More Dyeing

My friend Ruth from my quilt group has a condo up at Snowbird and she invites the group up once a year to sew and share in a pot luck lunch.  We always have a good time visiting and seeing what everyone is doing.  This year my friend Sandy drove and I brought a bag of items to arrange and a large cooler.  However the cooler wasn't full of food, it was empty on the way up and right before we left I filled it with Snow.

And why would I do such a crazy thing?

So that I could dye more fabric of course!

And these turned out Gorgeous!  The bucket on the left has two half yard pieces of pfd Kona Cotton and the bucket on the right has a pfd canvas tote bag I bought when I was at Dharma Trading last summer.

The weather was so warm last night (in the 40's and 50's) I left the buckets out on the patio and this morning the snow was mostly gone and it had left the most beautiful patterns.

The tote. . .

and

And the two half yards:

I was able to get some great photos so that these colors look very true on my monitor.  I hope they look as good on yours. I used PR15 : AMETHYST and PR25 : TURQUOISE  Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes which I also purchased from Dharma Trading.

The lighter spots are not flash burns in the photo but actual almost white portions of the fabric.  I love the textures in these pieces.  I think I'm going to have a hard time cutting them up.  I may have to just hang them up as is for awhile and enjoy the rich color and texture.

Snow Dyeing

Last week, it snowed.

So I dyed.

Snow Resist Dyeing.

I read about it in the Oct/Nov issue of Quilting Arts Magazine.

Soda Ash soaked fabric is scrunched in to the bottom of the bucket. 

Pack snow on top and dump dye over that. 

Bring it inside and wait for the snow to melt, then rinse.

I actually did four different buckets and loved it.

My fabrics aren't actually as rich as this photo shows.  I didn't use enough dye.  Next time I will but sadly spring snow melts all too quickly here on the foothills.  It snowed again Saturday night but I was too busy to dye and the snow is already gone.  A friend from quilting has a condo up at Snowbird and has invited us to come sew on Wednesday.  I'm hoping to grab some snow and do more dyeing while I'm there.

Deep Blue Sea and More

I finally finished up my entry for The 12x12 Project's Blue theme:

When I think of blue I think of the ocean and I take a deep wistful sigh.  While I was in Hawaii a few years back I went snorkeling.  I loved looking all the amazing fish and coral.  However my heart still skips a beat when I think about almost swimming head first into a turtle.  She was so beautiful and after we got over the shock of almost running into each other she seemed as curious about me as I was about her.  It was a miraculous moment for me. 

I created the turtle using a photograph that I printed onto tissue paper.  After the tissue paper was sprayed with three layers of finishing spray, I crumpled it several times and then fused it to fabric.  This along with the coral was then machine appliqued to the background.  The crumpled tissue paper adds a very nice texture to the turtle.

Last week I finished up my entry for the Quilting Arts Magazine 2011 Calendar Contest.  The theme this year was "Flavor of the Month." 

As I pondered the theme of “Flavor of the Month” I thought of all the summer foods that I love: watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, tomatoes. Mmm. . .fresh-off-the-vine-tomatoes and crunchy lettuce on a big, fat, juicy hot-off-the-grill-cheeseburger! It makes my mouth water.  (I am not responsible for any damage done to your computer as a result of your drooling)

I hand appliquéd the buns, meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes onto a batik fabric. Highlights were added to the buns and tomato with Paintstiks. Sesame seeds were created using perle cotton and then I quilted swirls of steam coming up off the burger as well as a few words of enjoyment onto the background.  I won't find out for a month or so if it is a finalist so keep your fingers crossed!

Please Vote

I am one of eight participants in a "So You Think You Can Quilt" contest on the blog "Brown Paper Packages" and today was the first day of voting.  The theme was "Love" and there are some pretty awesome quilts in the contest.  I can't tell you which one is mine but if you have a minute please click on this link and look at all the quilts and read the explainations before voting for the quilt you love the most.  I'll let you know who the winner is next week.  Wish me luck!