Scattered, with a chance of mild organization

My mind is all over the place these days. So my blog is too, apparently.

1. I've finally gotten some time for Artful Quilter blog ring maintenance. I know, you're thinking, it's about time. Ringsurf still hasn't managed to figure out how to screen out the junk applicants, so it's tricky to sort the real applicants out from the scads and scads of cheap drugs, online gambling, body part enhancement offers, etc. In any event, the ring has a bunch of great noobles so go visit and say hi! You can get to them fastest by clicking "Previous" from my ring box (Pssst...over there, to the rignt.) My blog is #1 on the ring, so you can always get to the newest blog by clicking "Previous" from mine.


2. I have launched into the grand adventure of organizing a big workshop in my area, mainly because I've desperately wanted to take this workshop and couldn't manage to get to any of the far-away places it's offered... so I decided to try to bring the workshop to me! You probably have heard of Carol Soderlund, who teaches various dyeing workshops at Nancy Crow's barn in Ohio. She teaches a 5-day "Color Mixing for Dyers" workshop where you not only learn to dye with some precision, but you dye in teams so that by the end of the workshop everyone has a book full of color swatches and recipes.

Now, before you email me to tell me how fun it is to dye intuitively and enjoy the surprise of whatever happens, let me say that I KNOW THAT. I really ENJOY that. But that's a whole different thing than dyeing to get a particular color, which I'd like to be able to do sometimes. I want to be able to have some sort of control over the dye process, not be the victim (surprised and happy, but victim nonetheless) of dye surprises.

The workshop is coming together, and it looks like Carol Soderlund will be coming to the Santa Rosa area (that's northern California) over this coming Memorial Day weekend, so the workshop will run Saturday, May 26 to Wednesday, May 30. If you are interested in finding out more, please email me.

By the way, I've never organized a workshop before but it's doable! Really! If you've got a bunch of like-minded quilting friends and wish you could take a particular class or get a particular teacher to you, consider setting it up yourself. Finding the space has been my difficult issue (what with water/dripping/draining requirements of the dye process) but I've discovered more sources in my community than I knew existed.


3. Ever since watching the PBS show "The Art of Quilting" and seeing Therese May sitting so happily and sewing beads and stuff on to a quilt, I've been thinking about beads and embellishments. Ooh, color and texture AND sparkle. It must be part of this mid-life sparkly obsession I'm in. But suddenly, I feel the urge to embellish something. Oh dear.

4. Tonight is the start of the biannual Bishop's Ranch retreat. Today I will pack up my sewing gear, then head over to set up late this afternoon for 5 days of fun and sewing and laughter and wonderful company. I have several projects to work on, a few already in the works that need finishing, and one whole new one to start. I tend to pack with the fabric version of "my eyes are bigger than my stomach" but that's okay. Because the ranch is in my very town, I don't spend the night there like the other folks do...I come home to my own bed at night, which allows me to see my husband and daughter (and thereby feel a bit less guilt about doing this twice a year); avoid having to pack clothes and such which makes life much easier; and retrieve whatever it is I or others have forgotten. It works out great. I have been looking forward to this week for a long time!

So--on that note I'm going to go keep packing.