CATCHING UP -
Late in March, at the request of several members of the Mason-Dixon Chapter of ATHA I gave a dyeing workshop in my home. The ladies that came has such fun and were so happy with what we had dyed in the workshop that they requested another workshop with a different set of dyeing methods. Soooo, on April 6th I held the second in the series of dyeing workshop that I have done in the past.

This picture shows the results of our casserole or spot dyeing and our abrashing dyeing. The colors are beautiful and so useful.This is not a very good picture but it shows dip dyeing over four different colors and is a good way to dye when you are doing scrolls. The results were absolutely beautiful. We dyed over pastels, green, blue, pink and apricot with mahagony dye.

In addition, we also did braided dyeing. It was interesting to all to see what happens when you put one color of dye on one side of the braid and another on the other side. Of course, there are a number of other things you can do with braided dyeing. Sorry, no pics of that.

One of the students in the class, Pat, had purchased a rug in an antique shop for $125.00 and brought it to share her find with us. This rug was designed by Pearl K. McGown and is entitles "Ming." It is approximately 3 x 5 - this rug was hooked in 1988 - sorry I didn't get the hookers name but it was taught to her by Iva Amerhine - a well known teacher living in the Towson area at that time. This rug was beautifully hooked.

This closeup shows the quality of the hooking. What a steal at that price!

A better overall view. Can you imagine a family giving up this precious rug hooked by one of their members??? - It makes me know that we all must make our family members aware of the value of our hard work.

Now on to the end of the week. The Norma Batastini workshop of course. Jill, one of the attendees has posted some wonderful pictures on her blog so I have added just a few views that she may have missed.

Here is Pat, Beth, Jill, and Traci (back to camera) - a truly jolly group of happy hooker

I have no idea what Traci is doing in this picture, unless she is praying for help. I really think that she's in another world. We really had a great time. I have been to many workshops over the years and never have I been in a room with so many people having so much fun.

Jill, Patti, and Lina - part of the really jolly group.

And finally, here is my workshop project. It is Barb Carroll's Kris Kringle pattern. I started it at home before the workshop began. I only did the face and hat to start with. I knew that I would not be able to do that part with lots of people around. I had asked Norma to help me with a swirling snowy background so I wanted to have something done to put background around.

An overall view of the piece.

A closeup of the face, hat, and beard. I have sculpted the beard and hat band. I don't know how you get that to show up in a picture so you just have to take my word for it. I decided on a blue Santa since I want something different. I looked at a lot of antique pictures of Santa and discovered that apparantly Santa wore robes of many different colors.

Well, I think that just about catches me up on what has been happening in the past two weeks. I did go to the Blue and Gray meeting on Monday. It was a beautiful day and not many were in attendance. I think most must have been gardening.

This has been a busy, busy two weeks and I am looking forward to relaxing for a few days. I would like to remind everyone of the Mason/Dixon Quilt show held next weekend at the Hagerstown Community College. Also a reminder that I will be teaching a sculpting class at the Grant Street Woolworks in Chambersburg on June 12th. There are still a few class openings so I hope you will call Linda Keller at (717) 860-4628 and make arrangements to attend.

Doris