Camp Quilting Arts: Prepping for Play

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Remember those long days of summer camp spent making sand candles, crafting plastic lanyards, and gathering ‘round the campfire with the other cool kids?  I sure do. As the temperature rises, summer camp season is in full swing. This year, I’ve made a commitment to my local art quilt group: we’re going to revisit those camp memories in my backyard as we make time for creativity, experimentation, and just plain fun. Here’s a sneak peek at what is involved.

Planning and prepping for play is half the fun!

As the “Camp Director”, I’ve made an agenda for three camp sessions, complete with instructions for each project, comprehensive “Care Packages” (project supplies), and safety tips.

Our “Camp Counselor” and “Counselor in Training” (project leader and assistant) helped plan our first session on dyeing gradated fabrics. Aren’t the dyes beautiful as they glisten in their mason jars? We’ll share photos from our session complete with the gradation dyed fat quarters soon.

Session two required drinking lots of tea and making a few samples of hand stitched teabag art.

The “Chef” mixed up some lemonade and organized a lunch for the crew…

Several “Campers” helped set up the backyard for our dye party, but they were camera shy…

My son helped with the photography. He’s a seasoned camper whose experience as both a participant and leader helped guide these sessions.

This morning I’ll be hosting the first session of Camp Quilting Arts. The tea is brewing. The dye baths are ready. The machines are threaded. And the campers are on their way!

Our morning will start with setting intentions for the session and reviewing the instructions. Then we’ll don our dye-ready coveralls, pull on the plastic gloves, and start the dyeing adventure.

Because the dyed fabric and thread will need to batch for a full day, we’ll be sharing our final fabrics later. But that won’t stop us from having a show and tell and planning the charity quilt we’ll make with our hand dyed fabric.

Wish us luck!

vivika hansen denegre

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