Sometimes magic

Ten yards down, a thousand to go. Give or take.

It's been a long time since I've been so pleased with the fruits of a dyefest.

Keys to remember. Patience & Pacing. It's a lot of physical work in hot and sweaty conditions. Prep everything in the days before. Mix colors fresh, right after coffee. Label your colors! Good to know what works and what doesn't so there's no waste in the next go-round. Measure if that's the way your soul pinches you. I don't.

Wait until after midday to begin. Tent or hat a must.

Music!

I put two large damask tablecloths down on the work surface. They are informed by spills and scatter.

They will need a splash of soda ash water if you want to keep the color. Or not, they can come to the next dyefest for a rematch.

The new colors made a big difference. Cotton Candy and Hot Pink jumped right in and set things afire!

The blues ran true. Lapis a strong player. I never buy green. Greens are born.

So all of this, cloth and thread, sat under the rising Strawberry moon until a thunderstorm swallowed it whole. They rinsed in the rain, then baked in the humidity the next day. More rain, all the while steeping in the scent of my neighbor's magnolias.

I'm still deciding what to call this batch. It will come to me while I'm winding them off.

A hot mess

Right after this sunset, the pink moon peeked over the opposite horizon for a few minutes before it was swallowed whole by a thunderstorm. Cloth and thread remain out in the elements until tomorrow. A very special batch.

Dye day looms

I'm planning a big dye day tomorrow, pacing myself. Lots of thread and cloth are already prepped and waiting.  These are new colors. I will be using some of the old as well and blends, of course. I rarely use colors "straight out of the can".

I will be dyeing about a dozen skeins of that cotton/silk twist.

There will be black and white, like bakery thread, a range of pinks and greens (missing from my personal stash).

Are there colors/blends you've been wanting to see?  Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Jake

Happy birthday to my youngest son, Jake.

I was a mere producer. Jimmy, the director.

We did so good with our love.

The Provence Fling

A morning spent waiting for something else has produced this. Lighter and bigger than I thought while working at the machine.

I may slice and splice once or twice.  There's another quarter with a few more dashes of color, but I don't think I'll have enough to do both sides this way. Some other cloth and manner will step in.

When both sides are done, I'm thinking I may overdye them. One in saffron the other turquoise. Cohesion.

No batting, just front, and back that will be stitched together with my running quarter that never, ever goes in a straight line. Think of spaghetti. But not with the Dirty Threads. I have spools of 12 weight Sulky cotton that flies through the cloth with a slash of Thread Heaven aboard. It stands up to use and laundering best.

I'll need some safety pins.



The crowd cheers me on.