The News Just Keeps Coming.......

We are just full of exciting news, aren’t we?  As I have said before we have been listening to all of you as we vend and we do realize that we are “just a tad bit different”.  So…we are happy to announce that we will be offering a variety of online classes this year.  Most will be 4 weeks, for some of you that know us that will be tough because as we talk, even in the booth we can come up with a multitude of ways for you to use what we carry.   Written instructions as well as videos will accompany classes as needed.

These will cover many topics from;

1.       Water Soluble Stabilizer’s: different types, how they work and how do they benefit you.

For "Kudzu" the leaves were made using a water soluble stabilizer.

Southwest landscape was needle felted using a water soluble, creating a whole new fabric.

 2.       Silk Journey: Explore silks from cocoons to silk hankies.

"Silk Garden" shows a cocoon tassle and carrier rod flowers.

"Morning Glory" uses a silk hankie as the background for machine and hand stitches.

3.       Texture Exploration: using our Texture Packs, what can you create using all those goodies

"Roses in the Briar Patch" uses one of Fiber on a Whims' Texture Packs.

 4.        Mixed Media Collage Backgrounds:  Preparing different backgrounds for your collage work

This is an example of a mixed media collage, check out that background.

 5.       Intense Pencils/Blocks:  From Backgrounds to Details

These dogwood blossoms are an example of using Inktense Pencils.

Since we will be staying home more this year (easier on this ole body) we will have more time to play, so check in frequently because you never know what we may come up with as we “play” in our studios.

Till Tomorrow

Whew! More Exciting News.......

We have really been listening to all the wonderful people who come through our booth as we vend across the country.  Everyone wants to know “how” to use our products, “how” to get the look of the work on our walls, so we are announcing our new Block of the Month, Fiber on a Whim style. The theme is nature, "The View Out the Window".  This year long project is designed and will consist of six inch square blocks that will be geared not to overwhelm you, but let you explore something new.  

Explore texture, embellishments and hand stitching.  Learn how to use silk cocoons, carrier rods, cheesecloth and simple hand stitches just to name a few techniques.  Our blocks will be finished as pages in a book.  For those of you not so sure about doing a book these blocks could just as easily be finished as a sampler style wall hanging.  You will be provided with a kit each month, choosing at registration between “jewel tones” or “earth tones”.

Stay tuned for our announcement regarding registration.

Till Tomorrow

Another Bit of Exciting News.....

Well, I still need a bit of convincing on this one and for those who have viewed our little video on Thermofax screens, thank you for your patience.  You see we keep getting asked for more videos.....so....we have decided to make more of them.  We are still working out all the details such as how frequently they will air, right now we are thinking 2 a month.  What we have is a list of subjects/products we will cover, and as we talk over things, that list gets longer...I think that is a good thing for those of you who have asked us to do this.  As for me I'm trying to figure out a way to run or some way to combat the nerves.

These videos will be short tip based, but with us showing finished pieces of how we used whatever it is the video is about.  Hopefully we will be able to spark a bit of creative adventure in those who view them....I do hope that if that's the case some of you will be brave enough to email us with show and tell.

Till Tomorrow

More Exciting News...

Throughout December we've been hinting regarding our exciting news for 2016.  Today we are happy to announce our trunk shows.  We will be offering quilts, garments and sewing projects; such as pillows.  These trunk shows will be offered either as quilt based (large quilts or art quilts), garment based or tailored to fit the needs of your shop.

These trunk shows are available to be booked for a calendar month beginning as early as March 1st.  We will have options for you to get the products to accompany the trunk show. These trunk shows will be posted on our website soon.  For more information please feel free to contact us at fiberonawhim@yahoo.com or at 404-705-9164.

Below you will find photos of a few of the items that will be available. Both garments were made using Indygo Junction patterns, we just love how they look in our hand-dyed Osnaburg and Linen.  (Please ignore the goofy model...if I'd known that camera was aimed in my direction I wouldn't have been standing there. )

We already announced that we will have more time for guild/group workshops, however due to a computer hiccup those items are not appearing on our website as promised.  Hopefully this will be fixed soon.  In the meantime please feel free to contact us at fiberonawhim@yahoo.com or 404-705-9164.  Thanks for your patience. 

Till Tomorrow. 

Just a Relaxing Day..

Today turn out to just a total kick back day with no energy for anything but watching football....Go Falcons!  As a result I didn't even remember the blog till now.  Stay tuned for updates in the morning.

2016 Planning Session

It should be considered a crime that this is our planning session today.....

The day after Christmas and we are sitting outside on the porch barefoot and in short sleeve shirts. Yup....Kristin is still in her pjs with an iced coffee in hand. We just keep shaking our heads at the temp but figure we need to make the most of it.

So.....our plans for 2016....they are quite different then our usual!  We will not be traveling to vend as much due to a variety of reasons. We have only 6 shows firmly on the books along with teaching for 2 guilds.  This is going to allow us to finally get to some items on our dream list. You know....that list that you keep adding "great" (at least you think are great) ideas to but then never have the time to execute! Yup...that one. We have spent the day flushing out a variety of plans that will roll out in 2016. Over the next few days we will share those with you here on the blog. We are so excited about what lays ahead for us for so many reasons.

Today's update: We are excited that next year's schedule allows us time to once again book workshops for guilds. We had to cut back on this in previous years due to vending but not in 2016. We have a variety of new workshops that will be posted to the website soon. So if you are interested in having us come do a program and workshop for your guild feel free to contact us at fiberonawhim@yahoo.com for more information! 

Till tomorrow.....

Love Christmas, Need a Vacation. ....

I'm not complaining, because I absolutely love Christmas, but whew.....our kitchen has looked like this I swear for 2 weeks.

Actually someone had to have cleaned up a tad, because when I went into the dining room it was worse than this.

When we all get together we tend to play cards and talk and talk.....after 2 days of card games even the dog had to join in.  I mean really, does she not look ready to deal a hand. The Coke can asks Naughty or Nice...hmmmm, not sure.

Update on the pair of quilts we were gifting. The girls opened them and before I could take a photo, they had taken them to their room. Think that means they liked them.  The sixteen year old proudly told us she still has the quilt we did when she was born.  Pretty cool to have your time and effort appreciated.

Soon we will be letting ya'll know what we'll be up to in 2016...stay tuned we're   really excited.

Merry Christmas Eve......

And to all a Good Night.....

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings. 

It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas.....

Well.....maybe

 Maybe not.....with this wet stuff and projected highs in the mid 70's for the next several days...

I swear we have been to the grocery store every other day in the past week.  Where on earth are we going to store this last trip?

Ahhh.....on our way back home after dinner out....the neighbors house put me in the spirit.

Merry Christmas!

Quilters Confession.......

Well,  I'm hoping to strike a cord with many of you out in quilt land.  Those quilts I shared in a previous post are FINALLY done, but they took over 2 years to finish.  Yup you read that right.....has that ever happened to you...your  intentions are good but your time just doesn't cooperate.

This was a shared project, Kristin did all the designing and piecing.  I volunteered to quilt them, that was to be my contribution. Open mouth insert foot.

 Notice that the fabrics are the same but the designs are slightly different.  For the one above the blocks are strip pieced, sashed in 2 different widths and double outer borders.  Okay, another confession...I thought I'd get a little fancy with the quilting.  Ah.....stupid move....I started doing a feather style pattern in the wider sashings this was taking too long.  For someone with arthritis in the thumbs and not a lot of time this just wasn't helping the time line. All quilting was done on my Bernina 1130, so I finally called uncle and finished it with diagonal lines.

This second quilt was done with large blocks of a single fabric, sashed and a single border.  As for the quilting I actually learned from the first one.....about time right...simple diagonal lines.  Confession I had thought about quilting each large block in a feathered circle.  This quilt would still not be done if I'd gone that route.

Time to wrap them and gift them.....I can hardly wait to see the girls faces.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings. 

Fun and Stitching. ......

This was a good day, time spent with a special guy on Christmas break.

 A bit of trash talk did ensue.....

After he headed home I tackled the binding on the pair of gift quilts we need to finish.  They are looking good.  These were machine quilted on my domestic machine not a long arm....not bad if I do say so myself.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Truly a Day of Rest.....

Okay so I didn't sleep till noon, somebody else did and at first I was a bit jealous, but

She is just too cute....it is not her bed...however she worked so hard to fit in it.

Yes, we did finish picking up and putting things back in some sense of order around the house.  These days I need to plan ahead cause I cannot do many things.

The quilting is done on these 2 quilts for a pair of wonderful sisters....if only I could twitch my nose and that typewriter key fabric would magically become binding.  Even better if they were done, but hey I've got 4 days.

Maybe this little helper who gets in the mix every time I get into the studio could really assist, these would be done already.  Then again I haven't the heart to scoot her out of the way.  She was my mother in laws' kitty and came to live with us in May.  Moving her from Minnesota to Georgia, to a house with 2 dogs hasn't been easy for her.  Okay so I'm a softie.

I already know I may not get much done tomorrow as that special little guy will be here and we will be trying to beat each other at a few different games.  This trash talking Grandma can hold her ground.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Remnants of Our Surprise. .....

Wow.....not sure how we successfully threw a 40th birthday surprise party, but we did. My son had no clue.  Even though it had been my grandson's idea, we didn't read him into the plan until yesterday.

Only photos from tonight show the remnants. ......the center pieces look good but the rest.....well tomorrow is anther day.

And this is after a bit of cleaning......noon sounds like a good time to face it.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings. 

This is the Best......

You know nothing beats spending time with this guy.  The best part we did absolutely nothing business wise today.

Ah, to be young again.....this is what he looked like when we picked him up at school, as today was Pajama day.  The only thing that would have made it even better is if I would have had the nerve to wear my pj's all day too.....wonder if the people at physical therapy,  movie theater,  dollar store or Walmart would have noticed.  Think not with all the Star Wars fans dressed up out there.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Counting Done......

The counting is done, time to return to holiday prep.....

OR maybe we should take our cue from the pup.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Inventory Sucks........

OMG....will it never end.  Kristin was counting while I worked on my quilt, we counted all day yesterday and this morning.  I went to physical therapy and spent an hour counting to thirty over and over.   We came home I took one look at this.....

and went to lie down.....afraid to close my eyes for fear I will be counting in my sleep.  Oh well maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow will bring.

A Personal Project Completed......

I'm pinching myself because I actually finished something for me.  When you own this type of business it seems we only have time to make models to show in our booth.  This was a wonderful  treat.

As I talked about in a previous post I did change up the quilted background a bit by piecing it, then layering the diamond batik on that.  Reason for that was I liked the raggedy edge of the center panel, it balances the texture of the tree.

This project was designed by Phyllis Meiring for "In the Patch Designs " and can be found in the new European quilt magazine called "Simply Moderne".  Absolutely fun to do, now I'm going to hang it in our front entry.

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Woohoo, I'm Done.....

After spending 2 hours in the doctors office today for the follow up visit for my knee surgery I didn't think I'd get to say this.  But....Yippeee, I finished my Christmas tree quilt.  However, it's too late to get a good photo so here is a peak...

Tomorrow I will get some good pics....tonight I'm going to watch and listen to Adele.

Thanks for stopping by, tomorrow I promise to post about this fun project.

A Day of Rest.....

We did exactly that....rest.  The first couple of photos I'm sharing show the extra evergreen boughs I mentioned yesterday, I think the mantle  is finished.

 

A friend sent me a coloring book to occupy myself with after surgery, figuring I wouldn't be up to much.  Kristin doesn't feel well so I shared, this is what she did today.  If she'd felt better I think a paint brush would have been used to make her page more vibrant.

I have wanted these lights for more than a year.  This time last year hubby was building this deck [with help from us], but this style light was so expensive.   A deal came in an email and I jumped on it, today they got put up....they are perfect. ....we'll enjoy sitting with a  drink in hand out there.

Thanks for stopping by,  we'll see what tomorrow will bring.