Monsoons, Geodes and whatever else comes to mind!

 How is it that a month goes by in a flash, and I start feeling like I'm forgetting to do something?  Oh yeah, how about a new blog post?!

Here's what I've been doing this past month - Geode ice dyeing!

I've also been dyeing some aprons - those babies have been flying off the rack, so I bought a bunch more and need to get crackin', our 25th Annual Open Studios tour is coming in 2 weeks!

BTW,  If you are not in the Flagstaff or Sedona area and want to order something from me,

just click on Contact Me and drop me an e-mail.

 On the home front, we have had a bumper crop of Humming Birds this year!  I had to go drag out a couple of old, ugly feeders to stop the rioting to get a place at the feeder, but they hold 32 oz each, so I don't have to keep going out to refill the smaller ones :

Normally early in the morning or in the evening we get swarms of them!  This lonesome guy was contentedly sipping away and pulled his head up just as I snapped the shot.

Well, we finally started getting monsoon storms in the past week or so - last year this time, our area was being deluged with post fire flooding - first time we ever got flooding across our front area and ended up with a couple of inches of mud in the garage!  I never did post photos from the mess, but after a year, the County Flood Control district has done a great job enhancing the flood mitigation efforts - we've had some heavy downpours the last couple of weeks, and our river did come back for a short visit on the southeast corner of the property, but no bad floods across the front - just lots of large puddles and a lot of Thunder/lightning.  

Oh, one more thing I've been doing this month, especially when I'm working a shift at Arts Connection:

I created a long continuous strand of "fabric twine", where I take strips of fabric, twist them together, then when I get a pretty good length, I created a cover for a glass vessel.  I used a blanket stitch to secure the rows, then slipped the vessel into the "sleeve" I made.  Busy hands are happy hands, right?

One last thing to share - my dear friend Sherrie Spangler of http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/  stopped by yesterday on her way to joining a friend to head to Gallup NM!  She takes lots of pix and once she's back in the Oro Valley, she will be posting about our visit, so be sure to check it out next week.  We played in my studio for awhile, chatted for awhile longer, gorged on yummy Mexican food at Salsa Brava, then she headed to her hotel.  Sherrie wrote the tutorial that got me started years ago on making my fabric wrapped coiled bowls!  And the last time she came up, I taught her how to make Spirit Dolls, which she has shared about in her blog, so do take a minute and browse all her wonderful posts!

Okay, big plug - if you're in the Flagstaff Area Aug 26/27, I do hope you'll find time to drop by Studio #14 and say hi, and see some of the beautiful creations by the 5 artists who will be there!  If you visit flagstaff-arts.org, you will find a downloadable brochure with locations and see which artists are participating at each location.  Hope to see you there!  Bye for now... 😊

A few new things...

Can't believe how long it's been since I posted... yikes!  Just a few things to share, even though I've been keeping busy.  First off, a fellow artist at the Artist' Coalition Gallery gifted me with a number of silk veils/shawls and some dyes in colors I have not tried before.  I dyed one to see the colors and love how it turned out:

I used Plum, Amethyst and Ultra-Violet Procion MX dyes... love the rich colors!

Next on my show and tell is a bowl I just finished.  It's the first one I have tried with an outward curling edge... a bit of a challenge to keep the wrapped cords together while stitching, but I think I did okay:

I used hand-dyed fabric, then brushed a little metallic paint on the squiggle to add some visual interest.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Joyce and I took a trip to Sedona to pick up my friend Sherrie, who is vacationing for the month with her husband Dave.  Joyce, Sherrie and I traveled to Prescott Valley and Prescott to visit fabric shops and have lunch.  The day went way too fast!  Here we are in front of the house back in Sedona:

We all dressed in shades of blue, can you believe it?  I nicknamed us the "Turquoise Sisters"!

Last on the list is a project I found instructions for on-line, my favorite resource for "how to"!

I call this a River Rock Cozy... haven't done any fine crocheting in a long time, but I really love these, so will probably be making more soon as I find some more rocks!

I hope to have more to report soon... I just bought my first Jacquard Green Label dyes, and have begun experimenting with them using the Watercolor method.  Hope to have pix soon!

     

Road Trip and other fun things!

This week's highlight was a trip with my friend Sherrie Spangler down to Prescott, AZ.  As you may recall from my last post, Sherrie, who lives in Gig Harbor, WA, is visiting Sedona again this year for some sunshine and warmth with her husband Dave.  Anyway, last week, I drove down and picked her up and we headed for Prescott, about an hour southwest of Sedona.  I know a few fabric stores down there, and wanted to give her a tour.  She posted about the trip on her blog, and she is ever so much better at taking pictures than I am!  But I snatched this shot from her post, taken by Dave before we took off:

Notice the colors we are both wearing?  We did not coordinate our wardrobes before we met!  We just both LOVE color!
So off we went, stopping at Cloth Plus first... a favorite of mine, as they carry a wonderful selection of batik fabrics.  Sherrie scored big time, and I found a couple of pieces for a great price - bolt ends on sale.  Next, we stopped at Seams so Right ,  another favorite of mine... so much wonderful fabric!
After thoroughly  browsing the bolts there, it was time for a lunch break to refuel... so we stopped at a great little restaurant down the street  -  El Gato Azul:

We sat out in the patio, soaking up the warmth of the sun and enjoying a yummy repast.

I had to take a photo of this wonderful ceramic cat, posing at the bar of the restaurant... almost looks tie-dyed, doesn't it?!

Then on to one more shop, "Love It Again", which is a great little shop with remnants of fabric, yarns, thread, books... you name it!
All too soon, it was time to head back.  Sherrie and I are already planning next year's adventure, as we have decided this is a great annual event!
Meanwhile, I'm still dyeing rayon scarves... finished up a couple of great multicolored freeze-dyes the other day, looking like southwest sunsets:

I really love the intensity I get dyeing rayon...these just make my heart sing!  Much, much more to come...

Shabby Chic scarves - Group shot

I have been busy snipping and stitching new mixed fiber scarves again... just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm trying to build up my inventory for our annual Open Studios Tour at the end of August. I have posted a couple of pix recently, but thought I would take a group shot of what I have done so far:

As you can see, they come in many sizes and colors.

I'm working on number 7 as we speak, and have loads of fabrics and yarns waiting in the wings... or all over the floor to be more exact!

Below is the scarf I'm currently working on... snippets of fabrics, yarns and ribbons sandwiched between layers of Sulky solvy, a water soluble stabilizer.

Once again, I must give credit for this wonderful technique to my blogging and FB friend, Sherrie at "Sherrie Loves Color!"  If you go to her blog and do a search on scarves, you will find many of her posts about her technique, and fabulous examples to inspire you!  Thanks again, Sherrie...

Crazed about scarves!

My blogger buddy Sherrie of "Sherrie loves color!" recently blogged about a new scarf she made - you can see it here - and it reminded me that I have been wanting to try making one ever since I saw another of her posts last fall... they are so beautiful, whimsical, very chic!  So, I finally broke down and bought the Sulky solvy stabilizer which she uses in her process, and dug out lots of decorative yarns, pretty scraps of silky fabrics, etc.  I followed her directions, and here is my first scarf:

Some of the fabrics in this scarf are at least 20 years old, but they worked very well in combination with the various yarns I put with them.  I love how it looks, but as I mentioned in an e-mail to Sherrie, the scarf is a little stiff.  I'm guessing I didn't remove all the stabilizer after I finished stitching the piece together.  It's been hand washed twice, but I might try a third time, followed by a textile softener I use when laundering my scarves.  

Meanwhile, I have a slightly different version I'm thinking of trying, although it might not work.  But in preparation, I decided to use up some of my dyes and some cheesecloth:

I want to change the subject briefly here... ever since I started dyeing back in 1998, I have heard from a large number of reputable sources that Procion MX dyes could only be stored for about a month before they would lose their capacity to bond to fiber, and any projects using older dyes than that would end up very faded.  So for the longest time, I would throw away unused dyes that had been sitting for over a month.  I know that professional tie-dyers tend to want their shirts to be uber-vibrant, and I get that.  But since I also do a lot of fabric dyeing for various projects, I gradually began to experiment, just to see how well the dyes did after being stored for longer periods.  The examples above are from dyes that have been stored in the garage for various lengths of time, but of all the dyes, 2 have been stored for over 14 months, and one for over 6!  So if you dye, and have been concerned about using the dyes before they lose their strength, try storing in a cool place away from the light... I know that Dharma Trading's Lemon Yellow and Bright Green fade faster than some of the others, but generally, I wouldn't be concerned unless you absolutely must have a very bright color!  

Back to the scarves... I am considering using the cheesecloth instead of the stabilizer to hold the snippets of cloth and yarn together while I stitch the scarf... only concern I have is because the cheesecloth is so loose-woven, it might become tangled in the machine while I'm stitching.  I'm going to give it some thought before I procceed, and maybe do a very small swatch to see how it acts.  I'll post again when I come up with my next one, and let you know how it turns out.  Meanwhile, thanks again, Sherrie, for all your wonderful inspiration!  

   

Sedona with Sherrie Spangler

Yesterday was a wonderful, spring day!  I drove down to Sedona to meet Sherrie Spangler, whose blog I have been following for awhile now.  Sherrie and her husband rented a house in Sedona for the month to enjoy the beautiful redrock country and get in a little sunshine.  Sherrie and I decided to make a 'play date' to visit some of the bead shops, hit the Quilters' Store, have lunch and do a little show and tell.  I'm such a dufus, I totally forgot to take pictures of what Sherrie brought to show me, but you can see what she's been working on if you click her name above and browse her blog.
While I waited for Sherrie to arrive, I got a couple of interesting shots of the courtyard in Tlaquepaque, where the bead shop is located:

If you ever get to Sedona, this is a 'must see' shopping stop!  Great shops and restaurants, and the setting is beautiful!
Soon after I got these shots, Sherrie arrived and we made a bee-line for the first stop, Cocopah Beads.
Here we are holding our Raku Sunbursts, purchased there.

There are actually two Cocopah stores in Sedona, and we hit both of them!

Cocopah at Tlaquepaque, Sedona AZ.

Next, we stopped for lunch at  Ken's Creekside Restaurant, where we both enjoyed their Chilaquiles!
Here's a shot of the red rocks outside the restaurant:

Fortified for our next stop, we then headed over to the Quilters' Store Sedona.
Quilters' Store is a lovely shop, and they had a great selection of batiks, lots of fat quarters, a wonderful selection of books and kits, and a great staff!  Worth the trip just to drool over their inventory!  Here's a surprise shot of Sherrie with her purchases:

Busted!

Sadly, I had to head back home after our stop at the quilt store, but it was a wonderful day, and I was delighted to have the chance to meet Sherrie!