Easter Egg Dyeing

Happy Easter to all.  I'm glad to have a week off, even though it won't be enough time to get everything done on my "To Do" list.  Just wanted to share some fun dyed easter eggs I made today using food coloring, olive oil and masking tape.

The one below is my favorite.  I dyed it first in yellow, then marbled it by putting it in purple dye to which I added a little olive oil and whisked it around to create patterns. Found some great info on making eggs on Martha Stewart's website.

Here's another one that turned out well.

The one below was dyed in yellow first.  Then I added some masking tape strips as a resist and dipped it into turquoise dye.

Collage Quilt about Mom

Every March brings memories of my incredible mom,  who was a March baby like me.   She taught me many things, sewing being only one of them.  She instilled in me a sense of ethics, honesty, responsibility and generosity.  She was a feisty, independent, smart woman. When she was 19, she set off on a solo trip by train to visit the World's Fair in New York City to see first-hand what inventions and ideas were being developed for the future. The theme of the 1939 World's Fair was "The World of Tomorrow."

In researching the fair to create the quilt about her trip, I learned that there was a prototype of the first dishwasher displayed at the fair.  Did my mom ever have a dishwasher in her lifetime?  No, she would joke that she had five dishwashers when asked by us why we couldn't get one.  Of course, the dishwashers were my siblings and me.

I loved to hear stories from my mom about this trip. A postcard she had sent home to her family from New York became the inspiration for me to create a collage-type quilt about her. Below is a picture of mom and the postcard.

The background for the quilt was painted with acrylic paint

 which was first applied to plastic wrap, then transferred to fabric. 

 Mom's favorite colors were red and green.  Below is a closeup

 from part of the quilt showing a picture of Mom and the story of her trip, 

which I printed on organza.  I actually ended up using the front of a different postcard

 which played better with the other photos and background.

Here is a picture of the whole quilt.

New arashi shibori and really low immersion dyed fabrics

Here are a couple of new fabrics.  I really like the cotton velveteen pictured below.  It takes the dye so beautifully in that the colors look very vibrant. For this one, I used fabric that had been previously soaked in soda ash and allowed to dry.  I carefully arranged it, scrunching up here and there in a container and then applied the dye using squeeze bottles. Unlike low immersion dyeing I do not add very much liquid, either in the form of  plain water or soda ash water. following the dyes.  I wasn't sure how potent my dyes would be since, some of them I've had since last September, but you can see they are still very good.  I keep my liquid concentrates in a small, dorm size fridge in our barn.

The fabric below was also dry, pre-soaked in soda ash.  I wrapped it around a four inch piece of PVC pipe and squirted dyes onto it. I think this one is going to need further surface design,

perhaps some discharging here and there.

Turning 60

I didn't get a chance to post last weekend due to  too much celebration of my big 60th birthday. Both of my sons were here to help me celebrate as well as my husband and dog. I'm feeling pretty good about turning 60 and where I'm at.  It would be nice to have more time and money to do the many things I want to do, but oh well.

Staying home today with a bit of stomach flu. Walked outside to get some sun and was cheered by many irises in bloom in my weedy garden. Here's a photo of one of them in full bloom.  Nature's colors are always so inspirational to me.  Love how the green blends into the violet on the iris buds. Both colors share blue in common and contain all three primary colors.  That, plus the tints and shades of both hues make for an exciting palette from which to create.

I want to thank members of the Almond Country quilt guild who supported me by purchasing my fabrics, wearables, books, etc. at the Trash to Treasures night. Looking forward to making more soon!

Ice Dyeing Revisited

I'm sure loving the results I'm getting from doing ice dyeing, both parfait style and elevated on racks.  This time I tried to document the colors and techniques I was using as I was working, but it's pretty hard to do because of wearing rubber gloves, a mask, dripping water, etc.  I find it also interrupts the flow of the creative process, or at least mine.  Documenting is definitely a right brain activity, whereas intuitive creating is left brain.  Even after documenting, by the time they are rinsed, washed twice and dried, where you can really see the colors and designs, there's no way I can remember what position each fabric was in the parfait container. Next time, I may try writing a little number in the corner of each fabric prior to soaking in the soda ash and see if I can better figure out what colors were used in each.  And then again, I might just say the heck with it and enjoy the total serendipity of the moment because chances are, I wouldn't be able to create the same exact fabric again anyways.   So here there are.

And...these will all be for sale at Monday night's Almond Country Quilt Guild meeting http://www.almondcountryquilters.org/ , if you are interested in buying.

All of the above fabrics are fat quarters.  The fabric below is a 1/2 length.

Above is a closeup of the fabric.  The entire piece is below. 

I did some tying and clamping on this one.

Here are a couple Large size T-Shirts