A Whole Lot of Dyeing Going On!

On Friday I taught Session I of my "Dye Happy" class here in Ottawa at Wabi Sabi. It was such a busy day and there were so many things I wanted to cover that I forgot to take pictures! Fortunately a few students sent photos of their fabrics after they washed them out at home.

This is Ruth's two colour run. She combined varying amounts of golden yellow and sky blue.

The results of her multi-colour parfait.

Neera has a collection of white and off-white silk that she was hoping to dye. So that is what she did.  You can see some of the silks have a pattern in them. They turned out lovely.

Judy sent photos of this collection, also a two-colour run,

as well as a value gradation using navy blue.

I too have been dyeing up a storm! In the last week I've dyed, washed, ironed, cut and bundled 102 meters of fabric!

Much of this fabric is heading with me to Winnipeg, Manitoba on Thursday to teach and lecture at the annual show and conference of the Manitoba Prairie Quilters. I will be speaking at their banquet on Saturday night, as well as teaching workshops on Friday and Saturday. 

I've dyed a variety of values of fabric suitable for florals since I will be teaching In Full Bloom on the first day. 

Yum, these fabrics would be great in a lily!

Here are a few of my favorites. I might just have to keep some of each.

Hope you enjoyed the colour!

A Few Days with the Windsor Quilters Guild

This week I had the pleasure of spending a few days with the Windsor Quilters Guild in Windsor, Ontario. A very memorable trip all around! Good weather, smooth flight with Porter (that connected at the Toronto Island Airport, which is so much more peaceful than Pearson International). This guild has also done an excellent job of organizing meeting and workshop locations that do not have stairs. I was able to wheel my big roller bags in without having to figure out how to get them up or down a set of stairs. Even my bedroom in the lovely home I was billeted at with Libby and Lorenzo Valeriani was on the ground floor, making life pretty smooth. Oh and Lorenzo makes fantastic espresso.

Libby runs a long-arm business called "Log Cabin Custom Quilting", but she also has turned her home into a retreat centre for quilters and other crafters. I'm going to show you a few of the key features.

So after mentioning that there were no stairs, I am going to show you stairs! However, these are the stairs that go to her large, and finished basement, where students at the retreat sew and where Libby does her long-arming. I thought they were cool because she has decoupaged colourful quilt blocks all along the edges of the stairs.

Quilts decorate the house everywhere, along with antiques, other needlework, art, etc. A very electic and charming decor.

Eight people can "retreat" at the same time. Four bedrooms each house two single beds, and each of the four bedrooms is decorated in a particular theme. The one below is in the theme of "Memory Lane". My room was all about sheep.

At left at the Gammill is Libby, and at right is Lynn, the Past President of the guild, and my "chauffeur" during my visit.

Always nice to stay in a house with pets. Makes a house a home. This is the big dog of the home, Luna.

Sadie and Cleo hang out together most of the time. 

Now on to the guild!  This guild has a large day-time meeting

and a smaller group gathering for the evening meeting.

Lynn brought her finished "Liberated Radial Piecing" design from the class I taught at Erie Shores Quilt Guild last spring.

We all gathered the next day for my first ever class on hosta leaves! Everyone was so kind and patient about the challenges with the fusible web.

Lynn finished her piece in the class (she said she didn't have time for homework ;-) . The edges of the background still need to be trimmed.

Here is Grace's piece in production.

The class gathered for a group shot to show off what they accomplished during the day. 

The Cats of Andalucia, Spain

I am off to Windsor tomorrow to lecture and teach my very first hosta class. At the moment I am in a panic because the only fusible web currently available with pressure-sensitive adhesive keeps changing its mind about which backing paper comes off easiest. At certain points in the roll, the parchment comes off easier, and at other points the freezer-paper type paper comes off easiest. Wednesday`s class will be a challenge, but we`ll do the best we can. When oh when is Steam a Seam coming back? Did I mention that I printed 50 copies of each pattern, folded them, and packaged them, with the instructions based on the parchment coming off easiest? Tonight I am finding the freezer-paper comes off easiest. Grrrrr.

Before I head out, I wanted to finish my posts about Andalucia, Spain. You probably knew this one was coming! I photograph cats wherever I go, and it was not hard to find cats in Andalucia! Sometimes it was hard to tell whether a group of cats belonged to a feral colony or to someone`s home. Either way, there are kind people feeding them because most look in good shape. One feral colony even had a spay and neuter program (you could tell by the clip taken out of the ear, to indicate a previous spaying or neutering).

Classic tabbies appeared everywhere, and sporting more orange in their coats than I typically see.

I call this guy The Captain!

Look out pigeon!

These last three kitties live at Cortijo Valverde, the country hotel we stayed at.

Razzle:

Tigger

Ms. Twiggy visited our room several times.

Castles and Palaces

Andalucia, Spain is filled with castles and palaces, many from the days that the Moors inhabited the region. Sometimes these Moorish structures were altered later by the Christians once they gained control of the region.

The Alhambra in Granada is a stunning site, and a must see.

The Alcazaba in Antequera

Not really a castle or a palace, but the bridge across the gorge in Ronda is dramatically beautiful. It separates the medieval part of the town from the 18th century side of town.

The castle in Alora, Spain, the town close to where we stayed.

The ruins of the Castillo de la Estrella in Teba.

The Castillo de Gibralfaro in Malaga.