Studio Time - Tu B'Shevat The New Year for Trees

I spent time in the studio playing with fabric. It has been over a year since I pulled open my wire basket that I store my fabric in. I am making eight blocks that are nine inches to represent the Jewish holiday Tu B'Shwvat which starts today. Last week I designed my block. I am a big fan of fusing so my blocks are going to be fused. I have been ironing fabric, fusing fabric to wonder under and cutting my shapes . I am using a mix of my hand dyed fabrics and commercial fabrics. Once all eight blocks are in the hands of my sister traders I will post photos.

You may be asking what is Tu B'Shevat The New Year for Trees. I found the following at http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3264/jewish/Tu-BShevat.htm

Tu B'Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar -- celebrated this year on Monday, February 9, 2009 -- is the day that marks the beginning of a "New Year for Trees." This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
Legally, the "New Year for Trees" relates to the various tithes that must be separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes differ from year to year in the seven-year Shemittah cycle; the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat.

We mark the day of Tu B'Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that "Man is a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams for everyone here in the US
Good Morning and Have a Great Day for everyone on the other side of the pond.

Debbi
Proud Parent of a U.S. Marine and U.S. Army Soldier
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