After reading Eco Dyeing by India Flint and since I live out in the country of the Ozarks, I’ve become interested in what colors/dyes are available from local plants. Here is my trusty old stainless steel dye pot from my weaving days of dyeing yarns. I’ve place jars of fabric with various plants into a water bath in the pot and boiled it for many minutes. These are the results from yesterday on silk.
Dark, almost black pansies
Red Sumac leaves
Dark purple petunias and orange marigolds.
The last couple of weeks have been more than frustrating. I finished the Wild and Crazy quilt and was very proud of it. Laid it out on the bed and thought it looked super; pillows excluded.
Then I washed and dried it to get rid of the cat hair and to puff it up. Oh Woe. The hand dyed red fabric (which had been previously washed) faded on to the narrow white strips making them a dull pinkish-grey.
There is no contrast between the “white” strips and the grey pieces. What I thought was going to be a great quilt was now a disappointing quilt. I tried to get over the disappointment but it was always in the back of my mind. A few days ago, I wondered if the strips could be painted. Not practical. Then I woke up two days ago and said, “Dots.”
So – by dipping a half inch wooden dowel into white fabric paint and touching it to the strip the quilt turned into this.
Detail:
Now, I think I’m happier with the quilt than I was in the beginning.
I’m at it again. Another Quilt As You Go quilt. This one is bigger than the last. Hopefully it will be about 74″ x 74″. I want to keep it and use it on a blond mid-century bed that used to be my Mom’s. These are numbers 3 & 4 of four made. Five more to go but the rain has finally stopped and I’ve GOT to get out into the garden. Yes, I can sleep under it. The room will be dark and my eyes will be closed.
Have you ever been to a country auction? If the weather is nice it’s a lot of fun. Not only was the weather nice this past weekend, but one of the auctions was held indoors. Yay! Did I spend money? You bet. Bought a great chair that is just waiting for one of my “famous” slip covers and a mid-century modern chest-of-drawers. The latter may be more that I can do, but I’ll give it a try. It was sin worse shape than I realized.
Whether or not one buys anything, people watching is a great past time.
See that big dark blue-ish pot? I bought it.
The auctioneer. Hard to understand. I’m new at this. My friend Deb helped me.
And then a real, live cowboy walked in; spurs and all. Yahoo!
Although the weather has not been the greatest, and Spring has been late in coming, it’s been worth waiting for. I have never had more beautiful flowers. I really don’t think I need to say anything, just enjoy.
You saw each of these block individually as each was finished. Now you see them all together as one. I’m not even going to bother cleaning up this photo ’cause Spring has sprung and there’s too much to be done. Glad this got finished before work began outside. I should mention that this was made of all scraps, a little cotton, a few silks, and lots of polys. 44″ x 44″. You see some of the stuff that either inspires me or is awaiting use.
And here is what I’m proudest of: a Jack in the Pulpit that was gifted and planted last fall. Larger than life!
The Brown/Moon blocks are being quilted in spirals. The centers of the first two were a little bit wobbly and I wondered what I could do to improve. Then I remembered that Donna Olson, who says she has trouble free hand quilting, showed us at the UT retreat how she draws designs on “Press n’ Seal, a GLAD product, presses it onto the quilt top, sews over the design, and peels the “paper” away. Decided to try it.
First draw the center of a spiral on a piece of paper. Doesn’t have to be much.
2. Raid the kitchen for the box of Press’n Seal
3. After you’ve traced the spiral onto the Press’n Seal, place it onto the quilt top
4. Needle and foot down at exact point of spiral center. Set stitch length to 1.5 (I am sewing on a Pfaff) It’s easier to make this tight turn with very short stitches.. Move the needle to the far right if you are sewing around the spiral clock-wise and making the lines 1/2 inch apart. With the needle on the far right I can use the edge of the foot as a 1/2″ guide.
5. As the circumference begins to enlarge, gradually increase your stitch length to what you plan to use. I gradually increase the length to three (3).
Once I stitch just the part that is drawn, I stop and tear off the Press’n Seal and continue the spiral using the edge of the foot as a guide.
Quilting a spiral free hand is a tutorial on The Quilting Edge. Marianne has a lot of tutorials, besides her beautiful quilts, on her blog. I urge you to check it out.
The original concept of this project only needs nine blocks, but when someone asked if I was going to finish each block individually I thought, “Hummm.” So I’ve made 10 blocks and I’ll experiment with one and make a decision.
These two blocks were created rather quickly, but now I’m stalled out while I paint and re-shuffle some of the furniture in the studio.
The weather has kept me in the house for the whole week. Although being house bound makes me grumpy : ) I’ve accomplisted a fair amount of work. This week there are two brown blocks. For work that appears so simple, I seem to spend an incredible amount of time mulling and rearranging pieces. Block Five was sewn together, ripped apart, and re-sewn into another arrangement. I like how the “shiny” shows in Block Four. My goal is “Elegant Simplicity.” The fabrics are mostly silks and polyesters.
Brown Block 4
Brown Block 5
I am a fiber artist whose always been in love with anything "fuzzy." My evolution has been from a weaver to knitter to silk painter to quilter. I knit for relaxation and currently do pieced, fused, and/or appliqued, art quilts inspired by my photographs.
Knitting
Sewing Strips
SEWING MACHINE SETUP
EmPrint 