at my favorite quilt retreat with my mom so what could be better? I know my husband misses me but he is very supportive of my incessant need to create and I love him for it.

Mandala Quilt

Happy New Year! I'm just back home from a few days with family to celebrate a belated Christmas. There was a new baby to snuggle and my son and his fiance flew in to join in the fun.

While I was traveling I put the finishing touches on my Mandala quilt.

The theme of the recent Art Quilts Around the World challenge was Mandala.

I used some of my favorite hand dyed colors, fuchsia with a touch of orange, an olive/chartreuse blend, golden yellow and two purples. I love quilts that have a "touch me" appeal to them. I used a purple hand dyed velvet to add texture to the quilt.

Click here to see more Mandala Quilts

Giveaway Day

I have finally finished my latest dyelots. They will soon be for sale in my Dye Candy Etsy Shop.

My giveaway on my Dye Candy blog has just started. Follow this link for a chance to win.

Crazy Quilt Update and A Fabulous Surprise For Me

I can finally show you my completed crazy quilt block made for our 2008-2009 guild president.

She received her quilt last night.

I was so pleased she chose this theme for her quilt. I really enjoy hand embroidery.

It was so much fun to see all of our unique styles blended together in a quilt.

This quilt is such a treasure!!

Guess What? Can You Tell I'm Excited?? Yesterday I woke up to the news that I had won such a beautiful gift from Embellisher at Million Little Stitches. For her 125th post she gave away this amazing heart sampler. I have been following her blog for a long time and always enjoy seeing her creative ideas and little pieces of her life far across the oceans.

Thank you so much! I will cherish your gift.

My new bolts of fabrics have arrived and are ready to be dyed. Keep an eye on my blog. I plan to pass my good fortune on with a Dye Candy Fabric giveaway in a week or two (once my dye lots are finished and photographed).

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Chris

Treasury West

I just received a note that my Dye Candy fabric is featured in a gorgeous Etsy Treasury West. Please stop by and leave a comment. Hopefully we can become front page news!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=54609

My thanks to SeatofMyPants for including my wares with so many beautiful items!

The Results

Here is the finished embroidered laundry bag (from my last post) in it's new home at Patsy's Homestead Cabin Retreat. I made it to fit in this old washtub which is now a display for my hand dyed fabrics.

Can you imaging having to wash your laundry by hand? I know some of my Amish neighbors still do. I wonder if they are lucky enough to have a "Speed Queen" washtub like Patsy. :)

Patsy has an incredible knack for finding and using found items. See this post and this post for a look at her creative mind. I love exploring the nooks and crannies of her retreat. There is always something new to find.

I have my list of items that are not stocked at our local quilt shops. I leave tomorrow for Paducah with my girlfriends. We are all so excited. I hope we sleep well tonight!

Talk to you when we return!

P.S. I just posted pictures of shibori dyed fabrics on my Dye Candy blog. I am taking a class from Marjie McWilliams through Quilt University. I am having so much fun playing and getting messy.

New Ventures

When I started my blog "Greetings From the Shady Grove" I had visions of writing post cards with views of my rural life and travels to the big and small cities.  I am blessed to live a life where I want to live it.  This is truly home for me and my husband.  If you ever picture yourself living this lifestyle, find a way to support yourself and make the leap.  You will not regret it.  We don't, in fact this life is hundreds of times better than we had hoped and I think we had pretty high expectations.  

I will tell you that we took 5 years to choose a place to live based on many factors like school system, cost of living and friendliness of the local citizens. My employer allowed me do research and home searches at lunchtime on the internet during our slow seasons. (I still work for this company as a remote employee.)  We searched in many states and settled on our current location 3 years prior to making our purchase.  We visited this county one weekend a month for a year before we finally move here full time.

As you know I am a seller on Etsy.  I never really saw this blog as a place to promote my products and lately it has started to become that way.  When I decided to sell my hand dyed fabrics in a new shop called Dye Candy so many other ideas came along with it.  I just launched a new blog called Dye Candy.blogspot.com

Stop by and see what I have planned.  Please leave comments and let me know what you think of the ideas.

Wishing you warm days ahead from our Shady Grove,

Chris

Dye Candy

"Delicious Hand Dyed Fabrics To Satisfy Your Cravings"

You know how an idea starts out as a little spark? My mother suggested packaging my hand dyed fabrics in small parcels. She is always full of great ideas and I always listen to my mom now that I'm a grown up.

I divided some of my 6 step gradations into small sample sized pieces. Each piece is about the size of a fat 16th (a nominal 9"x10.5"). There are 12 pieces in each box.

Once I had the first few boxes packed I thought "These look so luscious". That was when the idea of "Dye Candy" came into my mind.

I was torn about opening a second Etsy shop but decided customers would have an easier time finding my hand dyed fabrics if I opened a shop of the same name. So if you are looking to enhance your hand dyed fabric stash, here is a great way to do it without a lot of expense.

I have yet to move all of my hand dyed fabrics into this store. I will also be adding more color options in the coming weeks.