I really do love to dye fabric. That isn’t a big secret, is it? Started back in on dyeing this week since we had a stretch of sun and warmth. The colors I chose reminded me of the meadows here.
Then a little darker and deeper shades of the same.
First, thanks for your nice comments on the last post. It was a surprise indeed and I always appreciate your encouragement.
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| Candy Apple by Colleen Cote |
Art Quilt Exhibit
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| Judith Reilly |
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| Karen Kamentsky |
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| Noah Patullo-the 14 year old artist |
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| Marilyn Gillis |
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| Pamela Druhen (the front of this piece) |
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| Pamela Druhen( the back of the same piece) |
I arrived in our second home in Vermont on late Wednesday night. Early Thursday morning, I got up early and drove to Essex Junction for the Vermont Quilt Festival. I had signed up for two small workshops the first two days and arrived to find I didn’t have the right supplies-the festival catalog had misprinted a few of the classes. The class I thought was Thursday was actually Friday. So I scrambled and went on a quick shopping and borrowing spree from my classmates….and rallied. I settled in to a day long workshop with Sonya Barrington on small works of silk. More on that and the other class in the next post. I promise.
Overall, the Vermont Quilt festival was very busy and very well attended. I think it was the busiest I have ever seen it and the rainy day probably helped. I thought in all my years of attending, the show itself was very good. Primarily, it has had an abundance of traditional quilts but this year, there really was a nice variety. Also, there was a special exhibit of Vermont art quilters- one of whom I had met at the Barn this last time with two of her pieces finished-Marilyn Gillis. The other artists that I can remember: Karen Kamensky, Judith Reilly, Pamela Druhen and Noah (he was only fourteen and I was so proud of this kid and I am not his mom!). Very, very nice to see them all.
I was really excited to have won with this piece -1st place in Wall quilts and Best Contemporary Quilt. I never expected it and really my goal was to be brave enough to enter shows. Now, I must get back to making quilts, right?
I am being kicked out of the local coffee shop right now-sorry, I wanted to upload more photos for you. A coffee shop that closes at 5…mmm…back in Vermont. That’s ok. More later on the Quilt Festival.
Be creative, my friends. The beginning of summer- I love it. What are you working on?
Well, that didn’t take a week, did it? Just a quick thought to remind myself: I want to feel free enough to create fabric like she is working with paper and watercolors: Alisa Burke.
I am getting excited to see one of my pieces at the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend and , of course, go to two classes there.
See you when I get to Vermont, maybe Thursday….
Hi guys-
I am supremely tired. I have had to fight some battles for my kids the past two weeks and I am just tired. School battles and coaches battles. Silly things that really shouldn’t have been done to kids but that have taught my kids that honesty, integrity and decency are important. And my kids have shown me amazing things and that they are bigger than the adults involved. Much bigger. My heart is swelling with pride and they did good in some really unfair situations. But at the end of the school year, it just wasn’t what I needed. So, I am taking the week off. No wonderful things will be made. I will go on vacation to Vermont and settle in. And I hope that my big heart will heal after my kids feelings and hearts were hurt. And maybe the mountains will help me be a little less disillusioned by the adults I have just interacted with.
So with that- I’ll be back in a week or so. Stop back and don’t stop being creative just I am not.
I spent some time visiting this week with art friends. On Tuesday , I met a friend Elizabeth for coffee and shared what I had learned at the Barn workshop. She is so enthusiastic and it’s nice to be able to share with her. And sharing with her helped me to clarify what I had learned and what techniques I really didn’t want to focus on. I came home and looked through my box of supplies and you know what tools I liked the best?
Simple things: a credit card for scraping thickened dyes on, foam rollers I cut into, a dishpan scrubber, the cheapo one dollar paintbrush with some bristles chopped off…..
A spreader with great edges
A piece of plexi-glass with duct tape on it. I used it for mono-printing.
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| foam rollers |
I took some of my birthday money and bought myself a present. I have a small addiction to these great pieces from Paula McCullough at PaulaArt. This one came and it was even better than I thought it would be. A beautiful bright blue and the marks on it were really special. It even had a dent -all scritchy, scratchy and scraped where the dent was. I just loved it and want to get some flowers for it next. Go check her out with her three different etsy shops. I have never been disappointed in what I have received!
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| Blue Vase#8 Paula McCullough |
I refuse to count how many I have. I just enjoy them and when you turn 50 you can get whatever you want for your birthday. 🙂
I am working but just not on something I can show you yet. Also, recuperating from the end of year school stuff and trying to process things. Trying to weed out what techniques I want to work on and incorporate into some pieces and what I want to let go of -for now. It’s summer, after all.
Be creative, my friends!
I am going to keep track of how many days I actually spend dyeing this summer and will share with you my results. I hope you aren’t bored to death but I will spend a considerable amount of time dyeing. Now, I dye for a few days and then I just get itchy to start stitching a bit.
It is a love-hate relationship I have with ironing. I have just finished ironing 45 yards of fabric the past week. Not the part I like. But I sure do love the way newly dyed fabric looks when you are done ironing. Yards dyed=yards ironed.
The pieces on the right were pleated and tray dyed with an indigo color. Very pretty.
I will try keeping a better record of my process this summer. At least that is the goal the first week. Just want to see what works and hopefully achieve consistent and reproducible results. I also need to go through my existing stash tonight and see what I need. I know reds, greens and browns.
Off to stitch. Be creative, my friends!
Whew, now back to stitching.
Busy, busy, busy at the end of the school year. From one hour to the next and trying to be efficient and not forget any food I have to bring to all these events. I conclude that May and the first two weeks of June are busier than December. Enough though! It has been deliciously warm here and I have been squeezing the fabric dyeing in at very odd times.
My son said,”Great texture Mom”. A man after my own heart. I love it.
He graduated from 6th grade this week. Hard to believe he is done with elementary school and so am I. Knowing they are ready to move on and yet not wanting to move forward. Very bittersweet.
My sweet, sweet little man.
And my sweet, very hot girl whose team keeps winning in all this heat. 95 degrees last night on a turf field.
Almost to the lazy days of summer, but not quite yet. Just enjoying the kids and trying to dye fabrics this week. I just washed out about twenty yards from yesterday. More tomorrow.
Be creative, my friends!
I had two really remarkable dyeing tips come to me the past few weeks-one at my class from a pair of warrior dyers and one I stumbled on this week. I will share with you. (You can laugh if you already knew this stuff and shake your head at my ignorance. Just don’t tell me you already figured it out. )
When I dye, I prewash even the pfd fabrics. Then I soak them in warm water, wring them out and dye them-dye, soda ash, process them and rinse. Dry and iron. But this time I mistakenly placed all of them in the my soda ash bucket for about 30 minutes. So it was soda ash, dye, soda ash again, process and rinse. LOOK AT HOW SOLID THE COLOR IS!
I was blown away by this. Now, I know that many things enter into a successful dyeing day-temperature, water, etc….but why have I never tried this before? The soda ash prior to adding color made a huge difference. No mottling at all-just solid blue. (The two pieces on the bottom don’t belong in this photo so sorry to confuse you.) I know I would need to reproduce this sequence to claim success but for yesterday, this was a good day. No rolling out, no significant squeezing, just dyeing.
Ok, tell me-do you do this? Add soda ash prior to adding the dye ?
Second fun dyeing tip: When rinsing, dump excess dye from your container. Place your piece of fabric in a bucket of cold water with a few drops of synthrapol for about one hour. Dump your water. Start fresh with your fabric in the bucket -this time hot water with a few drops of synthrapol for one hour. Dump your water, rinse lightly in cold and plop them in the washer with synthrapol. No excessive rinsing even with red. What a difference this makes in the washout. Now like colors need to go in like colored buckets. But the amount of dye going down the drain is really reduced meaning -more stays in your fabric.
I love anything to make it easier. Maybe it was just the day though…I will find out when I try it again.
P.S. I turned 50 today and as much as I dreaded it -really worked myself into this mid life crisis the past year-I feel no different than I did yesterday. 🙂 I just love driving myself crazy, don’t I?
Be creative, my friends!