Dyeing with Friends

Tonight was my quilt guilds annual Dye Party.

Everyone receives instruction on how to dye their cotton fabrics using fiber reactive dyes and soda ash. Anne (in the white shirt and bent over showing us how to do marbling) is always in charge of general instruction.  She is a very talented artist.  Just check her website and see for yourself!

I demonstrated how to do ice dyeing and. . .

. . .what else. . .ice dye parfait!

 Surprisingly, despite the 102 degree temperatures when we arrived, the ice had not completely melted on either project when I left the party 3 hours later!  I will have to rinse it all out tomorrow when it has completely melted.

We are all very intent on our dyeing.

 Which means we are all having a great time.

 We discuss possibilities. . .

 and get to work!

But not everyone comes to dye. . .

 . . .some come for the stimulating conversations.

 Here are a few of the results from tonights dye session.

This is Anne's marble dye demonstration piece.

  We couldn't decide if it looked more like toothpaste or salt water taffy.

 We have some very creative people in our group. . . 

Betty Jo, who always allows us to use her back yard for the dye party, has a rather large lot behind her backyard and there are usually horses or cows in the back pasture.  This year she has some sheep.

They are adorable and very soft.

 This is April. . .

. . .and this is Gus.

 A few of the ladies also brought some beautiful finished quilt projects for show and tell.

I love the northwestern feel of this quilt.

 These adorable faces belong to Nan's grandchildren.

 These talented ladies inspire me to be better every time I meet with them!  

Who inspires you?