Something About Nothing

Last January I took a class at Craft Napa with Victoria Findlay Wolfe and only completed one fourth of the top in class.  I finally pulled the parts and the pattern out to complete the top. And now it's done!  I'm so happy with myself! I've always wanted to make a lone star type quilt and now I've done it and it all lays flat.  

Decided to work on my carving skills by taking a printmaking class at SaltGrass Printmakers with Stefanie Dykes . The SaltGrass Printmaker studio is awesome. This was my original drawing for the reduction print. Before we started our reduction prints, we created some art cards to trade. Stefanie showing how to ink up the lino,  and then how to line up the paper to print. My print is the purple hippo in the center. A week later we started printing our first layer of the reduction print. And then time to carve off more. And the second printing. The class was over before I could finish. I will have to go back next year to finish up! A few of my classmates finished their pieces and they were magnificent! I learned a lot from being around other printmakers and I really look forward to returning!

Crafting a Life llc is doing a fund raiser called "Stay Pawsitive" with all proceeds going to  Friends for Life Animal Rescue.  The 6" square pieces of art will be sold for $30 each at Craft Napa in January.  I created a hippo stamp, Fiona, to add to my animal stamps. . .  . . . and then stamped and quilted my puffy fish. . .  . . . Fiona. . .   . . . and Keiko on to my hand dyed and printed fabrics.

I used the iPad Pro to create a drawing of Keiko,  add some doodles, and experiment with color a little bit. I also used a drawing to create a stamp of Keiko.

This years Utah Quiltfest quilt show was all Red and White.

Because I had been gone so long, I didn't have time to mix the dyes before teaching at the Utah Quiltfest.  It was extremely windy outside so I set up a dye mixing station in the bathroom of my hotel room. I placed a piece of large piece of soda ashed pfd fabic in a cardboard box I got from the front desk.  The wet fabric collected stray dye particles, and I wore a mask, gloves and glasses to keep the dye from me. Sometimes gloves aren't much help. Oops.  The day of class was fabulous!  We had a wonderful room to work in, filled with natural light, and well covered with plastic. The people in class were all awesome!  The students were very creative with the instructions given. And the results were fabulous!    The students have asked for a class in stitched Shibori next year.