Some dyeing needed

Wednesday I  decided to go to the dye room and get busy.  I posted  a week or so ago on the Steampunk pieces that I stamped.

To put together a quilt , I needed more fabric to match what I had stamped.   So off I went to play chemist!  OK, so it's not that tough...but it was difficult to try and get dye to match the fuchsia color on the  left and even the brown.  The pieces are batching right now but you can see some of what I did below.








Just trying to mix up brown dye was a problem.  Heck, I get brown a lot of the time just mixing my colors and not thinking.  Maybe that's how/why I couldn't get the brown I wanted...trying to put too much thought into it!  HA

I had some fuchsia red dye but I'm not sure that it was the right shade either...I just might end up heading off to the local quilt shop, but I'll save this project for Florida!  My BFF, Susan, is usually up for a road trip and lunch!

This is actually some commercial fabric I dyed brown...has some nice green spots in it!  Not sure where they came from...apparently, I didn't mix my dyes well enough.












I had some dyes left over so I ran back upstairs and soaked some fat quarters in soda ash then scrunched fabric in this little container....this is the top of the fabric

And this is what it looks like on the bottom!  Or looked like when I first added the dyes!  I'll rinse out  all the fabric and show results later this week.  Keeping my fingers crossed for some nice fuchsia and brown fabrics!  Or at least fabric I can use!

A Little Dyeing Time

Back in 2012, I took an online Mandala class by Shibori Girl (aka Glennis).  The class was great and I  produced some cool pieces (you can see some here).  So my blog/bud, Kay S. from Quilts + Color created some stunning mandala pieces the past few months, which inspired me to give it a go again.  You have to check out her mandala ice dyes..NO, wait...wait until after you've seen mine or else you won't even come back to look at what I've done here!  Kay's pieces are stunners!!!!

My pieces aren't the greatest but it was fun to fold fabric and see how it turns out..oh a note on the dye I used on this piece!  It has been in the downstairs frig for five years!  Yes, five years and it was still perfectly fine to dye with!!  On another note, I do not put soda ash/fixer in my dyes...I do soak my fabric in fixer but do not add to my dye solution.

It was really hot this past weekend therefore very easy to let the pieces batch in the sun!

This is a yard of cotton sateen fabric that was fold based on Glennis' method.

This is an 18" square of some cheap cotton but it dyed up quite well.  I do have a project in mind for this piece.















I also dyed a yard of cotton sateen I had rusted a few years ago for a background to put my beaded leaf on.     I used both green and blue dyes and laid the fabric in a tray, pouring dyes over the folds.
It's a pretty piece and I like the way the rust shows through the dyes.

 But it came out a little too dark for what I wanted but I have some ideas to  perhaps lighten it....then I'll overdye with some pale green or light blue.  This is what I was trying to achieve!

It's actually fabric from a blouse  my friend saw in Chico's!  She called me over to look at it and the colors are really perfect for my leaf...although, I decided I'm going to need to bead two smaller leaves. One big leaf just won't look right alone...but we'll see what happens.

I'm thinking if I brush my dyed piece with bleach I should be able to lighten up the piece to allow the rust show though and remove some of the darkness. Can't hurt to try!!!  Besides...what else am I doing!

Dye Day!

So now that my Tiffany piece is just about finished....I tried to cut binding yesterday but my rotary cutter is dull, dull, dull!  Trimming fiber post cards did it in!!  So it is now time to think of my next piece for the Master's Exhibit.  I know I want to do hand stitching for sure and actually have some patterns in mind.
The artist I selected for my inspiration, is Mary Ann Beckwith, a watercolor artist from Michigan.  But wouldn't you know I didn't bring any fabric that is 'hitting' me to start a piece with.  So, what to do????  Dye a piece or two!

I wanted to work in blues/purples and thank goodness I did bring the right dye with me.  I'm using a Blue Violet MX dye and my fabrics are cotton sateen (on the right) and a white muslin (left). I was going to use the red but decided that's might be used in the next batch!

I scrunched the fabric placing the right side of the sateen down first....I had to think through this just because it's been so long since I've dyed any fabric.  At times, I much prefer the back of my fabric vs the front so I wanted to make sure that the right side of the sateen did get the most color.  We'll see if my thought process works out!

I did add a little more dye on top of the sateen fabric.  I don't want white and figure I could always use pieces of the muslin fabric....I have intentions of using a solid piece of fabric to work on but I might end up doing patchwork...won't know until the fabric is washed!

Tonight dinner out with friends...so I'm going to finish up some cleaning then off to shower.  It's another cool day...well, not for me!  But golfers don't like the high 50's or low 60's and wind!!  We may even have to cover up some plants one or two nights this week!!  Temps are suppose to get low, low, low!!!  Great sleeping weather at least and I do love the days...perfect for dog walking!!

Together again

Yep...the wings are together again! I still have to bead the body and then add a small beaded stem but it's coming along. I worked on the piece yesterday after a quick dying session. I didn't feel like 'browsing' through my bead box for the body so I took my embroidery thread box and needle out to the lanai and starting some hand stitching. Birds were singing, sun was shining and Kalee was lounging in the rocking chair! Perfect afternoon to sit and stitch.

I've had a heck of a time trying to get the purple flower to be what I wanted but this is close enough. It's just a piece for myself and not for a show so it can be what it is. As long as I'm happy, right!



Here are some of my dyed pieces from my small dye session yesterday.

I was actually trying to dye some maroon fabric to make something for my sister. Actually the piece on the left (gold/pinkish piece) is the Radiance fabric I purchased at the marketplace last month. It did dye up beautifully but not the color I wanted. Not sure if I'll over dye it or just leave as is.
I just looked at the pics and layout of this post and appears to be a little mixed up...but that's OK. It's 'documented' enough for when I reference back to what I did!
My friend, Peggy, and I are going to an estate sale here in the community later this afternoon. It's fun going to sales and this one has lots of cut glass and other unique items. Bob has already warned me that our car is full enough and to be careful on what I buy! But who can resist going to an estate sale when you can walk to the house!! Let's just hope I don't have to walk back home to pick up the car to go back!!

Just another busy week

Yes, it's been a busy week and probably one of my least productive weeks. Just a lot of running around and not staying 'to home'! That's why I love staying home...

Amber was in the "Willy Wonka Jr" production this past weekend along with the Super Singers from Clear Lake and Oxford elementary schools. Here's a picture of the performers (Amber is 3rd in from the right). Amber played the 'grandma' of Willy Wonka and got to speak all her lines while laying in bed! She did a great job and didn't miss a beat! Plus, I loved her night hat!
I've never watched the movie "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" but I was so impressed with these kids! I felt like I was watching a Broadway play! These kids did a fantastic job of acting and singing..and singing they did! The two girls who played Willy and Charlie were just phenomenal! They have acting or singing careers in the future! This is Amber taken after the play. Think she was glad all the practice sessions were over with!

Of course our 'boy' was getting a little antsy since this was the 2nd performance he'd seen. But he was still good! This was during intermission! I do have to give a big shout out to their music teacher, Peggy Mueller. She did a fantastic job leading these kids!! Well done, Ms. Mueller!!

Saturday was also dye camp for our Complex Cloth Club. Each year we have dye camp for a weekend so you can leave the mess at dye camp and not your house. This is the cabin and surrounding area where we can set up clothes lines and tables outside to paint or dye.

Talk about having your choice of dyes! I'm not sure what or how much dye was leftover since there only were six ladies dyeing fabrics. Nine of us prepared four different dyes in a particular color and some of us even prepared a few extra containers. This was just one area of dyes. I'll be seeing some of the ladies tomorrow and I'm curious to hear about their weekend.

I was only at dye camp from 8:30 until noon but I didn't dye anything. I just dropped off my dyes along with two others. Amber's play was @ 2 so I left to get dressed at my daughter's.

But I did do some dyeing at home since I had some dyes to mix up for dye camp. This was the shibori piece I had stitched.

And here it is after I painted some black dye on it. It's now downstairs 'cooking' with some blue and cranberry dyes I painted onto the white areas. I'll post pics later this week of the end result on this piece. This piece is only about 25" x 25"

This was a red piece that I had stitched..looks pink but it really is RED.

On this one I mixed up a Robin's Egg blue and a Brilliant Blue and painted the entire piece.

This is a closeup of an area. I'm actually pretty happy with the way this one turned out. It's roughly 22" x 36" so a nice size.

So now to finish up some computer work and get back to working on my BJP fish. I'm afraid I've been ripping out some more beads. I'm using some bugles for the fins but didn't like the colors, then thought I'd add some beads around the edges..didn't like that so out they came! Geezzzz Talk about non-productive! Ripping out beads or stitches certainly doesn't make you feel like you've accomplished much - guess that's because you haven't! I did make another peyote ring! I have a few more to go and at least that makes me feel like I'm doing something!