A Play Date with Friends

I was able to join some friends at the library to play with dyes and fabric. The plan is to make a quilt for my daughter. Hopefully she likes it.

Fabric

 I am still playing with fabric dyeing. Sometimes I do a thing that I really like. This is one:

I used a map stencil on the piece and I really like how it looks in person. Now I just need to start another project....

Art Quilt Changes

I have been playing with this art quilt for awhile. I was with some friends on Friday and they helped me play with it.
This is where we left it on Friday:

I posted it on Instagram and my daughter commented that she thought the lavender was too much. As did  Cheryl . I looked at it and decided I agreed. I love fuchsia and purple, but the lavender did not make me happy. So I took photos and started playing.
Here is the upper left corner from Friday in color and black and white:

 Note that the pink and lavender are the same value-medium.

I painted some of the lace with some fabric paint I have and took some more photos:

  I am going to play with the lace a little more and try to get a little more of the dark fuchsia in some of the lace. Also, I will paint some of the lavender and make it purple.  I pulled a blue thread I dyed earlier this year which I think will work to pull this color around the quilt a little more. I am very excited about this piece and feel like it looks so much better.
I have TONS of ideas for stitching on it, but I need to get this base layer down.

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

Well, I managed to get some stitching done this weekend despite dropping my youngest at college and working my guild's webpage.
I taught them blackwork earlier this month and I am trying to get the little squares I stitched made into biscornus.

I dyed the aida myself and think it came out rather nice. Now to get 4 biscornus ready so I can teach in October.
Hope everyone got some stitching time this weekend!

A Little Dyeing

My local library held a dye workshop where we played with grey and black dyes. It was a lot of fun, although I am usually a bright person.

Not sure what I will do with these although I think they are the perfect size for backs of things, if I ever FINISH anything. Sigh.

Fabric

I dyed fabric at the library last Friday and I have finally rinsed, dried and ironed it. Thought I would show you it.
First I ice dyed some pieces including some linen:

Firecracker

Dutch choc+silver lining

Linen-Night Sky

The linen is nice but needed to be overdyed so it would be better for stitching:

Linen overdyed

Cotton-Night Sky

I dyed 15 fat quarters and then made this little chart for my fabric calendar. I kept wondering why I chose this colorway. Then I remembered-I think the fabric might work for lining Tall Year Squared!

Fabric Fun

 I needed to show you all the fun fabrics I dyed at the library last week.  The above photo is a piece tablecloth I cut up and dyed. Below is a photo of all the different colors did of the same cloth. My excuse is that I am going to show it to the quilt guild and eventually make it into a crazy quilt.

 The following 3 photos are of linen I over-dyed.

 They were originally for my local guild but came out too blotchy. I will find use for them eventually. The yellow with black would be fabulous for Halloween/fall motifs!  And the bottom green/blue one is lovely.
The last two pieces are silk from the same botched project for my guild. I hope to cut the pieces up and use them in a quilt. Although, it is silk dupioni  so I should be able to stitch on them too.

I really want to add more to the silk and tablecloth fabrics. Paint and stencils come to mind. Not today though. I need to go back to my crazy quilt research.....

What I Have Been Doing

I think I told you that my guild is stitching Tall Year Squared by Betsy Morgan and I am helping make kits. Why? Because I am crazy! Even more so as I volunteered to dye the linen and the silk. The first batch came out very blotchy.

The colors are lovely, but too dark by a little bit and not even. They will work for other projects and I will sell them for the guild at the region workshop we will have in 2018. I have reordered both the silk and linen and will try again next week. I think I need to do one shade at a time, add more water and stir! I also need to change one of the colors as it does not match the threads we already have.
Do you all think I am crazy?

Playing with Fabric and Stencils

I really don't have time to play with Christmas baking, gift wrapping and shopping going on, but I could not help myself.  I dyed some fabric and then played with some stencils.  Now I just need to heat set them and start playing!

A Little Blue

A friend inspired me to try to organize my house/life by taking small steps on projects that I keep putting off.  This fabric was dyed in the early fall and although I had rinsed it, it needed ironing.  So every time I went into my craft room, that pile of fabric would nag at me.  Today, I took the time to iron it.  It makes me feel better to see it neatly folded.  Not a big step, but at least it is one thing done. 
Now, I had better do my 12 stitches with Elizabeth before supper.

Does it Need some Yellow?

Actually, it would be Mustard or Butterscotch....Sorry for the bad picture, but it is raining and I couldn't get a better photo.  This will be a quilt for my mom.  Hopefully it won't take 10 years like my first one.  I need to be inspired by my dd who took less than a year to make her first twin sized quilt.  And she machine quilted it herself!