Soy Wax Batik, learningfa(fiber arts)

     My first post told of my adventures with The Rosie Quilters (my small group).  The seven of us gathered at the school where one is a (let's see if I can get the title right) Family and Consumer Science teacher.  We had a big classroom with lot's of tables and outlets to plug in our electric skillets.  It was perfect.  We had a good time and each learned from the other as we went along.  None of us had done this before.  Yesterday I spent some time dyeing my soy wax batik fabrics and washing out the wax.  I haven't done any dyeing since early last summer so I had to do a little refresher first but I think they are looking pretty good.  The two fabrics I painted while at the school on Saturday have crisper design patterns than the two I brought home to dye.  I lost wax along the way.  I don't know if it was just the cold that made it crack and fall off or if you should always do the batik immediately but that's what happened to mine.  I like them in spite of losing a little of the design.  I plan to spend one more day with these fabrics before I call them finished as I want to color in the white.  I'm thinking maybe yellow with the purple but I'm not sure.  I haven't decided what to add to the raspberry colored fabric yet.

I have been anxiously and not very patiently waiting for my class on how to make a blog.  The class is this Saturday.  As you can see I jumped the gun and started my blog early.  I have many questions though and can't wait to learn the answers.  I feel fortunate to have found the yahoo group hosted by Shirley Patterson called learningfa, for learning fiber arts.  It is kind of a cooperative as people in the group take turns teaching each other skills that we have.  I originally signed up because I was interested in the thread painting taught by Shirley, she does amazing work and you will find a link to her blog here on my site.  She truly is a wonderful person who has taught me many things in the short time I have been a member of this group.  Chris will be teaching our blog class and she has one hundred students!  I will periodically post things I have learned to do on this site.  Here is a postcard I used my new thread painting skills to create. 

Today is a class day for me.  I received three classes along with my embellisher so I am going to take one of those.  Tonight I have a class called My Bernina Does That!  I will learn about a few new feet and what they can do.  Sounds like fun.  I'm also working on some postcards for a couple of exchanges and a landscape challenge that Shirley gave us to do.  I'm hoping to re-create Split Rock Falls in northern Minnesota.  I'll keep you posted. Janet