Dyeing

Today I finally took time to dye some threads with the dyes I bought at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. It took more time than I planned, but boy, was it fun.

First I had to mix three dye baths:yellow, red and blue. From them I measured 30 different dye baths of shades of the three colors. Below is the picture of my 30 baths. By the way, I made this mess at my local library. I do not have this kind of space in my house.

After mixing the baths, I started dyeing my threads. I used DMC floss and #5 pearle cotton in white. I had raided all the craft stores in the area to get enough thread. I am sure the clerks thought I was a little nuts!

I added a few spoonfuls of dye to each bag that contained my treads. Then I squished the dye into the threads so that the dye was incorporated into them. I wanted the treads to be completely dyed, but not a solid color-more a variegated look. I decided not to mix colors within the threads, but let them be a single value of one color. I had to leave before they were done, but mixed in some salt so the dyes will react overnight. Tomorrow I hope to return and add the baking soda and start rinsing. I will take more pictures when I am done

Yes, I do have a project for all these threads. Hopefully I will have enough as it will be hard to recreate the exact threads again...The dyes are from ProChemical and the dyeing idea came from Melanie Testa. She is the author of the book Inspired by Quilts.
ProChemicals website is: http://www.prochemical.com

Mystery in a Corner: Framed

I finally had a minute and decided to post this picture of myself and my MIAC by Gay Ann Rogers. My framer did a great job. When I was picking it up she noticed a piece of lint and took it apart and took it out. How nice is that? I did put glass on it as I get a lot of dust in my house and I hate to dust!

Hope spring has arrived wherever you are! It has arrived in Central Illinois. I love all the tulips and daffodils I had my kids plant last fall.

Internationa Quilt Festival in Chicago

Last Friday I attended the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. It was tons of fun. I took two classes, one with Melanie Testa and one with Belinda Spiwak. The photo is a picture of the class with Belinda. It didn't photograph too well...Think I need a better camera. It is a puffy heart on wood and made with paint, canvas, muslin, and paper.

The class I took with Melanie Testa inspired me to try dyeing my own threads again. I hope to attempt that soon and post my results.

If you are close to a quilt show/festival, I highly recommend going. It is very inspiring and you never know what new stuff you will learn.

January's Quilt Square

I have been done with this square for a bit, but I just didn't have time to post. It is amazing how quickly life goes by.

I used blue and white for my color scheme as that is what I think of when I think of January. I will eventually have to go back and add more to all of my squares, but I was finished with this piece for now. I have my February square ready to stitch, I just need to find time.

Another Finish

I finished Frog Pond before March 21st although I have not had the opportunity to post about it. I went to my LNS and purchased the frame and popped it in just on Monday. I really like this kit although it had a lot more beading than I originally thought it did. My boys picked it out ages ago and I think they are happy to see it finished.

I went on a stitching retreat with the Tri-State Needlearts group last weekend in Wisconsin. It was so much fun to stitch and not have to worry about laundry or lunch or kids. I did miss my dh, but I know he would have been bored with all us ladies sitting and stitching. I worked on my Orna Willis Jerusalem 2000 piece. It is an ANG Cyberworkshop class I took before my daughter
was born. I am missing some silk thread which I hope I will discover in my stash. If not, the sky must be ripped and redone. I am so close to finishing this piece that I hope to have it done before summer. We shall see...

Mystery in a Corner: Unframed

I thought I was going to have a picture of my Mystery framed for you this week, but when I went to pick my piece up at Michael's, I found a disaster. It needed to have a mat put behind it because the canvas showed. Fine. But they cut the mat 3 inches bigger, put the frame around it and then just tacked the stitching to the top of the mat, so it just floated there. I was furious and told them I wanted my piece back and I wasn't going to pay for it. Here it is, unframed:
Why did I take it to Michael's? I have had other things framed there recently, and they have done a great job. When I called my LNS and told her my problem she said that the person who used to do the framing at Michael's left and other people had complained about the job that was being done. She said she would look at my piece and see what she could do. (They had me cut the piece to half inch of my stitching so the frame would fit properly. Yikes!)

I feel like such an idiot. All that time and money spent on stitching and I tried to save a few bucks. My LNS is a small place and the owner does all the framing herself (I think). She takes longer, but she does a nice job. Sigh. Live and learn.

Daughter's Angel

My dear daughter likes to stitch, but does not like following a pattern. She has made several pieces where she drew a picture and then stitched the lines. Not in backstitch, running stitch or stem stitch either, just in whatever she felt like doing. So I thought this piece was really neat. She did it on Aida and used DMC for most of it. The Angel's dress is in metallic DMC and the background is a purple floss she found. She is very proud of it and so am I. When she gets tired of it, it will be mine!