The Last Hurrah

     I had given myself an assignment last time.

     Make something. Check.

     I really made the made the most of my last week here.  I finally made an indigo pot and dyed some samples I made after viewing this new DVD. Great DVD on stitch resist technique .

 Beautiful scarf from Hank and Spool shop which I will add some hand stitch to. This was my functional item. I also have another baby quilt pieced made from scraps that will go to a guild charity.

I also overdyed a few duds and dyed some nice greys for my neutral pile.

      And lastly, I made a huge mess and was really rusty on design. I took out another pile of scraps and spun aimlessly for two days. Then I cleaned it all up and packed it in the car to go.

   
I will see you after I settle back into Michigan! It has been a really great summer.

125 Yards Done!

     I came back from vacation last Sunday, saw the weather forecast for the 90's and decided to conquer the fabric dyeing. I had purchased some new supplies at the Vermont Quilt Festival and was really hoping this would improve my results.

     Much better! I have already ironed about 85 yards and will wait until it gets a little cooler to finish up the ironing. I am not going to do any more yardage until I get home to MI but I do want to work with print paste and some stitch resist in the next few weeks.

     But it has been sooo long since I have pieced that it is first up on my list next week.  

Dyeing Days #1

     One of my favorite things to do watch here other than the sunsets are the farmers cutting the hay. It has been a busy time on the fields around our home. We are here about two weeks earlier than last year and I am enjoying some of the blooms that I usually don't get to see.

After about three days of getting settled in and walking around in kind of a foggy mood from the last month, I wanted to get busy dyeing fabrics. So I set up my dye studio.

Only to struggle with the process and colors. I wanted deep dark purples and ended up with lots of mottled and tired darks. I think I didn't make my soda ash solution strong enough. Or I have old dyes.

I was unimpressed with my results with my results from the 50 yards I dyed. I overdyed about 15 yards and the darks still look washed out and grainy. Good thing I am going to the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend for 3 days. I will have to replenish the dyes to see if this helps.

Winter Fabric Dyeing Fix

     I needed an excuse to sink my hands into the dyes.  I really missed it.  With all the heavy, wet snow, I thought about snow dyeing. But I resisted.  It took so much willpower to not get distracted by unnecessary fabric dyeing. And then, a friend twisted my arm to take a class with her.

      Nope. That is absolutely not the truth. A friend reminded me about a class at our local sewing store given by the wonderful Betsy. So, I jumped right in.

We dyed fat eighths of fabric and I used fuchsia, deep navy and golden yellow from ProChem.

What a beautiful summertime rainbow. I didn't spend any time smooshing and just went with the mottled look.

And this is the lovely Elizabeth Brandt who distracted me.

I came home relaxed and refreshed from my fabric dyeing fix. And then there is leftover dye to play with.

Wrapping Things Up

     I finished machine quilting my Artprize piece last weekend and wanted to sink in to a really long nap. I procrastinated on the last twenty inches of the machine quilting and it just made it more painful. I will leave tomorrow for Michigan and can't wait to see it all spread out. I don't have anywhere here to hang it or block it in the way I like to. It is back in it's ziplock bag for a 15 hour ride home and I feel at this point it could write it's own little book about it's journey this summer. :)

     As my reward, I got out the dyes and, as a friend said, dyed a little more rainbow in my backyard here in VT. And even got them ironed and ready to use this fall.

     I tried flat dyeing again as I wanted some really deep colors and wondered if I could get it by flat dyeing rather than over dyeing. It was really messy to clean up but I think it might have worked.

   

     And a few strands of floss for winter stitching.

     Even though dyeing is labor intensive, I always feel as if all this color is a reward to me.

A Blue Day

     I didn't realize I had a "blue" day.

Went to pick blueberries with the girls today. The second batch in less than a week and we haven't frozen any of them!

And then I tried a natural indigo vat again but  the samples turned out way too light for me. I will add them to my growing indigo pile at home.

I think they are still pretty though.

And then I found a really small nest that fell out of a tree last night during the rain. Beautiful and intricate.

Just Write

    I gave those instructions to myself today. Just write a blog post.

     I had expectations that I would have a finished piece today to have something exciting to show you. But the last three days have been brutally hot and I really don't want to sweat while I sew. ( Not good to sweat on your art that many people will see.) I really hate complaining about the weather but it has been steamy in my little house in the farmland.  To have a ginormo quilt on my lap is way too sweaty. No air-conditioning here, folks. So during the day we seek water and cool spaces wherever we can find it .

    And I have been dyeing some fabric. Remember when I said I wasn't going to do that here? Well the truth is that at the last day when I was packing to come here, I dumped a bunch of dyes in a box and shipped it here. I just couldn't let hot steamy days go without dyeing. Call me irresponsible or call me responsible, this is just the perfect wet studio and I couldn't let the opportunity pass!

      To me, this is THE space I love to dye fabrics in. Why waste a few days of heat?  I had the dyes, the space and the heat. I needed only the fabric. So, this gave me the perfect opportunity to try some the Kaufman pimatex which Lisa Call sells.  Lisa promptly sent it to me and I am a new convert to to Kaufman pfd pimatex.  I have found a new addiction as it dyes beautifully.

     What would summer in Vermont be without a few yards of fabric on the line?

Hodge Podge

     Just a sampling of what I did before the trip here last Thursday.

Tried to finish up some fabric dyeing of deep browns, blues and a funny mustard color.

I hand basted my Artprize piece-twice. The first time I didn't follow the You Tube directions correctly using Sharon Schambers method. I really resisted hand basting but was going to hand carry this throughout the airport. The idea of hundreds of safety pins going off through security convinced me to do it.  A few wobbly lines which I am calling organic have been sewn in. Yes, I am doing this one from top to bottom with the walking foot.

And I squeezed in a little ice dyeing. I had a few pieces of fabric left and it was so hot I thought it a great time to try it.

A little ice on top of soda soaked fabric.

A little dye sprinkled on top of the ice and then a few more layers of fabric.

Twenty four hours later, I rinsed as usual and washed and I have some interesting pieces.

Nice markings on the fabrics and it was super easy.

I was stuck in the airport for about 36 hours and my husband came to get me in a CT airport.  I retrieved my lost luggage on Sunday which had the thread it in it for machine quilting. It was really an adventure from the netherlands which I have no idea why it always happens to me.  But this time it exhausted me .

In Vermont now for a few weeks and I hope I catch my breath enough to get the stitching down on Miss Artprize.

Behind the Scenes

     I have made great use of the super hot weather this past week.  The fabric really loves to be dyed in hot, hot weather !

I took inventory and put all the fabric I had away on my shelves before I started into it with full force. It's amazing how easily I can get sidetracked when I dye with the "what if I add this color? " questions. But, by having a list of what I needed, I managed to stay on track. I tried to dye a batch of more subtle earthy colors as well.

Also, I sorted every bucket and basket of scraps I had and I will be taking a big bag of scraps to Vermont  to do some playing. Because, my Artprize piece is coming along and some play is necessary to breakup the big piece!

What are you working on in the lazy days of summer?

Let Fabric Dyeing Begin For Summer 2012

     What a great weekend to dye fabrics-hot, humid and in the 90's. I had worked pretty steadily all week to finish up the yard work and made a nice long list for my kids on Monday. I promised them if they got caught up on some of their chores, we could slide into summer after the school year finishes up.

     I was so excited to get going on fabric dyeing, I just wasn't paying attention to the details. And I was so overwhelmed by different teachers, books and how they each vary the process a little and just enough to make it confusing for me. So, the first batch of dyes I mixed incorrectly. Blah results.

    And the next bunch of fabrics, I was trying to make a particular color and got everything but that color. That will be over dyed in the future. Then, I went to every source I had and laid it out on my kitchen table comparing everything in a chart format. Still confused.

    Then, I called a friend up and she came over and walked me through a few steps I had all jumbled up in my blonde brain. Oh boy. Finally, some better results though.

      I need to remember to slow down, think about what I am doing and weigh the dyes. CONSISTENTLY for CONSISTENT results if you want a particular color. Thank you very much friend.

One more batch to be rinsed out in the morning. The temperature will change tomorrow so the rest will have to wait. I was definitely inspired by the colors of my garden, wasn't I?

Elin Noble at the Barn

The Crow Barn

   
      I am home after spending last week at the Crow Barn. I took a class with the lovely Elin Noble called Additions and Subtractions.  We moved quickly and were able to spend extra time with some additional things not originally scheduled.

    We covered three different types of dyes: Procion Mx dyes, acid dyes and vat dyes.  And  I learned a bundle of techniques: shibori stitching and pole wrapping, clamping, discharge with thiox, using a pleater and also how to mix and make all the solutions. Just writing this makes me a little tired! We were busy as always and Elin kept the day packed with lecture and then trials of all the principles.

Clamping with resists and Mx Dyes

My work table in the wet studio

More clamping with resists

Early in the week- my fabric wall

     Sorry this picture is so dark as I didn't turn the lights on to take it. I need to process some others I took later in the week.

    Elin was another fantastic teacher -kind, extremely knowledgeable about dyes and surface design and just plain fun to be around. I had way too much fun!  More results coming up this week.

Friday Wrap Up

     I spent lots of time this week machine quilting. If I wait until I am finished with it to blog again, it might the year 2013! I feel like a turtle and keep thinking there has to be a quicker way to achieve dense quilting. (Ahh-yes, there is another unmet goal of learning to free motion quilt. I have promised myself to work on it this summer.)

Clamping and folding in the indigo pot. Nice to be able to come back to it and know how to "revive" it and work on new pieces.

 Taking inventory and setting up the dye studio. Fabric has been ordered to dye but way too cold here yet!

Some indigo photos. I love how when you take it out of the dyepot, it is this deep blue green color. And then with air contact , it oxidizes right before your eyes.  I really love watching it happen.

 The little moons need a special piece. Maybe some hand stitching. Linen accepts the dye so beautifully.
 I had bought a bolt of it years ago when a shop went out of business and sadly this is the last piece I had.
Does anyone have a source for ordering linen for purposes of dyeing?