Grey Ending to a Colorful Week

A few exciting things happened this week, but the most exciting is the box that arrived from Dharma Trading. I've been fighting the urge to start a new collection, but I finally gave in. Here's what I bought . . . Procion Dye, Urea, Sodium Algenate, Cotton/Bamboo, Cotton/Silk fabric and lots of plastic bottles. Score!!! Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of it!! In the past, someone else did the mixing for me. Susan has already sent me lots of info that I'll read during my flight to Chicago next week. We're going to see our 5' 10", 22 year old baby swim in her final college swim meet.

Yvonne Porcella was the guest speaker at our guild this month. I went to her lecture Thursday night and took her silk painting class on Friday. I never painted silk before, so that was really fun. Yesterday, I went to the Road 2 CA quilt show in Ontario, CA. It's been a busy week.

This is one of the new camellia bushes I planted. As you can see, they're doing great. Nothing like a little color in the middle of winter.The rain started here about an hour ago. The weather report says to expect 6-8" on the coast and 20" in the mountains. At the widest part of town, it's 6 miles from the mountains to the ocean. My house is at the base of the mountain and it's probably 3 miles to the ocean. Remember all the forest fires? Our mountains haven't recovered and 20" is a lot of rain. Keep your fingers crossed!

More Fabric!

What can I say? I'm weak and I know it! I know . . . I always say my studio is ready to explode, but yet, I cram more in. The trip to Pacific International provided lots of opportunity to buy beautiful things. I was pretty good, but couldn't resist everything.This first photo has some purchases from a store in San Jose that Ellen Anne Eddy recommended called Fabrics R Us. If you like fabrics that stretch, shimmer and shine, this is the store for you! Actually, they have two other stores in the same mall, one has upholstery fabric and the other had and odd mix of stuff. I bought the lime green ultrasuede and three types of silk, and some plain white canvas fabric that is waiting for some paint. The three fabrics on the right came from PIQF.This is a sampler pack from Cherrywood Fabric. Cherrywood is the only solid fabric I ever buy. Well, I suppose that isn't completely true. I buy white to paint and dye and black to discharge. Anyways, if you've never seen their fabric before, you're missing out. It's all hand dyed and has a beautiful, suede like finish to it. Each piece is around 8 x 10" and there are a zillion colors.
I also bought some white on white fabric to paint and two patterns which I forgot to take a photo of. One is a Quiltcoat by Tabitha Quilts and the other is a Bellino Bag by Ghee's. I seem to collect patterns but never make anything! I'm sure I'm not alone . . . please, tell me I'm not alone!

Fibervision

Several people have asked about Fibervision, so here is a quick description.
There are 26 active members that live in CA within 150 mile radius of each other. We rent a room once a month at a community center to plan/discuss exhibits, art topics, share finished work, seek advice and play. Each month one or two of the members shares a technique or knowledge with the rest of the group. The talent and expertise within this group is amazing. I am very fortunate to be associated with such a wonderful group of artists. They are always a source of inspiration. Visit our website at www.fibervision.org
This month Michelle brought pigment based dyes and Cathi brought fiber reactive dyes for us to play with. Wow, did we have fun. Most people dyed cloth, Joan overdyed rusted cloth, Kristin brought a rayon shawl and Diana brought a silk tank top .

This photo shows the results I got with the dye. Left to right: White on beige, white on white, the next 3 were black and white and last one was a pink, beige and cream stripe. My favorite is the white on white/beige pieces.

This photos shows three pieces that were painted with the pigment dye. This pigment dye is very bold, the colors are much stronger than the dye-na-flo or setacolor that I am used to. I love them all.