Retreat!!!

Patsy had a few spots open up at her Homestead Cabin Retreat last weekend. My mom thought we should jump on the chance to get away and sew. It didn't take any convincing. I even took a few extra vacation days from work. We finished piecing one of the two quilt tops we started at the retreat last March.

My sister and her husband own a cabin that was built in 1934. These quilts will be a perfect fit for the era and decor of the cabin. My sister, the non quilter of the family, designed these quilts using Electric Quilt after receiving a quick tutorial.

Mom and I arrived early and stayed late. We had the retreat to ourselves on Thursday and Sunday nights and into Monday.

I also spent some time sewing mini quilt blocks for my jewelry. I'm trying to get a jump on 2010 stock before the weather turns nice. Next week my fabric shipments arrive and I will be dyeing lots of fabric in preparation for a quilt show in April.

Right before we headed home I was able to get a shot of this gorgeous pileated woodpecker. What a treat! Thanks for a wonderful weekend Mom.

Welcome to my Dye Candy Giveaway. If you are new to my blog, I welcome you and invite you to look around. You have at least two chances to win a prize. Leave a comment here and enter a second time on my other blog DyeCandy.blogspot.com. You are welcome to copy the top picture of my dye candy sample packs and use it if you are creating a link to this giveaway on your own blog. If you create a link please leave me a note in your comment and I will enter your name in the drawing two more times.

If you are a winner you will have your choice of one of these prizes:

1 Gift Certificate for $25.00 for my Dye Candy Shop or

2 Dye Candy Sample Packs or

1 yard of Hand Dyed one of a kind fabrics or

a half yard of Shibori Dyed Fabric or

6 step fat quarter gradation set.

or a hand dyed silk or velvet scarf.

Choose a piece of Quilt Block Jewelry or

a small Stained Glass Snowflake Sun Catcher Ornament from my Shady Grove Studios Etsy Shop.

Good Luck to you! Drawing closes at 6:00 pm on Sunday, November 22nd.

Finish Line

My snowflakes are finished and shipped. It is finally time for sewing projects of my own choosing. Next on my to do list is to clean my studio so I can get to my sewing machine. I recently moved my studio to a room with a door. I can close the door and make all of my mess disappear. Poof, magic...I love it!

A few years back when I started making my quilt block jewelry I tried many different color combinations before settling on some standard product offerings. Each year I edit and make a few changes. Last weekend I reviewed my line to get my 2010 order form ready. I added a new section called "Sale Items" to my Shady Grove Studios Shop. This category contains many discontinued color combinations at a discount. All my pieces are foundation pieced hand dyed fabrics. The sewing can be seen on the reverse side of the jewelry. Stop by and take a look. Please note I offer free shipping worldwide on all of my jewelry.

Oh My, What Did I Get Myself In To?

I have big problem with agreeing to do more than I have time for. I had planned to spend the month of August sewing blocks for my quilt block jewelry. I wanted to get all stocked up for the Fall and Christmas sales. Best laid plans....

In the mean time I was invited vend my hand dyed fabrics and jewelry at a quilt show in September. I couldn't resist the opportunity (partly because it is near my mom's home in Illinois). So now I'm spending all of my spare time sewing and dyeing fabrics. I even purchased some silk and velvet scarves to overdye and to add some more interest to the booth.

More complications. I am running out of many of the main fabrics I use in my best selling jewelry. I haven't added these fabric mixes to my Dye Candy shop yet so I had to break out the turquoise dye and get to work. Turquoise as a primary color makes beautiful greens and purples but it is an extremely aggressive dye. It also takes at least one additional wash cycle (sometime two) to rinse from dyed fabrics. I have 24 yards of blue-purples in the dryer this morning. I will be working on the blue-greens tonight or tomorrow.

I am also planning a fabric painting class that I will be teaching at the end of this month. We are working with Set-a-Color paints on white print cloth. This paint is very versatile. There are many different techniques to play with and the results are beautiful. I will have pictures for you in early September.

I may need to cut back on my blogging and reading for a while until I get my head above water again. I am just feeling too overwhelmed.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'm off to volunteer at the art gallery today.....Oh My

A Treasury and Creative Places to Visit

You know I could get lost browsing through the Etsy website. There are millions of creative things to see. I'm always humbled when someone chooses one of my items for a treasury spot.

Yesterday I received word from M. of BellabeadsOriginals that she had included my log cabin pin in a beautiful treasury. Stop by and see all her brilliant picks between now and Sunday Evening.

I have been dyeing fabrics for more than a week. So many beautiful colors are on my ironing board. I will be adding more listings to my Dye Candy shop over the weekend. I will be hosting a fabric giveaway starting on Sunday evening. I'll post a note here once the giveaway opens.

I have been posting less often, and adding more blogs to my reading list. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever keep up with it all, create and get the lawn mowed (4 hours of mowing per week - yikes!). I work at the art gallery tomorrow so I'll have time to catch up on my blog reading in the afternoon when the streets of our small town roll up.

Lastly I was tagged by Jackie of Dogdaisychains to reveal 7 random facts about myself, you can see them in this post. If you haven't been to Jackie's blog, please go and see all the beautiful things she creates. Take a minute (or much more) to look at her photos on Flicker. Amazing work! Her "retro style" brooches and other cool creations were just featured in the last issue "Quilting Arts" magazine. I can't tell you how thrilled I was for her. Way to go Jackie!

I am to recognize other blogs that I enjoy reading. I thought I'd introduce you to some blogs I have not mentioned before and some of my favorite stops full of creativity.

Faith of Nutbud Quilter - so many pretty and original ideas to see,

Emmy of Cramzy - Unique Needlework & Embellishments

P8 Buttons & Fabrics - So many buttons and button creations!!

Shar at Quilters Nest - You've got to see her feathered heart in her last post!

A new find full of pretty things Ardea's Nest

Claire's of Enchanted Home reminds me of days spent in the desert as a child

And Allie's in Stitches - beautiful crazy quilt stitches and ribbon embroidery.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Duluth Bound

I just finished my initial stocking order for a wonderful art gallery in Duluth, Minnesota called the Waters of Superior. This gallery is located in the Canal Park area of Duluth on Lake Avenue. I've been thinking of contacting the gallery for two years but my trips to town are usually a quick jaunt there and back to pick up our son from college. If you are going to the Minnesota Quilters show in Duluth next week please take time to stop in, enjoy the gallery and all the other great shops and restaurants in the area. DS & DGF work at Little Angie's Cantina a few doors away. They have great mexican food!

I will be going to this show for the first time. I am meeting girlfriends in Duluth, but my main reason for the trip is to visit with my son and his girlfriend while they are on vacation from school.

Here are a few more shots of my work in progress. I use this little organizer to sort cut colored fabrics and keep them from getting dusty between uses. Most of the fabrics I use are hand dyed by me. I also use Cherrywood Fabrics for the brown log cabin pin and matching flying geese pendants and earrings.

Here is a look at the back side of my jewelry. I thought you might enjoy seeing the stitching.

Hope you have a great week! Chris

Sewing Again!!!

Here is a peek at my Spice Market bed quilt. Yes, after a year and a half of hand quilting (very slowly) the quilt is on my bed. I love it! I'll show you more once I finish the pillow covers.

Last weekend my mother and stepfather came for a visit. I am always grateful to have company. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I love the added incentive it gives me to clean the house. I finally completed a huge reorganization of the house before the long weekend. Life is in order and the house is still clean. I can sit and sew with out guilt. I also completed a month long stint of fabric dyeing last week.

This is what I spent part of my weekend working on. These are some of the more popular colorways of my quilt block jewelry. I keep running out of stock so I am sewing many multiples to try to build enough stock to get me through the summer.

Last night I worked on the most tedious part of making the jewelry. I cut two 11"x 14" pieces of thin glass into 3/4"x 3/4" squares. To cut, wash and dry these tiny pieces of glass takes about 6 hours. I will clean the glass one more time with window cleaner before assembling the pieces.

A View from the Top

Another very busy week has passed. My April calender is so full that I suspect I will need most of May to recover. I finally added some of my new colored Flying Geese Quilt Block Pendants to my Etsy Shop. I finished these pieces a few weeks back but did not have time to photograph and list them.

The fabric sale was a big success. Thanks to all who attended and worked at the sale. Sharon's family really appreciated your help!

The weather has been beautiful lately, perfect for long walks on our land. Our latest hike took us up to the ridge line above the farm. Through the trees you can see a glimpse of the barn down in the valley.

It is a treat to see the sunset from above. We usually see just a sliver of it from our view in the valley.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Color Choices and a Little Sewing

Do you ever have a hard time choosing colors? Over the next few weeks I am taking a class from my friend Suzanne. The pattern is one of her own designs and requires lots of different fabric to give it interest. I dove into my scrap bin for this class looking for a neutral or light colored background and some medium and dark fabrics. All of the colors I put together were earth tones and I was not happy with the brightness of the pallet. Last year I purchased a few batiks while I was traveling and added a few more from Jeanne's fabric sale. I have been itching to put something together with these vibrant fabrics. For the background fabric I dyed some of the print cloth I just received with a light red and golden yellow mixture with a hint of blue to get this lovely butterscotch color. I can't wait to see how the pattern turns out. More on this project next week.

Today I am putting the finishing touches on some quilt block jewelry. I have been out of stock of some of these colorways for a bit. It will be nice to have some on hand again. I also took some time out to play Frisbee with Jack on this warmish ( 23 deg F)and sunny winter day. The snow has been gone for almost a week on the south facing slope however we still have up to 12" inches of snow on the north facing slope. The sky has been a beautiful blue all weekend and it makes me long for springtime.

Making Every Minute Count - Updated Friday PM

Update***Patsy has a post about the fabric sale with photos. ***Click here***

A couple weeks ago I took a few evenings off to enjoy the last of nice weather. We had some glorious days. My husband and I took a couple of trips up the hill to watch the sunset.

Last weekend I finished putting together a jewelry shipment for the Iowa Artisans Gallery in Iowa City. It took a bit longer than I had planned. I ended up with a head cold that stole most of my energy. It took 16 hours of sleep to put me on the path to recovery.

I have also been working on some stained glass snowflakes and Christmas ornaments for the local art galleries and an upcoming craft show. Stained glass is the perfect cold weather project. I cut the glass after work in the last of the daylight and cover the edges with copper foil in the evening after dinner. I should be able to get some of these finished by the end of the weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, I will be helping with the fabric sale this Saturday in Blue River, WI. There is a link to the sale information in the upper right hand corner of my blog. Four dates are scheduled, spread out over the next week and a half. There is so much fabric to choose from. Volunteers have been sorting and organizing by color and theme for weeks. There are a few sewing machines available too. Tell all your friends. The prices are too good to pass up.

P.S. Don't miss your chance to enter my 100th blog post giveaway. Drawing will be this Sunday.

I've Been Blogged About - Updated

I just received a note from Patsy that my jewelry is making an appearance on Tammy Tadd's "A Tadd More" Blog. How wonderful is that? Tammy, Miss Sherry and her staff are some of my best cheerleaders. My jewelry is available at Tammy's shop "Tammy Tadd Designs"and last Spring she added my jewelry to her booth while vending at the Chicago and Paducah shows. Tammy's quilt shop is located in Sycamore, IL. It is one of my all time favorite shops. If you are ever in the area make a point to stop in. You will love this charming shop and all the ladies who work there. I live 3 hours away and usually make it in 3 or 4 times a year.

The photo above was taken when I was getting pieces ready to send to Tammy for the shows. I still can't believe I sewed so many quilt blocks in so little time. It was fun to see everything spread out in one place.

For those of you new to my blog here is a bit of information about my pieces. My miniature quilt block jewelry is made with hand dyed fabrics which are foundation pieced to muslin. These block are then sandwiched between two pieces of glass and joined with lead free and nickel free solder. You can turn the jewelry over and see the stitching on the back. I use surgical steel ear wires on all of my earrings and the findings on my pendants are nickel free. You can follow this link to an earlier post about my jewelry and my favorite colorways.

Lucky Me, Unlucky Husband

I had a wonderful surprise when I went in to the Red Door Gallery on Saturday. Sandy, the gallery manager, had the perfect display for my jewelry. I have spent hours on the internet trying to find something that would work well. I guess I should have been looking for an eye glass display instead of a jewelry display. This unit was donated to the gallery by a local eye doctor.

I've been sewing like crazy trying to get a new supply of earrings ready for the fall and winter. I received a custom order for a large pendant last week (thanks Alli) which inspired me to get back to work on my jewelry. I have a bit more sewing to finish before I can start to assemble and solder. Here's a sneak peak at a few items in the works.

I took the day off of work on Monday so I could drive my husband to get his wisdom teeth taken out. Look what I found our road trip to the dentist. I've been looking for a field of mature sunflowers to photograph for several years. I will try to make it back a bit later this month when the seeds start to darken. I plan to take the photos when the sun is not so high in the sky. Also I'd like to spend more time here. I felt a bit guilty leaving my husband sitting in the car icing his jaws. I thought he was awfully sweet for letting me stop.

This last photo is a shot of our journeys end. The approach to our farm from the east is through a walnut grove. I love the way the sunlight filters through these trees no matter what time of day it is.