Dyed and Toted . . .

I am back from my trip to Santa Cruz where I learned to dye fabric with Lorri Scott and to create a tote with DJ Pettitt style. Linda and I started out early on a sunny Saturday morning from San Diego and headed up to Santa Barbara to pick up Bette. There we stopped for lunch and a quick shopping trip in the Art From Scrap store. They had an exhibit by Charlotte Valestra entitled Anything Goes, which was very interesting to see. Wow, that was fun! I can tell that will be a regular stop for me when I go up to my mom's from now on! We had a nonstop talk fest on the rest of the ride! We met up with Karen in Santa Cruz and the four of us spent the weekend creating together.
It started on Sunday morning at Lorri's studio. She introduced us to arashi shibori and tie dying on silk, cotton and linen fibers. Lorri was good enough to set up an indigo vat so that we could also experience that. The day was hot and we were busy all day long playing with color and texture. We created treasures to use in our totes which we were going to make on Monday and more to take home for future creations. My favorite was the shibori dying. That night it was off to the wharf for a chance to unwind and eat dinner watching the sunset.
Monday morning we were off to the same general location for our workshop with DJ. We spent the day learning how DJ goes about composing and constructing her purses. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to finish our projects, so the pictures I am posting of mine are still in the beginning stage. I will continue to work on it and will post the finished project once it's completed.
The frosting on the cake was the ride home yesterday. We came all the way down the coast on Highway 1. This is my most favorite drive in the world. If you have never had the good fortune to make this trip, you owe it to yourself to make this happen before you leave this earth - it is beyond words. It always fills my soul to overflowing when I get to do this. I posted a picture of Linda, Bette and myself at the spot we stopped for morning coffee and the chance to sit and soak it all in as we started at the north end near Big Sur. Life doesn't get any better than this!
I had a really good time, laughing till my stomach ached, getting to meet the infamous DJ Pettit, good times with the girls sharing about life, art and funny stories. After the long day of driving, it was good to get home.