Last ones, I promise

I swear these will be the last holiday photos I post this year. I am really looking forward to getting back to being creative. My fabrics have been calling to me. I do this every year. Spend weeks preparing for the holidays until I'm burned out on it. I think I have hit the wall, so it must be time to drag out the dyes again.

Holiday update

Well as you can see, we haven't gotten very far with the decorating. After 2 trips to town for more lights I was able to get the garland and angle on. It has been a little hard to get motivated this year, as the kids and grand babies won't be here this year. I did talk with the G-baby yesterday via Skype, so was able to show her the tree etc.....


A few of my much treasured ladies that go on the tree each year. When we bought this tree I found normal sized ornaments got lost on it. All of the over sized ones I could find were cheap looking plastic. After wracking my brain it dawned on me that the angles that go on top of the tree would be the perfect size. I cut the plastic cone out and added wire to the back.



Close up of the garland I custom made to fit the tree. I had all of these beautiful ornaments that were dwarfed by the tree, so I took lengths of fabric and beads and created my own garland. The ornaments were wired on every 18" or so. The downside of course is I am stuck with the same color scheme each year (burgundy, gold & white). Maybe I'll get busy some year and do another other colorway.

Celebration!

I have finally finished editing all my listings on eBay. I started with 300+, ended with 268 I think. Every one of the listing had to be updated for shipping, price, return policy's, etc.........

So to celebrate my loving husband decided it was time to begin the holiday tradition of setting up the tree. This is a huge event in our house. It entails many hours of hard physical labor, quite a bit of mumbling bad things under your breath and dodging varies animals underfoot.

Here is my husband trying (unsuccessfully) to convince blue his services are not needed. We did manage to get the tree into the house and assembled. Loving husbands part is finished for now while I "fluff" branches. His services will be required to help hang the lights. The tree is 15 feet tall, so I am not able to climb the ladder holding 100's of feet of lights, and hang said lights without some help.

Here is another member of the crew. Boo sticks to supervising, unlike Blue who feels the need to be hands (paws) on.



Yep, definitely supervisor material.



Doesn't he look proud of himself? I am not looking forward to bringing in the ornament boxes. Blue is only 8 months old, and everything on the floor is a toy. Things could get very interesting around here.



These are a few of the Christmas cards I have managed to complete while I edited listings. I don't know about the rest of you, but I must do something creative most days or go crazy. Spending hours on the computer editing HTML about cooked my brain.





Here is the tree in all it's unfinished glory. I'll keep the camera handing to update our progress.

Critters, Classes & Cancer

Wow! It's been way too long since my last post. Things have been a little hectic around here lately. We have had a few new additions to the household. This ones' name is Blue. Winks' Blue Boy to be exact. He is about 10 weeks old now. Hopefully I can get him to look at the camera next time so you can see his miss matched eyes. Very pretty, one blue one brown.



We call this one baby. He's about 350# in this picture. I would guess he has put on another 150# or so. He is a Brahma bull calf. The one next to him is one of four we picked up to keep the pasture under control. Cute little guy, isn't he?



This is a piece of sateen I am playing with. I think I would like a long duster style coat with this design on the back. I've since over-dyed it with Cayman Island Green. Haven't had much time to design anything lately, so will have to check back to see if it ever gets made.



This is the only picture I took of the surface design class I gave in May. The following are a few pieces they did using Seta Color, masks and salt. I had 15 ladies, so it was kind of hectic most of the time. We covered Soy Wax, breakdown printing, rusting, sun painting, flour resist, shibori and one other technique that slips my mind.









The month of June wasn't much calmer. I spent a week in California visiting a close friend of the family. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer this winter. She has to be one of the strongest people I know. At 63 she managed to go thru 8 rounds of chemo and 5 solid weeks of radiation. When we pulled into the driveway she greeted us with the same large smile and warm hugs as if nothing had happened. Her Dr. believes they got it all. If anyone deserves it she does.

Well time to get back to the dye pots and pressing table. I have a couple of large orders that I am sure my ladies think I have lost. No so, as a matter of fact I am about 3/4 thru them. Have a few colors that are fighting me, but that just goes with the territory. I always seem to get it right eventually. I suppose I could make it easier on myself by writing down the recipes, but that would take all the fun out of it. I enjoy the challenge of color matching by eye. It also results in much richer looking fabrics because I "stack" the colors to achieve the desired hue.

These are a few samples of some of the techniques I do. I can do most any value you need. Just let me know what colors you would like to work with.


The low water immersion pieces can be done in many different color combinations.



Low Water Immersion # 4089 (36x44) $14.00


Low Water Immersion #4096. (36x44) $14.00


Low Water Immersion $4079. (33x44) $12.00



The rust pieces show some of the patterns available. An all over bark-like pattern, a light patterning and novelty patterns (horseshoes, grill marks etc).



Over rusted hand dye #2039. (72x44) $30.00

Rust Dye #2035. (34x44) $14.00



Rust Dye #2032. (35x44) $14.00




The hand dyes can run from almost black on the dark end to a wash of color on the light end for any color.


Hand Dye #201. (66x44) $20.00


Hand Dye #254. (34x44) $12.00


Hand Dye #255. (35x44) $12.00


Hand Dye #272. (73x44) $20.00

Spinning my wheels

At least it feels that way this week. I did manage to get 150+ items listed in the store. Unfortunately there are 150+ items waiting to be listed! I haven't been able to stay at the computer for any length of time at all this week, and it looks like I will be out of the house at least tomorrow. I promised my mom I would shampoo her carpets and wash her windows for Mothers Day (I know, not too "pretty" of a gift but it's what she wanted). Anyhow, she wants it done tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed nothing comes up for Friday so I can spend the day getting something done.


Here are a few of the items I need to get listed. I kitted (is that a word?) up a bunch of these purse patterns for the quilt show. I have about 50% of them left, so thought I would give them a shot online. I have another class planned later in the summer, so will need some for that.

I really need to wrap up all the loose ends so I can focus on the 2 day workshop coming up in May. I am giving a surface design workshop for the guild. At the time I agreed to do it I really didn't have any plans for the Spring/Summer. Since then I have made plans to be out of town for a week in May and another in June. Needless to say I will be moving full tilt for the next couple of months. It's a good thing I work well under pressure.

Aftermath

My mind is still spinning with all the things I need to do. I did manage to inventory everything. Now I just need to photograph, edit and list all of the fabrics that I did, but haven't posted to eBay. I really want to launch a website, but need to get these out there for sale first. Once that's done maybe I can focus on the website.

I need to send in a proposal for two, 2 day workshops later this summer. One here in the Tri-Cities and the other in Walla Walla. Have to decide if I want to vend at two out of town venues that approached me at this show. Haven't decided if I like packing everything up, unpacking and repacking. That's alot of packing!

I was surprised at how many people were interested in the actual quilting of my pieces. I never thought it was anything special, but apparently it is unusual. I received a few inquiries about quilting for others. Think I will give it a go for those that want what I do. Don't think I would do well taking direction, but that's nothing new!

The fabric I'm rusting is not working with my schedule. I think it should be ready, but it has other ideas. It's kind of like cooking a roast. You can't rush it no matter how impatient you get.

Now it's bedtime. It's early I know, but the weekend has caught up with me.

Show Time!

Meet my mom. She's the lady who is refusing to look at the camera. I'll try to catch her by surprise tomorrow.
Well it was a very short night, followed by a long day. Not complaining, just tired. I learned so much today. I have also cultivated many new contacts for future workshops and classes.
So anyway, this is my booth. I am so thankful I was put on the end.; I originally had only a single booth (10'x10') but due to a layout problem I was able to gain 8-10 feet more than I should have. Even with all the extra space I was sure I wouldn't get everything out. I did end up leaving a few totes under the table to keep it from looking too crowded.




These are samples for the workshop coming up in May. The light colored piece on the left is flour resist, the one leaning against it is rust dyed, and the rest are breakdown printing. email me at mail@badgercanyonhanddyes.com if you would like to register for the workshop.

2 days and counting

You know how you're sure you've forgotten something? Well that's me this week. I am sure I will walk off and forget something important. I've written more lists than I can count. Have now resorted to walking around mumbling to myself "don't forget ______". My wonderfully supportive husband is leaving town on Wednesday (lucky him).

My biggest fear is that I don't have enough inventory. I have 500+ items ready, but want the booth to look full. Oh well, times up.

I did manage to design and put together another bag pattern Didn't have time to kit up any, so the patterns will have to do. Here's a picture of the newest.



Now to that lady on the east coast who is just as driven as I am, the last 2 pieces are down in dye. If the brown looks good I'll get one of them rusted in the morning. All should be ready to ship out on Monday. I'll email you Sunday night with an update.

Think I'll go "veg" for awhile.

Rust dyeing

Finally, the new black dye arrived and I have been able to get almost all of the grays done. Just when I think I have it whipped, the brown decides to test me. Silly fabric. I am nothing if not persistent. I will get it right. I do admit a small retreat. I usually drive right in with the full yardage, this time I was forced to go back to 1 yard cuts until I get the correct mix. I mainly dye by "eye". I can look at a swatch and match it. Most of my pieces require multiple dye runs, so color can be adjusted with each successive run. Not this time. I am actually having to write down the measurements this time! I just know it something simple I am overlooking. In the meantime I am accomplishing several things, the rejects add to the quilt show inventory and the recipes go in the book.

Some Photos

New bag of the month. I try to do a new one every month. I think I will do this one again making the opening slightly larger.




Here is the other end of the dining room. Yes I know there is a couch in there. I decided to leave it there after moving it to make room for the X-mas tree last year. That puppy weighs a ton! Anyhow, I have managed to get 100+ bag kits done up, 100 patterns, couple dozen silk scarves (see below), 20-30 packages of roving and too many other things to think about right now. I am about 8 days from set up time, so am trying to get it all together. The totes are filled with various fabrics. Several more of those are out of the frame. I am seriously beginning to think have lost my mind! What was I thinking??? We'll see if it's all worth it on th 30th.