RedBarn Studios

i took pics of all the fabs i dyed last week and had all intentions of working on getting them posted in the wee hours when we were on our trip this past week. yeh, right….the best laid plans and all.  so Sat night before doing anything else i cropped and labeled them all, ready for posting yesterday.

but….best laid plans came into play again cause my mOjo somehow reappeared and ya know we gotta work when the muse hits.

so with out further ado here’s the results of my in the zone dye day, yippee!

don’t ya just love the gradation thing going on????

see the three yellow ones on the top…i actually did a 5 gradation run of  Dharma golden yellow  but this time, boo hoo.  because i did so many fabs i tried rinsing them all in the same wash in the machine (i usually separate the lighter colours).  ix-nay on that one and i should have known better.

splotchy won’t do for NC’s workshop so i’ll either over dye it or do some screen printing.  as a matter of fact, a bit of both might be in order.

the drudgery of ironing
when have lots of fabric to iron i set up my ironing board with my large studio board on it in front of my bed with the board at a comfortable ironing height and then have at it.  i figure there’s no sense in standing and shifting from foot to foot…sitting and ironing can only be a good thing…you guys should try it.

anyway that’s how I got these pics.  was trying to get a good angle on all the newly dyed fabrics all in a row and couldn’t, so tried a spiral.  love it!!!

gradations came out fairly evenly from one fab to the next.

remember this:

here’s the shirt that resulted….and i’ve worn it already i might add…..ha!

when i first brought the fabrics upstairs to begin ironing i just dumped them on my bed. Connor came in and, seeing a chance to play, dived right in throwing the fabrics everywhere.  had to get my camera for this one.

see the how excited he gets with newly dyed fabrics? Not!

my cutey pie

toodles,

Tags: hand dyed, hand dyeing, hand dyes, monday posts, pic of day by k grace howes
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Some days you just need to pause, take a deep breath and re-ground yourself.

Happy Re-Grounding Day!

Tags: Inspiration, down time, life sayings, pic of day by k grace howes
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Today I went for a change…from the neck up that is.

The Back Story

One of my blood pressure meds was discontinued (did the manufacturers bother to ask me first….NO!) and for the last few months have been going thru the rounds trying to find meds that worked with my body without making me dizzy or lightheaded and a plethera (love that word) of other side effects.

Now I’m on one that just makes my head feel thick (one step down from dizzy I suppose) but it also dries out my skin. This last bit, a too dry scalp, is what has led to my from-the-neck-up transformation today.

Because of the dry skin issue my hair was a mess (those who regularly see me know this as the honest truth,) and, it was continually breaking off. So today I told my hair stylist to chop the darn thing all off! I was done with the bad hair I was bizarrely still trying to hold on to, as if having that hair was what made me who I am.

Today

After leaving the salon, feeling good about my decision, I headed to the vision center to pick up my new glasses. When I got back home I went around to my neighbors to see if they recognized anything different.

I got all smiles, everyone seems to love this new look. My best friend kept smiling and hubby, well he kept peaking his head back in the room to check me out again and again.

Wow!!

Who the heck knew this little change would affect people so darn much, not to mention how good I would feel about myself.

Here’s a before…

(looks like a lock-up pic doesn’t it…all I need is the number plate)

and here’s the after shot…..ta da!

I heard somewhere that as we women get older, shorter hair is better (never found out the reason just know this is what I was told…Ha!).

Most of you know I rarely post pictures of myself…that self conscious thing coming into play I guess….and besides, I like to be behind the camera. Today, though, I thought I’d step in front for a moment. Tomorrow I’ll be back in my role as amateur photographer.

Thanks Cassandra (of Ce’mour’s Hair Studio), you did good.

Toodles all,

Tags: life etc., pic of day by k grace howes
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I know this is not what you expected when you read the title of this post but hang in there with me.

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Try this….put your cursor at the top of the picture in the link below,

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then s l o w l y move the cursor to the bottom of the pic…no stopping, no clicking on the mouse.

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How cool is that!

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http://61226.com/share/hk.swf

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Tags: pic of day by k grace howes
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Over the years I have discovered that I like taking pictures. I love the spontaneity and the serendipity of the moment.
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By far I am not, nor do I profess to be, a professional photographer, just a lover of images….those single, fleeting moments in time that are captured by a camera.
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I am especially drawn to those photographs that evoke a response of some kind from the viewer, whether a smile or laugh or even tears.
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So, from time to time, I will post one of my captured moments. Sometimes it will have a caption…..or not.
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Here’s my first.
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self portrait

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(a very rare occurrence , let me tell you)

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~

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, my muse, pic of day by k grace howes
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I just finished viewing a video of Rachel, an 88 yr old women still in love, and I”ve still got that silly smile on my face.  It is inspiring, funny and amazing all at the same time. I won’t tell you anything more other than this a compelling story of love. You gotta check it out!

I tried to embed the video in my post but for some reason no go. So click on the link below.

Romancing the Road

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: life etc., pic of day by k grace howes
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Last evening I’m tootling thru the blogs that I read and one pic on someone’s blog looks familiar. Can’t be tho because Rayna Gilman and I have never met in person (tried to get her for NC Quilt Symposium but schedules didn’t mesh).

I stop and study the picture for a few secs and there…in the background….is the bottom half of MY quilt.

Some Background

Two years ago I attended Quilting By the Lake (QBL) and knew, by the time I left, that I would be a returning student, again and again. I didn’t get to go this year but past attendees are asked to put quilts in their annual show. I chose to send “At Odds”, my quilt about working together even though differences abound.

Held in upper New York state for 2 weeks in July,  QBL recently moved to a new location, Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, NY. I traveled with a friend, Delane, two years ago and we had a blast, with teachers who are so giving and the participants who are all so very nice.

Back to the Story

So I have to catch up on Rayna’s posts and keep reading till I get to this one with a great teacher, Rosalie Dace (according to Rayna she is listening to someone talking  to her).

Why the heck does this pic look so darned familiar???? How could that be? One of those deja vue moments for sure. Then it dawns on me that the thing that is so familiar is MY quilt staring back at me. That’s it there in the upper right.

One Coincidence is Enough You Say?

ahhh…NO! It is now 4 am…I just finished writing a different post but can’t post it yet (needed to get permission to use a video in previous post) so instead I go check out the classes on QBL….which one does if you can’t post and you are tired and it’s 4 am….right?

I click on QBL Registration and there is that same feeling of familiarity…AGAIN! What the hay????? Yes, you guessed it, my quilt is again a part of a photo they used to show the hanging of the Quilt Show. OH MY GOSH! Who the heck would have thunk that? And how way cool!

If you have never been to QBL…let me tell you! What a fantastic retreat….a gift you should really consider giving yourself.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, community, pic of day by k grace howes
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One of the highlights of our family vacation to Nassau was the fishing trip my brother, Andy,  took the boys on this past Friday. He’s been fishing for eons but for my little man…he had never ever set eyes on a live fish (not counting the ones in our fish tank of course).

Here they are fooling around while waiting for the boat to be taken out of storage. That’s my 3 nephews on the left and in middle and hubby and little man on the right.

Okay so the “He Men” go off on the boat, 10 miles off the Bahamian shore,  to prove that they indeed can provide for their lady folk at home (get real…..we were off somewhere shopping!)

Anyway they come back home full of stories of all the fish caught and the absolute fun they had. I think the best part of the after trip was watching the swelled chests of the men looking lovelingly at their excited kids talk about the all fantastic fishing trip.

I was told that little man had caught fish but because we had to freeze them for the plane ride back home the next day I didn’t get to see what he caught. Well I have the unveiling right here….ta da!

His First Fish! Yippee!

He caught 5 of these little beauties (called porgies)! The absolute best thing of all though was sitting down to dinner last night, after emptying cases and getting house back in order, to eat the fish. Little man was just beamimg ear to ear.

Don’t you just love the little pleasures in life?

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, down time, family trip, pic of day by k grace howes
7 Comments »

I know, I know…long time no hear. I’ve been going, going, going and have now a chance to post.

Just got back from the AQS Expo in Knoxville, tired but enjoyed spending time with two good friends, DeLane and Susan. We walked the show and shopped but found out later that none of us bought much fabric. They did go halves on a needle felting machine tho and can’t wait to experiment with it.

Spent 3 days at home and now on our annual family vacation in the Bahamas, my home country, Toodles everyone. Will post pics of our trip and get back to art soon.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: down time, family trip, life etc., pic of day, road trip by k grace howes
2 Comments »

Yesterday morning we woke up to a layer of fog. As I walked my son to the bus stop at about 8:30 a.m. I had to run back inside for my camera  to take a pic of what stopped us both in our tracks.

There, between my neighbors house and ours we came upon this….

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We walked on and I took a few more shots but these two really captured the moment.

As the bus drove off taking all the little munchkins away for a few hours (can I say yippee here or would that get y’all real upset…..oh well!!),  anyway, back to my story….the sky had already turned it’s beautiful Carolina blue.

As I approached the house, I caught this bird in the tree in front of my house……having just gotten it’s fill at my feeder I might add.

Look how close he let me get…I was right under the tree at this point. He twisted and turned a few time before he’d had enough, then flew away. Lady was getting a little bit too close he was probably thinking.

Nature can be so tranquil and beautiful at times.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, life etc., pic of day by k grace howes
1 Comment »