She lives......

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth.  Just has been a really, really busy couple of months.  Fabric dying, a quilting retreat, a whole kitchen remodel and now possibly rheumatoid arthritis. Boy, since 40 it has seemed to be patch, patch, patch.  Oh well I guess any time you wake up on the top side of the grass is a good one.

Thought I would begin by finishing pictures of the dying session the Variable Star group did this summer.  Previous post shows the colors samples we had to choose from.  I tried a few new colors and this time got smart and marked on the selvage of the fabric the number and color.  Here are the colors I did this time.

My china reds turned out pink but otherwise the colors were ok.  I like the mottled look and am always happy with what ever color comes out because I don't pay as close attention to timing as I should.

This year I decided to try to "tray" dye some fabric.  Problem #1, finding trays without spending money.  Solution: I took a couple of old window screens and wrapped them with saran wrap so they would hold the dye.  This is what it looked like wet.

Two things I wish I had done was but the fabric the exact size of the screen and stretched it out instead of leaving the air folds in it.  Where the fabric and dye were in direct contact it took very good, but of the 2 I did both turned out pretty interesting.  On one I threw some kosher salt on it while it was still wet which gave it an interesting effect.  Here are the pieces when dry.

Detail of salted area.

Melanie, Claudia and Wendy.

Roxie on right and her sister

Carole, Beckie and Pam waiting to get started.

This year we dyed on a Saturday so we had all day to work which was nicer than when we have done it on an evening when we didn't get started until 6 or 6:30 pm.  We always agree it was great fun and we'll do it again as long as our dying guru, Wendy will agree.

Tomorrow, photos of kitchen remodel.  I got rid of my cable tv which has been out of order for 3 weeks, and now I'm amazed how long the evenings are.

Promise not to be AWOBL (absent with out blog leave) again.

Found fabric

The Variable Stars dyed fabric on September 14th. And I came home that night and washed everything (I thought) that I had dyed that evening.  Imagine my surprise when I went to throw some groceries in the back of my truck on September 22 and found an oblong plastic container and a zip lock bag with fabric and dye in them.  They must have fallen out of my big box on the way home that evening.

So now they are washed and ironed and here they are.



This and the next orange were in a ziplock bag.

These were all pieces that I had folded and put in an oblong plastic container because they were extra and I was getting tired of making decisions on what colors to dye.  So I just mixed different dyes and just poured them into different sections of the box.  I think they turned out interesting.



Dying results

Dying turned out to be a lot of fun.  A bit messy, a bit chaotic and always interesting.  This was my set up, many of the girls used plastic ziploc bags for their dying.  I think some wanted colors and fabric that turned out more solid.  I really enjoy getting very mottled colors so I use plastic food containers for my colors.  here was my set up on that evening.

These were the base dyes that Wendy brought and the laminated recipe cards that we used for the dyes.  On the bottom of the picture was a sample book that Wendy had made up so we had an idea of which recipe we wanted to use.



Things were pretty orderly at first, lots of decisions of what colors to do.

The following are my batches of colors

This are some of my favorites out of the bunch.  I am always amazed how the dye takes to wadded up fabric.  And I go in with no expectations.  I'm happy with whatever I end up with.

I love the almost crystalline effect of some of the pieces.

Well we all survived and really not to spattered in the end.

Carol  on the far right was a new addition to our dying group.



Dying Decision made

First things first I had to get my block for the block exchange done.  This month's block was Wendy's and it turned out great.

After I got the block made I just jumped in to cut up the fabric for dying.  I ended up with 18 fat 1/4's. 27 fat 1/8's and then a few smaller pieced.  I also have one yard of black and white flowered fabric to over dye. I did this the last time and this is how it turned out.

  

But this time I'm going to try to use a paint brush to apply the dye on specific places and see how that works.

Well, upward and onward. 

Dying Dilemma

So here is my current dilemma.  Tuesday night the Variable Stars are going to be dying fabric again. I have finally found a pattern that I would like to use to use my previous and present hand dyed fabrics.  The pattern is out of the June 2010 The Quilt Life.  Pattern is Summer Night Sky by Elsie Campbell.

I have my previously dyed fabrics from the last 3 or 4 times we have dyed.

I have my dye kit ready to go.

And my EIGHT yards of dye ready cotton.

Now I just have to decide what size I am cutting my 8 years into.  Fat quarters? half yards? Fat eights?

The pattern calls for 56 fat eights.  I need to look over the colors that I already have and try to figure out what colors I need more of or more variations of.  Guess I have some homework to do before Tuesday night, plus I have an exchange block to get done. Oh boy, fun and games.