new day, new project

From hideous mistake to potential serviceability.
A little dye, some new zippers and a little TLC. Who knows, I may run wild and break out the beads!

I've been shopping for a new bag for a while now with no success and realize it's because I'm hung up on an old favorite that needs a second chance.

Pastel Hell

Lesson learned. Some rot about being conceived or executed in haste. I have paid the price for disregarding a few cardinal rules. #1..let the dye warm up after you take it from the fridge. #2 be positive of the nature of your cloth. This sheet turned out to have a dash of synthetic by the looks of the results.

One of the groups making quilts for the quake survivors in Japan will be getting a whole tops worth of 8" squares by the end of the week.

PS- thanks for all the positive comments. I should know by now that my pastel dreams never satisfy my craving for the bold, daring and vibrant when I am awake and fully aware. I know someone will make something beautiful with these and then it will be given to someone who will appreciate it's function first and maybe it's beauty too. 

Easter

I hard boiled a few eggs this morning but have left off dyeing them. A giant chocolate rabbit has been being nibbled at for a week already, beyond a Sunday dinner, we don't do Easter now that the boys are (mostly) grown. It used to be like minor Christmas here on Easter. Somehow the notion of new toys crept into the baskets in place of excess candy.

There was cloth to dye today first thing. Sometimes ideas come in dreams.






Whether or not this is a good idea remains to be seen. This fabric has been lolling in the soda ash tub a while now. I ripped it into strips and rolled them, not too tightly.

the dye went straight onto the turkey platter and the ends dabbed in colors.

the rolls then stood on their heads in mason jars for a few minutes...and then taken out and flipped over to take full advantage of gravity from the opposite direction.

and then laid out like so many tasty little Cannoli to spend the day drying in the hot sun.

Now to keep my hands off them for a while.
 
PS...why wait? I unrolled them to dry flat in the sun...quickly.

spoze-yah update

I like the overall effect but it was a whole lot of work although the process could be refined to make enough fabric for a project in one session. Not as much "creep" as I wanted from the dye...thickener maybe. Maybe doing the creep thing after the blocks are stitched together and wet with soda ash. More trials to come.

I came into a large quantity of thick poly felt and wanted to see how it went under the needle. Machine quilting here is too mannered for my taste. Hand quilting is in order but not for a while.

plotting

I have been captivated by this quilt on the cover of Susan Beal's "Modern Log Cabin Quilting" and spent part of my evening doing my own version of Jude's "what iffing" but I've always called it "spoze-yah" (go on, say it out loud) .

It involves some things I have been warned against, like sewing dyed and painted but unrinsed cloth. Speculating about some of Mary Anne Jordan's pieces like this one and thinking about what the dye will do if you just let it.