SPRAYIN' AND PLAYIN'!

I've been spraying and playing!
An artist impressioon!

This is my home made strecher frame for my dyeing!

<> , Orange dyed over yellow

Orange spray dyed with mountains and rivers of colour!





Sorry this is so short the blog programme doesnt want to play...so not sure how this looks!
Don't forget to say hello.

Rinsing...rinsing....aching arms!....

Whoo Lesson 2 I enjoyed this too!!


I think I have achieved more intense colours this time.

I’m guessing the water stayed warmer for longer...perhaps!

The jugs of fabric and dye were resting on top of my laundry drier (saving on the chore of hanging out to dry the weeks now clean laundry!) keeping the liquid warmer for longer.

The purple had 3-4 tones in there ranging from light blue to deep violet. The exciting part of pulling this colour out is that while it was in the jug it just looked very dark and all one tone.

I love the secondary colours...especially the green. The mottling on the green was subtle, regularly irregular (!), 2 colours/tones.

Arrhhh little did I suspect that after rinsing...rinsing.... aching arms!....rinsing some parts of the pattern formed in ‘waves’ across the fabric.


The orange was out first to be rinsed right on the hour, followed by green then purple. The purple took so long to rinse...I know I’m repeating myself!

I think I will do more scrunching of fabric on the next go.

The orange has the most colour contrast between the light and dark.

I pinched some dye from here whilst the dye was still fresh...I couldn’t help myself I wanted a go at the Shibori Bonus lesson...then chickened out when I saw how much dye the folded fabric drank!
So the orange was sitting in less liquid than others.

Just waiting for the Shibori to rinse and dry. And I’ll save them for next time!


And just a little sneak preview on some buttons I've bought to sell in my online shop http://www.fibredreams.co.uk/!

OOOO TWO DAYS TO GO!

Two days two go for my fabric dyeing course...I can't recall the Dyeing jokes I've had thrown at me at work!!!
They just don't understand me!  (you would think I had teenage problems!)

I have just washed my 6mtr of unbleached 100% Cotton...drying over the banister, off the landing!
I acquried a plastic covering today of the houskeeper at my school...thank you!
I have two more days to get the plastic containers together!
My box of Dyes are sitting there like a Christmas chemistry set....antisipation!

I will be recording and photoing for future references!  I'm going to buy a special ring binder too!!
So tune in, save the posts, post your comments and questions, if you fancy learning Basic Dyeing too!

At Last April and Spring.

At last the Spring has sprung!

So when the snowdrops suddenly show up I make a pact to hoover the lawn once a week and plant some colourful flowers again...my single daffodil has come and gone and there is still no bedding plants or decent soil!
Anyway moving on quickly before the garden center guilts set in!

Last month I wrote that I had started a pieced quilt...

I suppose it's not the usual shade grading for a Log Cabin Patchwork block. 

It came about because I had already bought the fabrics with the idea of making a Patchwork quilt....KINGSIZE! 

I had been messing about with making patches using the fabric, when perusing TSF, I came along http://www.thesewingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=19093 this thread and thought I'd love a go!

I think I've made at least 6 or 7 mistakes an this quilt...I know you can't see them! 

Things like the fabric is polycotton and moves alot when you press it....

The strips were cut too big so my blocks are HUGH!...oh on and on!!

I guess the main one is my usual problem I try to run before I can walk and just sewing the blocks together was arkward because of their size!! 

I gave up on the idea of actually quilting this top!

 

I decided to use just 18 of the blocks and pair them up with plain and Brodrais Anglais polycotton squares to make a duvet cover instead. 

And lets not talk about finding a not too expensive fabric to make the duvet cover.  Do you realise how expensive that width fabric is!  Ok buy a kingsize flat sheet...are they spun from gold...flatsheets?  I gave in and bought a cheap duvet set and attached the quilt top to it! Et Voila...I really like it....so much it's on my bed now still with threads hanging out!

The last six of the blocks have been made up to quilt.  The blocks have white strips joining them all into a cot sized quilt.  I have white polycotton backing fabric and I've used my iron on wadding to pad it out for quilting.

They are still pinned together to make sure the fabrics don't roam and bunch up.

Well I am pleased with the result if I don't say so myself!

Mind you I have just wasted an hour unpicking the quilting I did last night as the stitches from the top thread are loose on the back side of the quilt!  I'd sewn all along the white sections in rectangles. 

1.  Is the thread too thick for the a) needle or b) the bobbin.

2.  Is this the right needle size now the fabric is three times thicker.

3.  Is the top tension too loose or the bobbin thread to tight.

I'll let you know......Oh well these are the pains and triumphs of a sewers world!

One last bit of news...I've enrolled in the Quilt University!  Yep it's an American site!!  I tried so hard to arrange human classes here, but the ones that were similar to what I wanted to learn were cancelled twice. The one I did start was too beginner for me and then they cancelled that too, not enough takers????.... I contacted another college, their courses arn't starting till Sept...Hhhmmm....what do think?

So watch this space for some colour the course is called 'Cotton Dyeing Basics'! 

My garden might be just shades and tones of green but indoors there'll be riots of colour swatches!  And hopefully not too many items stained!

P.S.  I must apologise for my spelling mistakes last month, the QUILTERS and learner quilters are NOT QUITERS!