DYED WOOL RESOURCE

Who says you can't find the right color when working with wool??  Weeks Dye Works has it all......  They over-dye a variety of fibers....this is not felted wool, rather it's over-dyed wool in the most fantastic colors you've ever seen.  

 Solids

 Floss (2-6 strand) and Perle cotton  (I can't get enough of these!!)

Wool prints

 A variety of weaves

 More choices

Stunning colors.....  I'm anxious to begin creating right now!!

THE MINT MUSEUM

Yesterday, the members of L.I.N.T. (fiber group) traveled to Charlotte to experience 'culture'.

Our destination was The Mint museum......

The inside entrance greeted us with what appeared to be hand dyed fabric flags (boxes really).

We were delighted to find this fashion exhibit......

The fashion styles varied......read the signage below about this piece......what a hoot...."Gift of a Palm Beach Lady".......wellllll excuse me.......

Taking quality photos was difficult since no flash was allowed in these very dimly lighted rooms. Hope the elegance still comes through....

It was created by the House of Chanel (2003-2004 season). It's a boxy jacket/knee-length skirt of fine wool, covered with a silk netting.

Here's a Gucci dress (made in Italy)

Detail

The shoe displays were such fun......

Hummmm........I'm sure I couldn't balance in these!!

RED & WHITE

You've probably heard the buzz about the incredible 651 red and white quilt display, "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts" on display in New York City, organized by the American Folk Art Museum.....but seeing them in person must be.....well.....incredible!

To see and read about the Joanna Rose Collection, follow these links. Thank you goes to my friend Connie Brown for gathering all them.

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QUILTS OF VALOR

My teaching schedule keeps me hopping.....as does having a retired husband at home! Therefore, I don't have much free time to roam the (what seems like) zillions of blogs out in our information highway.

I thank all of you who stay connected to my rather insignificant world......knowing you are there helps me to keep my eyes open for what I hope is good content and of course some silliness!

Wanda Hanson, a productive quilter who I've known since my days of living in the Chicago area, shares a lot of piecing/cutting tips in her blog. Her most recent post led me to a another site.

It's for the Quilts of Valor Foundation.....this group is not about politics, it's about people. I've sat at many a quilt guild meeting during my travels where members show their donation quilts.....and I'm ashamed to say I've never visited this site before. With the 4th of July (and the celebration's original intent) so fresh in my mind, I literally got goose bumps viewing their site.

To date they've presented 28,227 quilts to the men and women who service us....... Consider contacting a local group and offer your help.....I am.

TEXTURE MAGIC

Our own Patsy Thompson, master machine quilter and expert instructor that can give you private lessons via her fabulous DVD's, introduced us to Texture Magic at our monthly Fiber Arts Alliance meeting.

Here's a sneak peak of one of her beautiful quilts....be sure to click on the link above to visit her info packed website!

Texture Magic is a steam-activated shrinking fabric. The fabric shrinks 30% in all directions with the use of a steam iron. The product is available from Superior Threads. The sample is made from National NonWoven's WoolFelt (that Patsy hand-dyed to get this luscious color.) Patsy stipple quilted it and then 'shrunk' the fabric.

The flower center uses the same technique, but is made with polished cotton......and attached using free-motion satin stitching.

The appearance can be more subtle when using smaller amounts.

Shrinkage follows the sewn lines.....so when sewing linear lines, the results are much different.

NEW TYPE OF FABRIC - FACT OR FICTION?

'The husband' is preparing for a motorcycle touring trip......better him than me!  He loves to ride and I won't even get on the thing.

This trip has led to reviewing the safety and comfort gear he wears when riding.  I'm relieved he researches to find the best products available, especially where his safety is concerned. 

Which is why you are seeing a photo of two pine cones!  A new fabric, or what they call "intelligent membrane" c_change has been developed by BMW Motorrad together with Swiss textile specialist Schoeller.

The pore size of this material adapts to the ambient temperature to control the breathing capability of the clothing as necessary.  The membrane is based on the bionic principle of fir cones....their scales fan out at high temperatures and close at low ones.  This means the riding suit will "breathe" in the summer and insulate on cold days.

We gasp at the prices our quilting fabrics have reached.....you don't even want to know what a jacket of this material costs.  I wonder if this is just a good PR scheme or if it works? According to 'the husband' (who clearly wants one) .....there are many positive testimonials online about this product online already.....interesting.

NEW IPOD GADGET

When 'the husband' gave me an iPod a few years ago.....well, I was frankly a little dubious about its value.  Of course, part of the hesitation was that I'd need to learn one more darn new techny thing, which often leaves me feeling quite stupid.

Well, now I'm hooked, totally!  Naturally, I have music files, (mostly Blue Grass and Motown). But, it's the podcasts and audio books that keep those ear buds in my ears!

Living nearly at the end nowhere - at 3,200 feet elevation, we have lousy internet.  Our only two options are dial up - NOT,  and satellite.  We have our own dish from Hughesnet which is horribly expensive and has horrible service.  We are getting only about 20% of the speed we pay for....and Hughesnet couldn't care less.  They know up here in the mountains it's them or nothing and that if any other options ever comes our way.....Hughesnet will get unplugged so fast their dish will take wings.  Sorry, I'm venting.

Not only do we have very slow speed, there's too many people using this satellite.  In the evenings, it's almost impossible to surf the web.  I can rarely even get a connection that holds long enough to post to Blogger from about 5:00 PM on.  On top of all this, we have a maxium number of megabits that can be downloaded in each 24 hr. period, and it's VERY easy to go over that number.....which puts you into a penalty box (holding box) where use of the internet for the next 24 hours is almost nill.

Okay....I'm getting to the point now.  Since 'the husband' and I both download some of the same podcasts, we  realized were using a lot of our download capacity unnecessarily.  (The content on an iPod syncs to what's on the computer it receives its data from.  Therefore, whenever I connected to his computer to grab a specific program, I'd lose all of the content on my iPod such as any audio books.)

He found a gadget that eliminates double downloading and loss of data.  It's called mishare  A gadget used to share files and playlists between iPods.  There's no computer or cable needed. Basically, you connect the source iPod (the one with the data already loaded) at one end, and the target iPod (the one waiting for the data) at the other....press a button and ta da!!  Neat....

SUBSCRIBING TO BLOGS

As blogs become more and more popular, you might find it difficult to keep up with all of them. It's time consuming to log onto your favorites only to find there haven't been any new postings. Well, did you know you can set your computer to automatically download posts whenever there is an update? It will go into your email mailbox for you to read at your convenience.  

Here's how:  after logging onto a blog....look at the URL address bar at the top of the page.....you'll see a RSS icon, usually blue and white on the far right.  Click on it.  You'll get a pop up menu.....click on RSS.  That will open a second window of the blog you are reading....with a menu box on the right.  At the bottom of the list of options, you'll see ACTIONS - click on subscribe in mail.  That's it.....you'll have a new mailbox in your email program for that blog.  At first you may get a bunch of emails....delete the ones you've read and from then on....you'll be the first to know when there's a new post.

On my blog....I've also provided a link you can follow....it's on the right, just below my header. Just click on the blue text and follow the instructions above.

See ya soon!

PENNY POSTCARDS

Here's a fun website to explore:  Penny Postcards.  It features postcards from all over the United States which cost 1 cent to mail.  They are categorized by states and then regions, so chances are you might even be able to find ones from your home town.

 

I did....the following are scenes from Sheboygan, WI.....the main street and the harbor.  As we will soon be approaching a new year....it's fun to look back....even if it was before my time.

NEW QUILT RESOURCE WEBSITE

My, oh my.....the internet certainly has opened the world to all of us.  We can find answers to most any quilt related question we seek.....  There's inspiration at every click.

I just learned of a new resource:    Quilt Qua (definition of qua:  In the character of or capacity of).

You'll find extensive lists to locate instructors, shops, and even the new rage.....quilter's blogs.  Check it out.....

WORD DESIGNS

Lately I've been creating designs using words and numbers.....sorry, since I'm talking Xmas presents.....I can't post the results till Santa comes.  

My research of this subject has taken me to such amazing internet sites.  One of the best is  wordle.net  It's a toy for 'word clouds' generated from words you provide.  It allows you to use different fonts, layouts, color schemes and the results are yours to keep!  I've been spending a serious amount of time checking out the gallery.

Here's one I created to use in my challenge design for a fiber arts group I belong to.

Once I downloaded a jpg. of the words, I imported it into Keynote, running the 'clouds' together.  After my first sample printing on paper, I noticed that the vertical words gave the appearance of a line which was distracting.  I removed the offending words and added a few horizontal ones to fill in the blanks and printed it out on solid fabric sections.  I'll piece these together and use for the background of my design.

The website will make you wonder....how on earth do they do that.....it's just fascinating....have fun!