Retreat Mini Project

Can't believe it'll soon be time for this year's retreat. The new location should be nice with
plenty of room for everyone to spread out...which I SO like to do, as anyone who's ever sat next to me will agree.

Hope everyone has finished up last year's mini project, and will remember to bring it along to share. I've been selling my pattern at a couple of local shops and will be teaching it each of the three days of this year's Wisconsin Quilt Expo. Coming up with something new for the retreat every year and having a deadline is just the kind of pressure I need to get things done. If you'd like to see more of my quilts and other artwork, check out my blog at tisha-tsblog.blogspot.com.

I'm busy working on this year's mini project and it's going to be something totally different. Again, we'll be using my original pattern and some of Barb and Diane's beautiful hand-dyes. The pattern can be made up to look anything from more subdued and traditional to totally wild and funky...but that's all I'm going to tell you for now.

Hope to see you at the Expo, and oh, here are a couple of Barb's creations from my pattern.

QuiltsbyBarb made ETSY Front Page Last Night!

The treasury ‘Ahhh’ created by theApple made it to the Front Page of Etsy last night around 9:30. It was so exciting! I actually got to see it up there for an hour! Not only was my Teal Tree Top Tote Bag up, but so was my Aunt Barb’s True Miniature Rag Quilt! What a great way to end the day!

QuiltsbyBarb made ETSY Front Page Last Night!

The treasury ‘Ahhh’ created by theApple made it to the Front Page of Etsy last night around 9:30. It was so exciting! I actually got to see it up there for an hour! Not only was my Teal Tree Top Tote Bag up, but so was Quilts by Barb's True Miniature Rag Quilt! What a great way to end the day!

It's a Mystery to Me

We have added a mystery project to the Fall Retreat. It will be simple and fun. Many of you will be able to finish the mystery and have plenty of time to try a simple project from the Easy Bias Covered Curves book and still have time for the mini project.

The mystery project is lap size, but can esily be made bigger if you decide you really love it. That's one of my favorite things about a scrappy project...you never run out of fabric. Just add some more fat quarters and keep on going.

If this sounds like too many things to do, just pick whatever appeals to you most....or bring in your own project to work on. We'd be glad to help with that, too, if you have something that's giving you problems.

What Can I make with Dyed Fabrics? (Quilts)

Are you considering attending the upcoming Fabric Dyeing Workshop at Lapacek’s Orchard (June 20th, 2009) but are unsure about what you can do once you have all of this gorgeous hand-dyed fabric in your possession? I am about to show you LOTS of examples of quilts we’ve created using our hand-dyes!

Above is just a few of the fabrics that I dyed one morning with Diane. I took pictures of them because I was going to be using some of them in a quilt I was working on.

I really like to use a combination of commercial and hand-dyed fabrics in my work. I really think it adds another dimension to the piece. In the above ‘Where’s the Point – Firework’s’ Quilt I used a yellow and red fabric that I had hand-dyed.

In my Disappearing Dog Star Quilt many of the purples, pinks and teals are fabric that I hand-dyed.

The background of this Spring Flowers-Pastels is a piece of fabric that my mother-in-law, Diane hand-dyed (I’m not very good at pastels…Diane will show you that technique in a few weeks).

A fabulous piece of hand-dyed pink and orange hand-dye fabric inspired this beautiful Sunrise Curtain Quilt.

My sister-in-law, Karma, made this fabulous True Lover’s Knot quilt using a combination of hand-dyed fabric to compliment the fun swirly commercial print!

Hand Dyed Fabric works just FABULOUSLY for making Ricky Tims’ Convergence Quilts like the one pictured above.

All of the fabric in this gorgeous Montana Star quilt by Diane was hand-dyed…aren’t the colors so rich? Diane also made this stunning log cabin quilt…using ALL hand-dyed fabrics.

This Jungle Quilt was made by Diane for my daughter Cedi and she mixed hand-dyes with commercial print to create this perfect quilt that my daughter will cherish for years!

I hand-dyed extremely long strips of fabric to create this one of a kind woven quilt.

Click HERE for more examples of items made with our own hand-dyed fabric.

In a few days I’ll share with you some other projects hand-dyed fabric can be used for! In the meantime, stop by http://www.lapaceksorchard.com/ to sign up for our fabric dyeing workshop before all the spaces fill up!

If you want to see an amazing blog of a past student check out: http://www.dyecandy.blogspot.com/ and her etsy shop Dye Candy. She learned some basics from Barb and Diane and she's taken it to another level! I'm very impressed with her work and creativity!