be inspried

Good Morning and today I would like to welcome and introduce my guest blogger Ladipo. Click on this link to take you to My Structured Chaos and today's post by Ladipo. Now mind you - she is a college student and might be sleeping in this morning so if Saturday's post isn't up yet check back in a bit.
She is a delight and you're sure to enjoy her blog. Thank you Ladipo for sharing your day and your blog.

Saturday's guest blogger

Just want to let you know that tomorrow Saturday (Feb. 6th) my blog will feature a guest blogger. 
I am really excited to have my first guest and I hope you will stop by to see her post. 
Her name is Ladipo, she is an interior design student, and she just celebrated her 21st birthday! 

I met her via etsy and I'm glad I did.
So stop by on Saturday and I will have the link to her blog post which will be my Saturday blog.
There may be an easier way to do this but I haven't figured it out yet :) Anyway...
she has an adorable blog and I'm sure you'll enjoy visiting.

Valentine Giveaway winner

Thank you one and all for leaving such endearing comments and for putting up with the extra task of finding the pink thistle. You are all so sweet and worthy of winning but alas the winner for this Hello Valentine giveaway is the Happy Cottage Quilter!
CONGRATULATIONS!
I will be e-mailing you so I can get your address to send out your prize.
Also of note, I will be having a guest blogger on the blog this Saturday and I hope you will stop and check it out. Her blog topic is "you inspire me" and I am looking forward to seeing her post. So stop by Saturday sometime and have a look-see.
I am also working on a free pattern for you to download from my website and I will let you know when it's up and ready. It should be soon, but this week has turned out to be crazy busy.

Shibori sunshine

I am having too much fun. Our quilt guild had a guest speaker Carol Anne Grotrian and one of her specialty is Shibori dyeing. I was fascinated with her fabrics and her quilts. Thank you Carol for inspiring me so.
What is Shibori you ask?
Shibori is a Japanese term for resist dyeing, such as tie-dye. Remember all the tie-dye t-shirts - that's just one Shibori technique.
When I got home and kept thinking about the examples I saw, it dawned on me that years ago (about 6-8 years) I had purchased a kit of special pre- treated fabric that you expose to the sun to imprint an image.
Surprisingly I found it right where I had put it many years ago and I have been having fun ever since.
I took some to retreat with me so my friends could play with it too. In fact I had just received the order I had placed for more kits and now they come in more fabulous colors. If you've always wanted to dabble in dyeing fabrics but don't have a place to do it or you are hesitant about working with dyes then this technique is for you too. I now offer packages of 8-1/2" pre-treated squares on my website. The colors available are the original white/indigo and five new colors.
I have a workshop posted at S.E.W. Studio so if you are in the SW Florida area let me know if you are interested in a class.

This is the defining block Karen did at retreat.....



Here is the block that Cathi made... don't you love the bear!



These are some I have done, along with the one at the top of the page.










In case you can't tell, I am so excited about this. I have only wet dyed a couple of times and it was fun, but much more time consuming, messier, and many more supplies are involved. Of course you can't duplicate the unlimited effects and color combining that you get with wet dyeing but if you just want to have a little fun, no mess, and be creative you can't go wrong with this technique.
More to come...........