And the Winner Is...

Thank you to everyone that entered this month's giveaway!  It was fun to see such a great response in such a short time. 

 I like to use the random number generator at random.org. It makes choosing a winner so quick and easy.  This month's winner is #3  Congratulations Jackie!

I bet most of you know Jackie from Canton Village Quilt Works.  Her blog is full of inspiring projects.  Her fabric shop is one of my favorite stops.  Jackie publishes monthly podcasts packed full of information. Find them listed as Jackie's Quilting Chronicles.  

Check back soon for more chances to win. There will be two winners in August.  

Dye Candy Fabric Giveaway

 There are fresh Fabrics in my Dye Candy Shop today.

  Recently I started dying some of my fabrics in larger lots.

Many of these fabrics are now available from one yard up to 3 continuous yards.

 These are some of my favorites from my June.

 Hope you like them too!

This month the giveaway will be a quick one....

Please leave a comment here to for a chance to win fabric or jewelry from my Dye Candy store.  If you are a winner you may choose from an item valued at $18.00 or receive $25.00 off an order of greater value.  

The giveaway will close Monday at 10:00 pm CST on July 18th.

If you share this post on your blog, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform please leave an additional comment for each tweet or post you write.  Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you if you are a winner.

Check back monthly for additional Dye Candy giveaways in 2011

Good Luck!  Chris

Fashion Friday

Babushka!  

This photo is from a book I received as a teenager. "Supersewing Without a Pattern" encouraged me to create simple projects using my own designs.  

I think every sewer should have a book like this when they are new to sewing. 

One of my favorite books for new sewers is "One Yard Wonders".  This book has very specific and well written instructions for a variety of projects including clothing construction, stuffed animals and home decor.  I would recommend this book to both experienced and novice sewers.

Have a great weekend!

Chris

P.S.  Check back tomorrow.  I will be hosting my July Dye Candy Giveaway.

Omaha!

To say my trip to Omaha was a blast is an understatement.  It was so much fun to travel with someone that shares a passion for fabric dyeing and art quilts.  The eight hour trip to Omaha flew by.  You can see Karen standing to the left of her fabulous snowdyed fabrics in the above photo. Right before the trip Karen found out that her quilt "Pieceful Tigers" had won an honorable mention at the NQA Show in Columbus.  How cool is that?!  Here is a link to Karen's post about this quilt.

The theme of the show was Quilt Safari and explored journeys into quilting.  We brought some of our art quilts to show in the booth,  It was fun to be able to share our own journeys.

The ladies from the Omaha guild were so gracious and helpful.  It was a very nicely run show and the quilts were amazing!

Karen and I are big fans of the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Imagine our surprise to see one of Guy Fieri's favorite Triple D haunts across the street from our hotel!  MMMMM Brewburgers!  I'm just telling you that french fries were born to be covered in garlic, butter and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  Would you believe I lost weight on the trip?

 Karen gave me so much more help than I expected. I couldn't have done it without her.  Thanks Karen!

Animal Kingdom Challenge

Phylum: Arthropoda, Order: Lepidoptera

My quilt created for the Art Quilts Around the World "Animal Kingdom" challenge.

When I was a child my father gave me a butterfly net.  I caught butterflies, euthanized them and mounted the butterfly specimens.  I learned a lot about butterflies from those experiences.  Looking back on those days I have very mixed feelings.

As an adult I prefer to observe live specimens.  Our farm is the perfect habitat for many species of butterflies especially Eastern Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails and Monarchs.  Each summer I look forward to the time when butterflies return to feed on the nectar of our lilacs and hydrangea bushes.

This quilt was made using a combination of hand dyed silks, silk ribbons and cottons.  I made the 3D butterfly using a free motion embroidery technique learned in a class taught by Nancy Prince.  I sandwiched a poly stabilizer between 2 layers of hand dyed silk and added another layer of wash away stabilizer with my design traced on it.  Once the embroidery was finished I stitched floral wire around the edges to give the wings shape.

No butterflies were harmed in the making of this quilt.

See more quilts from the Animal Kingdom challenge here 

Pardon my lack of blogging.  This is the first night in weeks that I have spent sitting on the couch.  Boy does it feel good!  This weekend I will be teaching an Intro to Paintsticks class at Cozy Quilts in Richland Center.  After that I have two months off until my next quilt show.  I dyed so much fabric before the last show that I may be able to take most of the summer off.  I will be adding many of these fabrics to my Dye Candy shop in the coming weeks.  

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Chris