fabric dyeing

It was steaming hot here this past week. It’s the kind of weather that the cotton fabrics and dyes love. I definitely have been in love with my newfound knowledge of fabric dyeing after my Carol Soderlund class last May. Carol recommends processing in a plastic bag for low water immersion. But I am way […] Read More...

Some things I really appreciate. And finishing the machine quilting on a piece is one of them! This weekend I finished Rooflines #15 which has been accepted into Artprize 2014. It is always with a bit of trepidation that I commit an unfinished piece to an exhibit but the last three years I have done […] Read More...

I have been in VT for 16 days already and you haven’t heard a peep from me!!! So I owe you a quick re-cap. Marc, I and dogs arrived on May 31st which is the earliest I have ever come for the summer. Marc and I came to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary with out […] Read More...

At the beginning of the year, I set some lofty goals for myself. And one of them was to intentionally study color. I rounded up all my color books and lined them up in a nice, neat little pile. I opened the first book and realized most , if not all , of the exercises […] Read More...

I had given myself an assignment last time. Make something. Check. I really made the made the most of my last week here. I finally made an indigo pot and dyed some samples I made after viewing this new DVD. Great DVD on stitch resist technique . Beautiful scarf […] Read More...

I came back from vacation last Sunday, saw the weather forecast for the 90’s and decided to conquer the fabric dyeing. I had purchased some new supplies at the Vermont Quilt Festival and was really hoping this would improve my results. Much better! I have already ironed about 85 yards and […] Read More...

One of my favorite things to do watch here other than the sunsets are the farmers cutting the hay. It has been a busy time on the fields around our home. We are here about two weeks earlier than last year and I am enjoying some of the blooms that I usually don’t […] Read More...

I needed an excuse to sink my hands into the dyes. I really missed it. With all the heavy, wet snow, I thought about snow dyeing. But I resisted. It took so much willpower to not get distracted by unnecessary fabric dyeing. And then, a friend twisted my arm to take a class […] Read More...

I finished machine quilting my Artprize piece last weekend and wanted to sink in to a really long nap. I procrastinated on the last twenty inches of the machine quilting and it just made it more painful. I will leave tomorrow for Michigan and can’t wait to see it all spread out. I […] Read More...

I didn’t realize I had a “blue” day. Went to pick blueberries with the girls today. The second batch in less than a week and we haven’t frozen any of them! And then I tried a natural indigo vat again but the samples turned out way too light for me. I will add […] Read More...

I gave those instructions to myself today. Just write a blog post. I had expectations that I would have a finished piece today to have something exciting to show you. But the last three days have been brutally hot and I really don’t want to sweat while I sew. ( Not […] Read More...

Just a sampling of what I did before the trip here last Thursday. Tried to finish up some fabric dyeing of deep browns, blues and a funny mustard color. I hand basted my Artprize piece-twice. The first time I didn’t follow the You Tube directions correctly using Sharon Schambers method. I really resisted hand […] Read More...

I have made great use of the super hot weather this past week. The fabric really loves to be dyed in hot, hot weather ! I took inventory and put all the fabric I had away on my shelves before I started into it with full force. It’s amazing how easily I can […] Read More...

What a great weekend to dye fabrics-hot, humid and in the 90’s. I had worked pretty steadily all week to finish up the yard work and made a nice long list for my kids on Monday. I promised them if they got caught up on some of their chores, we could slide into […] Read More...

The Crow Barn I am home after spending last week at the Crow Barn. I took a class with the lovely Elin Noble called Additions and Subtractions. We moved quickly and were able to spend extra time with some additional things not originally scheduled. We covered three different types of dyes: […] Read More...

I spent lots of time this week machine quilting. If I wait until I am finished with it to blog again, it might the year 2013! I feel like a turtle and keep thinking there has to be a quicker way to achieve dense quilting. (Ahh-yes, there is another unmet goal of learning […] Read More...

I have to say I feel kind of boring right now. Nothing major to show you. I am working. I am stitching but I am just kind of letting the cloth do the work and me just move with it. Playing in the indigo pot. Hope finds her cow at Purdue- […] Read More...

I started two indigo vats this past week-one with the pre-reduced indigo from ProChem and one with the natural indigo in a lime-fructose-indigo vat. It was easier than I thought it would be and the warm weather helped me jump outdoors and jump into fabric dyeing. Silk Habotai with natural indigo Cotton with […] Read More...

I definitely went into class withdrawal last week on my series. But as I did some uploading of photos, I realized that I kept working away for the whole week. I went to a demonstration day at our local sewing store given by the group I belong to- Lakeshore Fiber […] Read More...

I was rattling around in a cupboard and I found a lovely blue enamel pot. I looked inside of it and not a speck of rust or chip inside of it. Perfect for bundles I thought to myself. I forgot I had bought it last year at a yard sale. So, I scrounged […] Read More...