Riverside Art Market this Saturday

I wanted to remind you that the Riverside Art Market is this Saturday, May 7 from 10 am – 4 pm . It's located inside and outside the Riverside Art Museum at 3425 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside CA.

It should be a really fun event! Lots of artists, art activities for the kids and local food trucks, lots of things to do! See their site for more information

I've been really busy in the studios to make sure that my scarf stock is up to snuff, and I've been making more of the Zip and Go cross body bags tat were so popular at my shows last Fall:

I've also go a completely new bag design, the Leather Handled Linen tote! I've been having lots of fun showing the process of their construction on social media, folks were really encouraging!

I loved them so much I wanted to see how they would look with indigo dyed linen, so I dyed some linen just for some more bags (4 to be exact, because that's how much leather I had!):

and by Wednesday night I had 4 more totes ready for their handles:

They'll be finished Thursday, and then I've got to switch into labelling and packing up for the show!!!

Celebratory Giveaway!

It's hard to believe, but this month I'm starting my tenth year as an artistic business! My very first show was in the Spring of 2007, I can't believe that I've been selling my art for that long! In order to celebrate, I'm having a giveaway! I'll be giving either one of my hand dyed silk habotai scarves:

or a half yard of hand dyed fabrics

to 2 winners:

One of my newsletter subscribers, so if you received this email in your inbox then you're already entered!
From on the people who comment on this blog post.

I've got some new silk scarf color palettes I'm introducing and I need a name for one of them, so I'm asking for folks to suggest a new name for this one:

or to just tell me which of the 3 new palettes are their favorites:

So if you've got a couple of minutes before May 11, head on over to this blog post and give me your 2 cents!

If you're in the area Saturday, I'd love to see you at the Riverside Art Market!

Yours in color,
Candy

Featured classes and Upcoming Shows:

Free Motion Machine Sketching

Wednesday evenings in June: 1, 8, & 15 from 6:30-9:30 pm

Free Motion Machine Sketching is an extension of free motion quilting; instead of creating an overall pattern for background texture of our quilt, the quilting line is front and center in the design. In order to emphasize the handmade nature of our work, we retrace our steps and try to miss on purpose; I love the beautiful imperfection of a strong line that is created by drawing it over and over – it’s just my pencil is an electric sewing machine.

In this class you will learn how to stitch several different motifs: lots of different plants and of course my favorite birdies! You should be familiar with Free Motion Quilting, so that we can concentrate on FMMS techniques.

In the last class, I’ll have you bring in some inspirational photos and help you extract the essence of them and free motion machine sketch your own signature motif. Although you may want to just work on practice blocks, I will show you how to create a fabric sketchbook in order to keep track of all the motifs you learn.

For more information or to register, call the Redlands Sewing Center: 909.792.3994

Riverside Art Market

I'm only doing one art show this Spring! The Riverside Art Market is going to be held Saturday, May 7 from 10 am – 4 pm, it's being held both inside and outside the Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside CA. Along with art for purchase there will be demos, performances, kid's activities and food!

See their site for more information

Really Free, Free Motion Quilting

Monday Mornings in May: 9, 16, & 23 from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Tuesday Evenings in August: 2, 9, & 16 from 6 - 9 pm

Learn how to free motion quilt and free your creativity! I will teach you many different free motion quilt motifs, discuss strategies on how to handle quilting large quilts, and we will assemble a book of these motifs for you to refer to back home in your studio.

Note: If the class is full, ask to be placed on the waiting list...every class I've had someone not be able to come because life got in the way! For more information on any of these classes or to register, call the Redlands Sewing Center: 909.792.3994

Dyeing 104: Multicolor Silk

I recently launched my latest online dyeing class: Dyeing 104: Multicolor Silk. In this self-paced class I teach you how to dye truly beautiful multicolor silk fabric and scarves, using exactly the same chemicals & dyes that I use dyeing cotton (Fiber Reactive dyes and Soda Ash). We will cover both exploring color theory to create new multicolor palettes and I will share the “secret recipes” for 22 of my most favorite multicolor palettes that I’ve used to dye and sell literally 1000s of scarves!

Right now, I'm still adding content to the class, so early birds who register now can save 30% with the code "WORM". Click here to learn more about this class!