TACtile

An outing with friend Judy brought us to this out of the way site--TACtile Denver's premier location for the arts:  Their "mission:
TACtile is the premier art center and gallery inspiring growth, visibility,and creative excellence in textile arts".  The location is not easy to find, but once you do, you'll know exactly how to return.

Up the elevator to the second floor you will see as you exit this nice board room.
Here you can find: 
 Art gallery exhibits Classes with expert instructors
Meeting location

Workspace and equipment

Dye studio space
Shop for books, magazines and supplies
Buy one-of-a-kind artists' gifts, fashion and home decor
A place to make friends with fellow textile artisans

This is a look at their large meeting area and workshop space.  Along the wall and on removeable boards, art pieces are displayed.

Mona Doering is exhibiting her two quilted pieces.

 

Here is a close-up of the larger piece.

More of Mona's work--"Triple Sunshine"

 

Sarah Campbell exhibits "Pieced Silk Canvas"

 

Two more pieces from the hands of Sarah

This is a place for all those who are interested in the fiber arts.  Their is a membership fee for individuals and organizations but it's free to visit.  There is also a free to use their classrooms, but it's worth the price to have a central location for all fiber artists.

We came to see this special fiber exhibit:

Elfriede Style: A Retrospective of Colorado Couture, featuring garments from Elfriede’s collection, made from beautiful fabrics with the best couture construction circa 1974 to the present. This exhibit is an educational experience as well as a celebration of beauty in fashion design.

Elfriede, the owner of Efriede’s Fine Fabric shop in Boulder, Colorado has made an impact in the sewing and design community. This started when she made two huge steps in her life that have helped her share her knowledge and love for fibers with us. She left Germany in 1957 and changed her promising career in as a PhD research Biologist to bring fiber arts to all those around. She has kept her shop the same as when it first opened, keeping everything hands on and personal

The gallery space was filled with Elfriede's displays--what wonderful clothing pieces!  Take a walk with us as we admire the fashions--we could touch, stroke and even photograph these lovely creations!

close-up of the dress--what a great way to use directional fabric.

Elegant and stylish!

All made with extreme tailoring and caution!

What a super exhibit of fashion wear!  We were in awe and delighted that we came to see this exhibit before it closed.  Another exhibit was upcoming within the next week--never a dull time at TACtile!  Make plans to visit while in Denver!  and if you live in Denver, what a perfect place for fiberists!  Other cities are green with envy!

Instant Color?

Have you ever wanted a certain color for your stitching work and you can't find it? Well, here is a quick way to put some color into your embroidery floss.

With a 50% coupon from Michael's, this is a good purchase!  Tumble dry or heat set color.  These are basic colors but mix well to achieve a good range of color.

Take white or beige floss skeins.

You can use a plastic coated clothes hanger to wrap the floss around.  Find a container to use as a catch basin for your dyes.  Spray away!  The floss was wetted first, but you can just spray on dry floss for a different look.

These skeins were dyed without wrapping around hanger--heat set with an iron after dry.

Add as much or as little color you want.
 

Now,  here is the embroidery work that used one of the dyed floss.

This is January angel and the one skein was used throughout the whole piece

Don't you just love this curly hair?

Here is February angel completed.

Close-up of February Angel

And March angel of pinwheels--these pinwheels were fun to stitch as I wove the section!

April's angel of Texas bluebonnets!

Here are the pattern selections--these were found in a storage bin--who knows why they were bought but.................

1997?!  well, we can say these are well aged! and stitching up nicely with the special dyed floss

Make A Mistake with Paper Piecing?!!

Oh, you betta! you can make a mistake with paper piecing!! This year the project from Carol Doak is a mystery pattern.  Carol is known for her paper piecing techniques.  She has a Yahoo group that you can join to get in on the fun of these free monthly pattern releases.

On her website she has some helpful hints on paper piecing--also, there are other free patterns you can download for your PP adventure!  First, you print off the number of copies you need to make the block--in my case, I letter each section with the color that is needed--this is to keep track and not lose focus.

You set your stitch to the smallest length--makes it easy to tear off the paper after finishing.  There are special papers you can use, but I just use plain printer paper.  This pattern went together nicely!

Now, this one!  It was a really challenge!  Why?  Because I didn't notice the color placement too well--just was humming along with the original lettering on the back--and then it hit me!  darn it!  it's wrong in one section!!  I ripped out that one section so many times, I had to reprint as the paper was loose and no lines were there to follow.  Finally, it came together-- after waiting for the next day and a good night's sleep just to make sure it was going to go right.  It's a neat star for sure after all that fuss!

This one was easy-peasy to PP.  These  quilt blocks will go in the guest room of our summer home--this is a year long project--keeping my head in the game of PP will be the real challenge!! 

Just Gotta Love Those Field Trips!

Calling all fiber fans! We are going on a field trip, arranged by friend Judy P. It's just another Thursday but what a Thursday! Our first stop................

Fancy Tiger Crafts, located at 59 Broadway, Denver.  This is a perfect starting point.

Step inside and be greeted by a colorful display of a pyramid quilt with surrounding books.

Off to the right are yarns!  lots of yarns!  Are you a knitter?  Then this is the place for you.  Fancy Tiger has many classes for knitters and quilters alike.

They have the latest books too.

And their 'yarn bombed' mascot graces the back wall.

Now, step into their sewing classroom--neat and well organzied.

Lots of space to spread out and create that perfect piece.

This is one of the wall hangings that decorate the classroom

And take a look at this cool quilt that Judy pulled out of her bag!  Isn't this grand?!!  At first, glance I thought she had pieced all those blocks, but no, it's a panel!  She needed the nifty border to give it a nice accent.

Our next stop--Wooden Spools what a great place to visit.  Here are just some of the quilts from classes that are being offered this fall.

Really hard to choose which one to take!

One of the interesting things about Wooden Spools--it is a resale shop for fabric!  Can you believe?  They buy fabric at X$ and resale for $5 yard--what a bargain!  And these are good fabrics too.  What a delightful field trip this was.  Next post, we'll talk about our visit to see an outstanding fashion exhibit.  Stay tuned

Quilting Shop with a Friend

Not even a major traffic stale could keep me from meeting friend Judy when we want to do some fabric shopping! It was just a short delay in our major task for the day--hit three quilt shops and see if we could find the special fabrics we seek for our projects.

Our first meet up was Laughing Ladies Quilt Shop in Berthoud, CO.  This was their one year sale event.  Judy had already arrived and won a prize!  How exciting for her!



Their shop is well set up and the shop samples are hanging around each special area of fabrics.

Each sample boasts a special class offering.

"Wacky Stars" is featured in this area

"Carpenter's Star" in this area

Thirty's fabric has a nice featured quilt in the section with that fabric

Need a batik?  It's here!  Along with a good selection of hand dyed Perle cottons.

This shop featured numerous kits with the hanging sample to see

What a quaint town Berthoud is!  Painted murals on downtown buildings and this painting of family life in Berthoud.  A short walk down the street and around the corner, we had lunch at The Whistle Stop Tavern--a great time to visit and catch up on our activities since our last day out.

Southward we travel to our next shop, Tomorrow's Heirlooms.  This is a smaller shop with slight less selection of fabric but none the less, a great place to stop

Their classroom is ideal for the all the interesting workshops and classes they offer

What a great way to combine fabrics for an interesting pinwheel block

Just a short drive to The Quilt Store--sorry, didn't get photos inside this shop.  We found some sale fabric here--friendly staff and a fairly decent selection of fabric.  Judy found some fabrics for a t-shirt quilt she is doing.  It was a good day, but now it was time for us to part ways until our next adventure--see you then!