More Dyed Wool #2!

So this is my next lot of dyed fabrics that I put together. I love picking colours and trying to get a theme going - that is always a lot of fun for me. Hopefully customers will like the selections I have made. These are fantastic stash builders!. I made sure to set some aside for my stash. Oh if only I had kept a piece of each fabric I dyed - oh wait I would have to have another room set aside for wool/crafts - two is the limit - next I will be sleeping in a tent outside. Thank God for the shed we bought for storage!

Pumpkin Fields

That Special Blue

Primitive Plum

Tomorrow is a busy day. There are a couple of cross stitch designs to finalize and then I want to finish a rug and start a new punch needle and oh yes start designing some wool applique kits - did I say I only have the weekend? Maybe I will have some time to do a bit of reading. It really should be 3 days of work and 4 days of playing with crafts, hobbies and stuff we all love to do, don't you think? Now that makes more sense :) Ok from this list I see I will have to organize my time but will probably end up just doing what I feel like doing as usual :) Off to finish a cross stitch model. g'nite..Joni

Now this is a beach!

I love travelling vicariously through someone else's photos.
So I could not fit myself in my brother's suitcase but my sister-in-law's brother (Manny) was kind enough to post these pics of Crete, Greece. The beach is in Elafonissi. I am sure he will not mind that I have used them here. The water looks unbelievable and it is probably too hot for me but what can I say - I think I could bear the heat if I was presented with such gorgeous surroundings. Manny I will be there next year LOL... My nephew enjoying a swim. Can you  believe the blue of this water.

Now this is what you call switchbacks - I had to look twice to see that indeed they were roads. Not something I would drive in the dark.

What a view - I did not realize it was so mountainous.

And this little pup is having his afternoon siesta which is basically what the whole country does - it being so hot.

Hmmmm one can only dream...........

More dyed wool!

It was a wild evening yesterday - weatherwise! Sheets of rain - local flooding, downed trees, lightning and thunder with the promise of relief from the extremely high humidity we have been experiencing. Well that relief lasted a few hours and now climbing back up.
Since I have AC (absolutely necessary for doing dye runs) I decided to dye another batch of wools... love all these colours! They are going to be bundled with some Rebecca Erb wools and sold on my website.

The hibiscus is in full bloom and looking gorgeous. I am usually partial to red flowers but these yellow ones are so pretty. I thought I would expand my palette :)

 Ok I have to admit I am not much of a gardener. I prefer to be sitting down hooking a rug or doing some other needlework. I always said if I won a million dollars - a gardener would be on the top of the list. It just takes away from my sewing time. Maybe if I was not working out of the home I'd feel different, but I do love to have pretty flowers around me. Having said all that and admitting to not having much of  a green thumb I have to say my orchids are a feather in my cap. They seem to be the only things I can grown indoors. They seem to survive my winter care and as soon as the weather gets warmer out they go.  What I love about them is they bloom for months! My kind of flower :) Have a great summery day!

Beginning Embroidery with Bead Embellishment with Christen Brown

Beginning Embroidery with Bead Embellishment with Christen Brown

an online class I plan on taking with http://www.joggles.com/. I love beads, embroidery and little scraps of silk - perfect for honing my embroidery embellishment skills. I am always on the lookout for something new to learn :)

Hand Dyed Threads

Oh joy! in the mail today I received a surprise - hand dyed 3 strand cotton threads from Weeks Dye Works. I can't wait to try this on my newest punch needle design. I think this will be a kit with the newest threads in some real prim colours! Nothing like new colours to inspire you.

As you know we have been hit with a heat wave - the worse we have seen in years. So hot that it is even difficult to breathe and the air quality is not the best. On those days I go from my AC car to my AC office back to my AC car and into my AC house where I hibernate until it is over. I figure if the pup does not go out and he oves the outdoors then it makes sense for me to stay in too. Gives me time to do my most favourite thing - crafting.

The heaviness of the air calls for a light refreshing dessert while I watch the Blindside. I whipped this one together - sometimes the most simple is the most gratifying - of fresh plump blueberries layed with devon custard and sprinkled with Giradelli unsweetened cocoa. Having said that I am not giving up my decadent 4 layer chocolate truffle cake that I splurge on occasionally. A girl's got to have her vices. :)

No reading in the breezeway tonight - it will have to be indoors tonight. Have a great evening...g'nite.Joni

Dyed Wool

It's 11:30 pm - a gorgeous evening with a wonderful breeze. The door is wide open to the outside screened in deck where I will be sitting after I write this. Got my Kindle ready, my cup of tea and a great book to immerse myself in. I am into thrillers these days - pure summer escapism!

This weekend I got the dye pots out and started dyeing fabric. I love the process of  wool fibers becoming saturated with colour. I have been doing it for years now so the steps are pretty automatic. It is the excitement of a new colour emerging that is the wow factor for me.  Tried some new colours and combined the hand dyes with the new Rebecca Erb fabric that arrived in Maine for some pretty unique bundles. This time I am keeping some of the wool for my own stash and in preparation for a new rug I am planning.

These bundles will be in the new on-line shop next week.
Here are a couple of the new offerings...

Caramel Apple

Green Tea & Raspberries

Have to mention that last week I finished a great great book called "The Passage".

I loved it and couldn't have enjoyed it more. It is an end of the world genre with some vampires thrown in but not your typical vampire fare. Much more complex and I read that it is the first of a trilogy so that was good news.

Update on my cat rug - I am just now doing the border so hopefully will have that finished in a couple of weeks. Publishing deadlines are a priority right now. :)

Off to read my book in the stillness of late evening. G'nite - Joni