Another Super Blogspot - great eye candy

http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/

Check out the above blogspot - you are certainly going to like what you see here. Jackie has great skill with her sewing machine and a great eye for colors that combine well together. Please visit and get inspired. I will be adding a picture or two of hers as soon as I can figure out how to land them on my blogspot. Thanks for looking. AND thanks for coming to my blogspot as well, I appreciate all your time spent here.

Holiday Season fast approaching -

So the Thanksgiving meal is long gone and we have stuffed ourselves with enough turkey and fixings that it's hard to tell who is the turkey! Anyhow now the Christmas season is upon us - tomorrow will be the official start at my house - no decorations are put up until December 1st. I like to keep the novelty of the season. But I catch up quick.

Also started is the raw silk project that I previously spoke of and that is coming along well - I think it will need a bit of embellishing so it may be a while before it is done.

The sock I was working on has now been completed - now for the other one, which I will start this week sometime. So my little goals for this past weekend were met. That is how I manage to get things completed - little goal markers!

Be on the lookout for some products that I have come across lately in my cyber travels, they will be posted here as well. There is some terrific stuff out there in cyberland check it out.

Here is a couple to get you started, dogdaisy92 and mbell34 - they both have some wonderful items. I think you will like what you see there - both are etsy shops. You will also find dogdaisy92 on flickr. Enjoy the slide show!

post Thanksgiving Day

Well the family was over for the grand meal of the year. Of course the guest of honor was delicious! It was a nice relaxing day and nice to have the family over. Erran and Sarah were missed though, one having to work and the other working in Antarctica. Our Italian guest from last year was not with us this year but home in Italy, although he did drop us a line to wish a happy holiday. Thanks Fabio.

Today I have spent a little bit of time floating around the web looking at some fiber arts from other folks. Wow where do people get there inspiration? There is some great art work out there. Right now I am sitting with some of my hand dyed raw silk fat quarters with a project in mind that I will be starting shortly. There are some components that I will be incorporating into the final design that I believe will work very well. We'll see. It will be a small scale piece of fiber art. I hope that it turns out to be actually art! I will post it as soon as pictures are done. See you then.

Also, I am excited about the "Horizon Series" of silk scarves that I am in the process of listing. So far the response to them is great. They look fabulous and the extra work was well worth the effort. I almost want to keep them for myself! Watch for more postings of the Horizon Series silk scarves during this week. I hope to have all of them up by the end of the week.

Fat Quarter Quartet Tones or "72 Hour Rescue"

Once again, I have changed my mind and am including a fourth fat quarter to the tones trio - it finishes the set, but of course no longer a trio but a quartet instead! These will be listed on my etsy site: Ten Pines Studio. Like the previous set of fat quarter they are made of raw silk known as silk noil and are hand dyed by me. They are a semi solid mottled set. I am very pleased with the result.

Finally I have the photos of the next set of raw silk fat quarters, the "72 hour rescue set". They are a trio set of mottled tones. I am very pleased with the results. Maybe some of these will have to stay in my secret stash . . . shh, don't tell anyone.

Studio Day, Sewing Day

Silks that have been in the dye bath for 72 hours need to be liberated. It will be interesting to see if the saturation level is greater after such a lengthy stay. Photos may be up tomorrow once the rinse/ iron and fold/package process is completed.

Sewing session today - window treatments. Fancy for curtains! Also on the agenda I will be starting a small quilt project with some of my older experiments in fabric painting, (one of those UFOs [UN-finished objects] that is in my repertoire). That will be the sewing session - that is the goal.

It is expected to rain all day here as Hurricane Ida remnants keep us company. A good day to listen to some music and get some indoor things done. So off I go, look for my post at the end of this week to see "the 72 hour liberation fabric" results!

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day. Remember that the freedoms that we ALL possess have been hard won by those who have fought to preserve our way of life. Many are no longer with us having given their all for the greater good. Others are still among us, a living testament to the battles won. Honor our veterans for serving our country, for serving each and every citizen of this country - they fought and served for ALL Americans.

THANK YOU to my father and all veterans who have given up so much so that we all remain free . . .

Up and running . . .

Well you will notice that I now have pics up, I am very excited about this! Thanks to Michael who helped me get it all together (actually he did it all, I watched). On my etsy site my new banner is up thanks to Katy who created it and Michael who put it on the etsy store! Also you will notice that my fiber arts network is connected to all of this as well and now there is a face there where the once was a freaky anonymous alien type figure. I have an artist in the family and I must thank him for that drawing - Thanks Ralph, I appreciate it greatly. I have items there that are only there, so take a gander, let me know what you think.
My latest addition to etsy is the Raw Silk Gem collection of fat quarters (shown left). The results of the dye process are as I had hoped. So my abstract project is under way! As soon as it is finished it will be posted here.
Raw silk is known also as silk noil. It has a nubby texture and once washed is very flexible, with a nice flowing drape. When using silk noil for garments ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS wash it first as it shrinks. My silks are cut and measured prior to dyeing. Don't let that stop you from using this great fiber in your projects, what ever they may be.

Once again, I would like to thank Katy and Michael for their assistance and opinions to getting this just right! And Ralph for the great drawing for my Fiberarts /MixedMedia network picture. A big round of applause!

Now that my fabrics are dyed - photos need to be produced. The dye results are as expected, a semi solid with deep rich tones. I plan to pair these fat quarters up with a black piece, just not sure whether another fat quarter would be the right size or a full half yard. I will think on that a bit.
A pattern is in the works for this set of dyed fat quarters. So documentation is everything as I go along. It looks as if the pattern is heading in an abstract direction. Okay by me... :D
All this will need to be put into action this weekend . . . as well as a "photo session". The irons are hot in the fire - - - ALL of them, so I really must get moving on all of my projects.
My silk scarves need to be posted, as well as my excess supplies that I no longer have a use for. Someone out there can use them I'm sure.
I think the next time I will be able to post something here will be this weekend coming up . . . so check back then to see what is new and exciting here. In the meantime check out tenpinesstudio seller on etsy as well all the other great sites there. There are great items for those of you who look for unique handmade gifts for Christmas and other holidays, birthdays or just because gifts!

Oh and you must take a look at this great site - lots of great things to see - good works - interesting designs - hand made items - good bios. http://www.poppytalk.blogspot.com/

So of course, I did indeed change my mind once I arrived at the studio regarding the color choices to dye my fabric. Right now the dye vat is pure red. The fabric was left it in overnight for the deepest saturation and will be taken it out later on today. The colors are what I call a semi solid as there are some variations in the saturation through out each piece with pleasing results. Once they are all set I will be making a small sample project to show and then sell the rest. Now the planning for the actual project begins as well as some research. A few ideas have been on the back burner, maybe now is the time to revisit them. Later inthe week I will post photos of the fabrics.