Before The Rains Came Down

We are finally getting some much needed rain around here, and that's a good thing. Before it started, though, we were able to squeeze in a project that the Oldest Kid wanted to do.

Yes, we got the dye out. We just love to make a mess!

She tie-dyed what she needed to dye (I can't tell you, it's a secret project ), and of course I found some fabric that was calling out to be dyed.

Then, she decided that the shirt she was wearing needed more color. I promised not to post the topless pictures that I took when she stripped off her shirt, and put it into the soda ash solution! She quickly ran inside to put on a different shirt, and then contemplated what to do with the first shirt..

Here it is, as a work in progress. It did get soaked when the clouds opened up, so we have no idea what it will end up looking like. 

We are excited about seeing the results when we unwrap things tomorrow. After she takes her OT licensing exam. Send some good vibes her way, please?

And what about you? Got something fun planned for the weekend? We hope you have a good one....

A Good Day To Dye

The Curly One and I had a lot of fun today, as you can see by the smiles on our faces.

We were playing with dyes in the backyard.

The Curly One wanted to dye some shirts that she wears to work on the farm. She's going to be the brightest one there.

I dyed  some fabrics, of course.

Things got a little wild near the end, when we got our Jackson Pollock on.

We tossed all the extra dye onto the drop cloth, which happens to be a sheet she will be taking to school next year.

The results are currently running through the wash. Can't wait to see how everything turned out. What about you? Have you got an interesting project in the works this week?

Dyeing Results

Let me show you the dyeing that I got done, while the weather was good.

First, I made some blue/green pieces, which are always my favorite.

On the bottom piece, that was directly in contact with the sifter, there are grid lines. You can see them on the right-hand side of this next picture. I hope they survive the washing out.

I also did some pieces with a mix of blue, red and black dyes. Most of the red seemed to disappear during the dyeing. The black, which looked like it was going to turn into a deep purple, also didn't show up too much in the final product.

The very magenta piece is an old table cloth that I was given. Since it was in very bad shape, I decided to dye it, and see what I can do with the remnants.  It looks good here.

But, it seems to have lost a lot of color when I rinsed it out. Do you think that could be because it is not 100% cotton like I thought it was?

I had a visit from this guy (again) when I was working with the dyes. Amazingly, he went home wearing the same orange coat  that he arrived in!

It's turned cold again, and terribly windy, so no more snow dyeing for awhile. There's no danger of running out of snow, though, so it's all good. 

Dyeing For Fun

It's going to be another warm day here, temperatures possibly climbing into the 50's. Thought I'd take advantage of that and do some snow dyeing. It took a little while to find the sifter that I set things on, as it was buried under a snow drift. I guess I need to plan ahead better.

Anyway, it's all set up now, and the waiting starts. That's the hard part!

It's Doing It Again!

There's a road out there somewhere.

I'm trying to pretend this isn't happening, so I'm playing inside today. I decided to try the  flour-paste resist technique on this not very interesting piece of snow-dyed fabric. The funny part is, the fabric looks much better in the photo than in real life.

I added the flour paste, using a thinner layer than last time,  so that it would dry faster. I'm wondering if when the paint gets applied, it might seep through this thinner layer . I also scratched some arch shapes into it with a skewer.

  

While I wait for that to dry, the first thing that I will do (before going out to shovel) is sew a label onto this scrap quilt I have been making.

The white fabric is leftover strip piecing from a Christmas project, and the blue is an orphan piece of Year 2000 fabric picked up at a guild meeting. It was fussy cut to omit the "2000". The next picture shows the quilt set up on my table, ready  for pin basting.

I pinned on some tissue paper with the design for the center. Since I wanted a thread-sketched look, I sewed this once, then took the paper off, and went over it two more times.

An outer section of flames was free-handed, and the other areas were filled in with various spirals, echo quilting, and stippling.

I finished the binding, using the rest of the Year 2000 fabric a couple of days ago, and I will attach the label now. Not a bad use of leftovers. I'm going to call it "Winter Sun", in hopes that we might see some! 

We Disapprove Of Mom

Weasley here. Ginny says I have to do this, because she usually does all the work. Kids these days! No respect! Anyway, this is what we think of Mom right now.

First, she shooed Ginny out of the bathroom, even though the space behind the washing machine was desperately calling Ginny's name. I have faith in my daughter, though. She will get there someday. Then, Mom made me get out of the pile of fabric scraps, where I was taking a nice nap. She says she doesn't want to wash the scraps again, just because I can't tell the difference between the scrap pile and a litter box! I know the difference. The scraps are warmer and softer. No hay though, except the leftovers stuck to my fur. That's for snacks when I wake up from my nap, except when my nap is rudely interrupted.

Now Mom is saying that I should show you pictures of the tiny thread sketches she just finished, as studies for something larger. I don't know why I should. Oh, wait. She's getting the papaya bag.

OK, here goes. Mom made these tiny 11 inch quilts from her hand-dyed fabrics using thread sketching techniques. I don't know what that means.The first one is some yucky predators.

The second one is a giant herbivore, who probably hogs all the hay out there in the wild. I'm glad I'm in here.

Now to go get those treats! I hope your weekend is full of treats, too.

Ginny, wait. You have to share with your old Dad. Kids!

Overdyeing Results

A couple of days ago, I was talking about how my dyed fabric was rinsing out to quite a faded look, and  was wondering why. You can see a piece I decided to try overdyeing on this post.

So here is the same piece 24 hours later, after sitting with dye on it, but before being rinsed.

This was almost exactly what I was after. Unfortunately.after rinsing it looked like this.

Much lighter than I wanted. We are on a well, and I need to do some research on how our well water is affecting this chemical reaction. I have an experiment planned, also, but it will have to wait awhile until I meet another deadline. It's been way too long since those college chemistry classes....

Another Dyeing Day

Fun first or business? Well, on the principle of always eat dessert first, 'cause you never know, here's some fun. Today my fabric dyeing session was interrupted by the Neighborhood Lion. He found a creature he hadn't seen before.

Of course he had to attack it, he's an amazing predator.

A good bite, to do the creature in. Ginny also likes to chew these shoes, must be the plastic tastes good.

The creature is completely conquered.

And now, it's time to stretch out next to the conquered foe, and relax.

Or maybe have a bath. Soon after this, he accidentally rolled down the hill while trying to get the other side. There is never a video camera when you want one!

Amazingly he did not end up with dye on himself.

And now, the business. I have been dyeing fabric in several batches over the last couple of weeks. The colors are wonderful when the fabric comes straight from the dye bath. But after rinsing and washing, I am ending up with colors that are much more pale and dull than what I started with. Like this:

and this:

They are nice, but not what I thought I was getting. So I am wondering:

1. Are my dye mixes not concentrated enough, or
2. Are the minerals in my water affecting how well the dye attaches to the cloth?

Does anyone out there with dyeing experience have any hints for me?

Another problem that I am having is too much white on fabric that I pole wrap and dye (sort of shibori -type ).

This fabric is not as dark as it appears in the picture. I wanted it for dark water, reflecting yellow trees. So I added some dye this afternoon.

I'll show you the results tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be closer to the look I'm going for.

Have a great day, and watch out for those lions. You never know when they might attack your shoes!

Still Here

Yup, I'm still around. I've just been dealing with rabbit and kid related things. We've had another vet go around with Ginny. More lumps have popped up on her face, these ones around her eyes.This led to a blocked tear duct and conjunctivitis, then she had a bad reaction to the meds, and on it goes. She seems to be on the mend again now, so hopefully that is it for awhile!

Second daughter's music activities have begun for the fall, and her work hours  at the farm stand have increased because of college kids going back to school, so we have been driving alot. This past weekend, she played her guitar at a downtown street festival with her instructor.

Of course a string broke on the first song, and since she didn't have others with her (she had just replaced them), a bit of instrument trading went on. She had a good time, and it was a beautiful day.

And then she volunteered to paint the platforms for the color guard for the marching band. She didn't realize that the skill set and time would be different from doing the designs that she draws on her books and clothes. I have been teaching her about scaling up her designs, and making templates, and helping her paint. Unfortunately, with her time issues, I am doing more of the project than I would like. Here she is making placement marks.

And tracing a template, with a little help from the lion next door..

Luckily he got distracted by something else, and ran off before the painting started.

Not a lot of sewing has been happening, but I did print out these, and started working on some fabric collages with them.

And the neighborhood lion came back and helped out with this project, that is now decorating my clothesline.

Most of the pieces turned out more solidly colored than I wanted. Since I like to work with prints, these will now need to be painted, stamped, screened, or maybe all three. Its nice to use your own fabrics, but is it really cost effective in terms of time, when so many great prints and colors are available commercially these days? What do you think?

And on another note, why are my favorite colors to dye, not colors that I quilt with very often (i.e., the reds and pinks, and purples)?  Has anyone else out there had this experience?

Hope you are all enjoying these last days of summer, and that none of you get sideswiped by Hurricane Earl.

What Color would You Want To See

When I am looking aroung blogland, I love to come across sites where people are showing off fabric that they have dyed themselves. Every individual has their own style, and their own colors, and the results are always very interesting. I have done some dyeing, but not alot, partly because I am always so indecisive about what colors to make. I like them all!

I was recently reading another Karen's blog, A Creative Kick in the Pants, and asked her about how she choses her colors for dyeing. I was wondering if she had a specific palette she worked from, or if she dyed for a specific project, or if she tried to get a full range of colors. In her answer, she echoed my own feelings when she said "I love all colors, especially together." You should go check out her site, her projects are beautifully rich in color. Then, come back.

OK. Now that you are back, and I have pulled the treat-seeking bunny off my pant leg, I will show you why I have been thinking about color.

In the background is work being done on the side border of my string quilt, but what I want to tell you about is the book. Shades of Grey, a new book by Jasper Fforde is a really thought provoking book. It is witty and amusing, while also tragic and dark. The premise is that after the fall of a sophisticated society (maybe our world, maybe not), a culture arises where people can see only one color. Some people, the Greys, see no color at all. This is a very totalitarian society, with rules for things you didn't even think needed rules. 

In this book, at a certain age, everyone is tested to check what color, and how much of that color, they can see. To qoute the book: "Noone could cheat the Colorman and the color test. What you got was what you were, forever. Your life, career and social standing decided right there and then, and all worrisome life uncertainties eradicated forever.You knew who you were, what you would do, where you would go and what was expected of you."  The book follows the protagonist as he awakens to the bad side of his culture, and begins a revolution. Luckily, Jasper Fforde is hilarious, or this might have been depressing reading.

But, as interesting as the commentary on society is, what got me to read the book was the idea of a whole people  with limited color vision. Can you imagine never seeing color? I know some quilters who say "I can't stand ___________".  Fill in the blank, usually with orange, yellow, brown, whatever. Can you really imagine a world without orange sunsets, yellow flowers, or even brown chocolate? (God forbid, we lose the brown chocolate!) There would be so much richness missing from our experiences.

In the book, there are also some rare people who see in the Ultraviolet range, outside of human vision. There are insects who can see in this range. I remember seeing a nature show on TV that gave an idea of what they see looking at flowers that we completely miss. It's a whole other level of reality.

I'm so glad that we see as much color as we do. It adds so much beauty to everday life. But, if you could only see one color, what would you want it to be?  I think I vote for green, in all its nuances from spring green, to the dark greens of late summer, and the dull olive greens of autumn....

It is a very grey day here. The only color I found to show you was the rainbow in Second Daughter's room.

First Daughter, if you are reading this, have fun in England, and stay safe. We love you.