Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilter's Guild March Meeting Part 3-Hand Dyed Fabrics (photo heavy)

I hope you're not getting tired of hearing about my Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilter's Guild meeting in March!  It was a really fun one.  I just wanted to share one more thing with you.  There is a gal who sets up a table at every one of our guild meetings to sell her hand dyed fabrics.  Her name is Jackie Skarritt.  She is a professional watercolor artist, but she also dyes fabrics.  I took some photos of her work for you also, because it's always so bright and colorful at her table.  (I would give you a link to her website, but she says she's pretty low tech.  No website; no Facebook!)

That's Jackie in the green sweater and her very nice husband behind her.  She's helping someone pick out some fabric either for the back of a little quilt or for an outside border.  Isn't that little quilt just cool?

Here is how her table looks at every guild meeting.  Just rainbows of color.  I didn't get photos of her specialized fabrics, but she has several that have pretty leaves dyed into them, snow dyes, and maybe you can just see it in the upper right-hand side of this photo, but she had some really awesome hand dyed silks.  They are right in front of that little white sign.  I picked some up for my March challenge with Lynn, Alamosa Quilter.  I'll show it to you another time.  It's so great.  I finally am starting to feel inspired to do something with that challenge.

Yummy.

I always want to buy something, but I find it so hard to choose, I just can't decide!  So, I usually end up buying nothing.  One time I did buy a couple bags of scraps.  That way, I got a whole bunch of different colors.  I hope to use them for one of my challenges with Lynn.

But, here's what I found fascinating.  I brought my little art quilts from my challenges with Lynn from January and February for show and tell.  I was so nervous to show them.  But everyone really liked them.  In fact, when I held up the one inspired by our ice skating trails, people started clapping before I could even start talking!  I was so taken aback and humbled.  Then, Holly, one of my new guild friends from the art quilting group said I had to go show them to Jackie, since she's in the art quilting group, too.  So, I did.  I told her how we're working out of Jean Wells' book.  She said she's working on some of those exercises, too, with her hand dyes.

And look what she had hanging on the wall behind her table.

She has been working out of Jean Wells' book, too.  She has made all these blocks using the intuitive angle piecing that Lynn and I were practicing.  She's going to put these all together in a quilt.  She said they don't show very well on these burgundy panels that the blocks are pinned to in the church, but they really pop when they're not on these panels.  I don't know.  I think they look pretty darn good even here.  I can't wait to see her get this put together.  I'll be excited when summer gets here so I can start going to the art group meetings.  They take place on Wednesday nights, when Papa Pea is in class right now.  Come summer, I can participate.

She looked over my art quilts and gave me the nicest compliment.  She said, "Oh, you're really good, and these are your first two tries?!  You'll be able to sell your art quilts before you know it!"

Do you think I'll be able to get at least $10 for my art quilts, too?!  LOL.  (That's a joke from my last blog post.)

I told her I never considered myself an art quilter.  I consider myself a fairly traditional quilter.  But I'm really enjoying these art quilts.  She said she thinks we all start out pretty traditional quilters.  That's how we learn our skills to be able to apply them across lots of different methods of quilting.  Good point, I thought.

Anyway, I was super flattered.  It was just a great way to end a great evening.  Sigh.

Well, that's finally the end of my report on that guild meeting!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Linda]

Gorgeous fabric and of course stunning quilts! I've enjoyed all the eye candy in your last three posts!! Wow! I'm thinking I missed out...

I think you have a little art quilter in you. For sure!! :-)

[Sue]

Love these photos! I just purchased some dyes from The Woolery to try my hand at dyeing some wool.

I love those fabrics dyed. It's so cool what you can do these days:) All her fabrics laid out on the table was definitely some fabric eye candy :D :D

Thank you for posting!

[Terri]

"So, I have this friend, Stephanie; she's an art quilter in Michigan..."

[Brooke]

I guess you and Jackie can be the "art quilters" in the Design Team ;)!!

[Deb]

Nice! I know you're excited to get such encouraging comments. Some day I can say "I knew her when . . ."

[Susan Ramey Cleveland]

That hand dyed fabric is lovely. And so are the blocks.

[Caroll D]

Fabrics are lovely. I love those intuitive angle blocks and want to try some of those. I'm going to have to get that book! How wonderful to get those encouraging comments. We can all use encouragement. I think you are doing a great job on the projects you've been showing us.

[Allie]

Those fabrics are so lovely! She really needs a blog, lol, I love her blocks. I really need to crack my book open! I too think you're doing a fabulous job with your art quilts hon.

[Peg]

Stephanie, they are good, but you are better than you even know you are! Hang in there, baby, and keep showing off all your great stuff. You are more awesome than you even know you are. Love ya!

[sisLH]

Seeing all her blocks makes me really want to see the finished quilt. Can you show it when she completes it? I'm waiting to see what you come up with from those soft snow ripple pictures I sent you.
Now, you see in the third picture down, there are violet colors? I'd be interested in you picking up for me number 3(the blue with violet), number 9(the first green), and number 13 (the first violet shade after that green). What size are these? What cost?

[Maggie Szafranski]

How awesome to have access to all that beautiful hand dyes! You ARE doing great!