Fair Warning: I Shall Dye No More

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I have not dyed this summer. And I’ll not be dyeing this autumn either. Why all this lack of dyeing? What’s going on?

My dyeing education began in 1973 when I worked in a costume shop at my college. By 1985 I had set up a dye shop in my home dyeing fabric for clothing. Soon I was dyeing fabric for quilt makers and my students when I became a peripatetic teacher in the early 90’s. (Gad! I’m old!)

But now my travel and teaching schedule is reduced to once, maybe twice a year. I don’t need to dye fabric or threads for my students. My personal stash of hand-dyed fabric is stacked high. And my threads use to create art runneth over. So, no. I’m dyeing for you anymore.

So this is your fair warning. I’m not replenishing the threads available for sale on the Artfabrik website. Once the thread size or colorway sells out there shall be no more.

Now is your chance to add beautiful hand-dyed threads to your stash before they are gone. And to get you motivated to stitch, I’ll include a free skein of thread (my choice of color and size) with any purchase over $100.

Creative Stitch Combinations Class

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My new online class, Creative Stitch Combinations, is all about combining basic hand embroidery stitches to create dynamic textures, patterns, and shapes with thread for your free-form embroidery projects. I hope you can join me!

I’ll show you my favorite ways to combine stitches using 15 embroidery stitches to create exciting and enjoyable art. Colorful examples and helpful tips are given in each of the three lessons. And there is a bonus project too!

A bonus PDF for this project, Lovely as a Tree, includes step-by-step directions and colorful illustrations on how to make this small landscape full of texture, pattern, and shapes. It’s the perfect project to put all you’ve learned into practice.

Read more about the class here on the C&T Blog. Or visit my introduction to the class on Creative Spark to learn more.

An Exhibit Down Under

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Soon it will be autumn in Illinois. (That is if we can survive the summer!) And soon my duet of art quilts, Fine Line Trees Summer and Autumn will be on view at the SAQA and Timeless Textiles Exhibition, Joining Threads.

The exhibition opens on August 13th, 2024, at Timeless Textiles in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Timeless Textiles, the only commercial fiber art gallery in Australia, and SAQA are partnering together to present this unique opportunity for SAQA artists. This exhibition is composed of 2 artworks (each 30cm by 30 cm) by each artist which are a diptych or speak to one another. My pieces are both made with hand dyed silk fabrics and hand embroidered. I’m so pleased my artwork is traveling down under!