Who's idea was this?

Heading to our lake house in the Pocono Mountains to escape the DNC in Phildaelsphia via Burkholders Fabrics in Lancaster County turned out to be not such a good idea. We thought we could consolidate 2 trips to save time.

I have been asked if I had kits for two of my patterns, Fishalicious and Beachalicious.

Since I bought all the fabrics for Fishalicious from one quilt shop - Burkholders- I decided to make kits for this pattern first. Unfortunately, it really didn't save us any time on the road. It seemed like we were driving forever, but the scenery made it worth it. We just had to stop at this produce stand.

It was run by a young Amish couple whose produce was grown from their garden right behind it. This is the beginning of the season to buy cantaloupe, heirloom cherry tomatoes and corn. They really were yummy delicious.

The farms and houses near Burkholders are just magnificent and large with lots of stone. Here's a few photos I snapped.

 

 

The sky was my favorite shade of blue.

I found lots of the fabrics I used for Fishalicious, but for some of them I had to find substitutes. Here's the stack.

 

I will make the kits when I get back to my studio. I'm making up just a few kits to test the waters so to speak. I'll put them in my Etsy shop when they are ready. If you are interested, let me know.

I bought a bunch of their batiks at $5.99, a really great price and I just could not resist this fabric. It was just too cute.

 

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Quilt Camp

Have you heard of MAQ? If you're a regular reader of my blog, you probably have. For those of you who have not, it's 3 days of quilting immersion where quilters can make friends with people who speak the same language and renew that friendship each summer. I just returned yesterday. This year there were 300 quilters who had the choice of 60 some odd classes offered by 20 different teachers.

Some people call it Quilt Camp. We sleep in the dorms at Mount St Marys University in Emmitsburg, MD, located not far from Gettysburg, PA. We eat in the cafeteria where I love to table hop. Sometimes I eat with my students. Sometimes I eat with other teachers and sometimes I eat with my friends from my quilt guild.

There are evening programs too. On Friday night, we are introduced to the wonderful volunteers who put on this 3 day quiltaganza. There are vendors, door prizes and a speaker.

This year I taught a silk applique class, the Curvalicious backpack class and fabric dyeing. I had the most wonderful students. I love the bond we form spending so much time together. Here are some photos from my classes.

The irons are set up outside of the classrooms for all to share.

Some students brought items from home to dye.

Here's a reincarnated pair of gardening sneakers.

And a t shirt.

Saturday night is Show N Tell. Students show what they have made during their first two days of classes.

The teachers present what classes they might teach next year.

It's such a great time. You should consider joining us next year. I promise that you will leave with new friends. You can check it out at www.MAQonline.org.

 

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You Asked For It

I have been sharing photos of my Mini Mosaics on social media a bunch recently as well as sharing my technique at guild workshops. Many of you who have seen photos have asked about the technique that I developed. Unfortunately, I could not share it at the time, because I was writing an article for Quilting Arts, an amazing magazine geared to art quilters.

Today, the issue with my article arrived on my doorstep. To say that I am over the moon is an understatement. My article begins on page 60. Woo Hoo!

 

This is the cover of the magazine. It details step by step how I create my quilts from lots and lots of tiny pieces of fabric. I think it's addictive and mesmerizing. Some of my students agree with me.

This is what it looks like when I am working on a piece. In the bottom left hand corner is a cutting guide that I devised to cut the pieces for the mosaic, en masse. I had a limited number of them made for me and they are available in my Etsy shop.

 

Here are a few of the other Mini Mosaics that I have created. I share lots of patterns during my classes.

 

And here's an Andy Warhol version of Bailey.

These all measure about 12" x 14".

This is the largest one I've made so far. It was one of my Winter projects in Key West. It measures about 3'x4' and is named "Keyfetti Fish". I did use Curvalicious to create the border.

Here's a close up. I have no idea how many squares of fabric I used or how many different fabrics. I'm sure one of you mathematicians or engineers could figure it out, but it might make me cry.

In addition to the excitement brought on by the publication of this article, my other big woo Hoo was that I was invited to teach on a quilting cruise in 2017. As soon as I can, I will share the details. Mini Mosaics will be one of three workshops that I teach. Of course, I felt I had to design some ocean themed projects. What do you think of the lighthouse? I just finished binding it today.

I am teaching it a couple of places in 2017, but would love to come and teach it to your group. The structure of my workshop is pretty unique. A kit is available and basically all the participants need to bring are tweezers and a sharp pair of scissors. Email me if you're interested: oyveyquilts@yahoo.com

Until then, check out my article in the August/September issue of Quilting Arts and give the fabric mosaics a try. It's fun for kids and grown ups and perfect for when you don't want to sit at your sewing machine. And if you want to be kept up to date about my mosaics as I create them and the upcoming cruise, you can follow me on Instagram @oyveyquilts or on Facebook @CherylLynchFiberArts.

 

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Fabric Dyeing My Way

I have been juggling many, many quilty things. Soon I'll be able to share a magazine article about my mosaics and some news about teaching on a quilting cruise. I'm also excited and nervous at the same time about a trip to Houston at the end of October to exhibit Curvalicious at the largest wholesale quilt industry show. Right now I am working on prepping for a 3 day educational seminar in MD that starts on Friday. Oy!

On Sunday, I have a full class for my Fabric dyeing workshop. This is what it looked like as I was putting the kits together.

Most of the fabric in the kit is PFD cotton (Prepared for dyeing). That means there is no sizing or any additives that would interfere with the chemistry of dyeing. The black and white fabric is off the bolt from a fabric store. It needs to be scoured before it is dyed to remove any additives.

Yesterday was a dry run. Here's my dyeing set up. I used 3 different dyes from the red, yellow and blue family and combined them in varying amounts. It's important to be very organized. However, I'm quite messy, so I try to remember to wear gloves.

 

I use sandwich baggies to add the different combos of dyes to the fabric. I let them batch (sit) overnight.

Today was washout day. After rinsing until the water ran clear, everything went into the washer and then the dryer.

 

Here's a beautiful stack of fabric. I love all these colors.

I used a combination of PFD fabric, white on white prints and black and white prints. This is what it looks like when I divided them into the three piles.

PFD

White on white

 

And the black and white prints.

This was one of the black and white fabrics I started with.

I love the way this fabric dyed. I haven't seen any other fabric dyers starting with the white on white or any B&W fabrics. I love the results and think they are so interesting. I have been experimenting like this for a lot of years. It's fabric dyeing, my way.

My workshop is this coming Sunday. I think my students are going to love it.

 

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Stepping Back In Time

On the way home from our lake house, we stopped at the Kutztown Folk Festival. I've wanted to go for years becaus I heard they had quilts, but it never seemed to mesh with r schedule. This time it did.
We headed straight to the Quilt Barn. It was filled with hundreds of quilts. Some were for immediate sale and others, the best ones, are to be auctioned.

I found this one particularly appealing.

There was so much to see in addition to the quilts. Lots of it made me feel like I stepped back in time, especially with the amusements and the demos. My favorite was this donkey pulling a merry go round.

And there were some very strange things like this huge ground hog. It's a bit hard to tell, but it was taller than me.

I need to do some research, but the gist of it is that the groundhog is a beloved symbol of the Pennsylvania German men. They have Groundhog Lodges where only men can gather and they speak only Pennsylvania German.
And there was food! So much food. Check out this plate of potato chips.

This was the sign. They were yummy delicious.

I left my hubby with the food and went to check out the crafters booths. I didn't get very far when I met Rachel Yoder.

She has added a modern twist to painting hex signs and wrote a book about Penny Olive, who is a PA German girl. I debated between buying her hex sign with the heron or buying one of her husband's. My favorites are the brightly colored ones.

They were all wonderful and it was such a difficult decision. I did buy the doll and the book, because a lot of her paintings ads in the book. If you read the book from one direction, it's in English and if you flip it over, it's in Deitsch (PA Dutch). Just wonderful. Rachel agreed to talk to me in more detail about her background, so I'd thought I'd publish it here as an interview soon. If you want to read more about Rachel head to her website: www.rachelyoderart.net
We ended the day sharing a strawberry shortcake. Yum.

And if you want to know the real reason we went ....... They welcomed dogs.
I pulled a winner for my giveaway. Congratulations Peggy! Peggy_verdongibbs@att.net

Email me your address and you'll get a great package in the mail.
Thanks to all who entered.

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UPDATE!!!! 2 Giveaways From 2 Friends

Make that 3 giveaways!  I have an update to my giveaway.  

Hawthorne Threads has joined the giveaway.  Read on.

I met Janellea at a quilting presenters networking event. She is of the younger generation (haha) and approaches the quilting world in a non- traditional way, although you would say her quilts are traditional. You can see from the cover of her book that she creates scrap quilts from a stash. Most times her stash is an inheritance of sorts. When quilters die, they leave behind a huge collection of fabrics, threads, books and other crap, er supplies. Who wants all their stuff? Most times, it is not their kids. Janellea is often the recipient of this stash and puts it to good use.
So how is she non-traditional? You won't be able to find her book on the bookshelf in a store. It's something called "print on demand". You head to www.CreateSpace.com" and order her book. They print a copy and send it to you. This results in no excess inventory and conserves the authors budget!

Janellea was generous and gave me a couple of copies. I thought I would share one as a giveaway. To qualify to win a copy, you must have a US mailing address and leave a comment here about what is the predominant color of your scraps. If you don't have any scraps (Wow!), fess up. When you head to her Website and click on Giveaway, you'll see that she is offering a giveaway of Curvalicious and 2 patterns! Isn't friendship grand?

On another digital topic:

I was so surprised this week when I opened a package that I ordered from Hawthorne Threads. They sell fabric on line and recently have started designing their own. I fell in love with this zebra print.
I ordered 1 yard of it plus 1 yard of two other fabrics to make a Curvalicious quilt. I opened the package and this is what was in it.

It was one long piece. Hmmmmm. I scratched my head. I didn't order a kit. I measured the sections and each of them was equivalent to 1 yard of fabric. How would they know that I picked those 3 fabrics? Then it dawned on me. They are also printing on demand. How clever and modern is that? What a great way to control inventory.

 You can check out Hawthorne Threads at www.hawthornethreads.com. They have very current fabrics, both theirs and other manufacturers.

And don't forget to enter both  all the giveaways.
The UPDATE is that Hawthorne Threads has joined the giveaway.  Here's the deal.  Head to their site, check out theirfabric line, Zebra Hills, and in your comment below, include your favorite color of the zebra fabric.  The winner will not only win the book, they will also win a yard of the color that they have chosen!

So to win both the Scraptashtic book and one yard of Zebra Hills fabric:

1.  Leave a comment here about the predominant color in your scrap stash

2.  Visit the Hawthorne Threads website and in your comment here, let me know which is your favorite color of their adorable zebra fabric

AND

If you want to win a Cuvalicious giveaway, head to Janellea's website and sign up for her newsletter

Since the giveaway has been augmented, I'll choose a winner on the 4 th   6th of July.

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