Bad Idea - Good Idea

I have looked until I am cross-eyed for the fabric I dyed from the rose water - but no luck!

I don't understand where it went.

I should never have cleaned my studio!

*deep sigh*

Oh well, let me share the results from the rose petal folding/pressing:

I took pfd fabric, soaked it in a mordant and folded it up nicely.

And a few weeks later I got this yucky brownish green fabric:

Isn't it lovely?

*gag*

And the fabric which was dyed with this rich burgundy color from the rose petals?

The one I can't find?

It came out this color:

Green?!?!

Yup, Green.

As soon as I saw the color I knew what my mistake was.

It was basic chemistry - 

and since I have NEVER taken a basic chemistry class we should all be impressed that I even knew what the problem was so quickly:

I used the wrong mordant.

I used soda ash and I should have used vinegar.

I'm not sure what the fancy chemical reactions are (please explain in the comments if you do know!) but I was certain I was right.

I searched the internet and found that yes indeedy I was absolutely correct.

It is time to buy myself some new roses and give this another try.

This time with vinegar!

To be continued. . .

Mixed Media Apron

Editors Note:  The Rose Dyeing reveal scheduled for today will actually be posted tomorrow (hopefully) as I cannot find the fabric to photograph now that I have neatly arranged everything in my studio!  See this post.

The Utah Surface Design Group is hosting an art show next month at The Michael Berry Gallery in downtown Salt Lake.   I am new to the group and am a little hesitant about entering anything into the show until the group announced that they would also have an Apron exhibit.  Certainly I could make an apron to show.  I debated whether to go traditional or all out quilted or mixed media.  I pondered and debated what I would do for two months and then suddenly the apron was due in two days!  It was time to get to work!

I finally decided to go mixed media.  The apron would not be useable but instead be a piece of art.  I started by creating my fabric from the pages of a couple of old cookbooks I picked up at a local thrift store.  The pages seemed a bit plain so I put some of the cookbook pages through the laser printer.  I printed images on them I had acquired through The Graphics Fairy.  I LOVE the images she posts and they are all copyright free so I can use them without a worry.

 I then painted a wash over the top of the images (which is actually difficult to see in the photo below but it's a light purply pink) and then I proceeded to draw flowers and vines on top. 

A little paint was added to the flowers and vines.

 And then I had a completed piece of "fabric".

 Once the fabric was made it was time to make the apron.    

 (oops - forgot to flip that photo - you can turn your head sideways right?)

 I enveloped each piece with a cotton fabric and batting before quilting the 3 individual pieces and putting the apron all together.  (Piece on left is quilted yet as I contemplated not quilting the entire piece - I decided that was a bad idea and quilted everything.)

I added a fabric waistband and painted it a bit to blend in with the apron.  I was pleased with the results and it received some very nice reviews at the USDG as well.

A close up of one of the five or six images I printed out from

The Graphic's Fairy.

My apron, along with a number of other aprons, and a lot of great art work from the group will be on display (and for sale) from April 20th thru June 8th.

Rose Dyeing & Printing

I love roses and grow some in my yard.  My husband loves roses too but doesn't always buy them for me.  He likes to buy them but I protest because they are so very expensive for something so short lived.  Not to mention that the cats like to climb onto the table to eat them. 

On the other hand they are so absolutely beautiful and fragrant and always make my day.  And so some years he has bought them for Valentines and some years he has not.  This Valentines was a buy year. There were actually a dozen of these red beauties but somehow I managed to miss photographing them.)

Last year was also a buy year.  Maybe there is a trend here. 

As I sat and admired the roses in the pretty new vase I received from a friend for Christmas I wished the flowers would last longer.  I decided I would turn the petals into a dye and also experiment with wrapping some up in fabric to make prints.

So one snowy day I took some pfd fabric and laid the rose petals down in a row.

 Rolled the fabric over and put down another layer of petals.

And another

Until I filled up the entire piece of fabric and folded it as small as I could.

I then tucked it away into a space in my sewing room to dry for a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile I took the rest of the rose petals

 and boiled all the color out of them in a pot on the stove.

The color from the petals looked beautiful!

Such a rich color but I thought I would probably end up with a pink piece of fabric.

I will show you photos of the fabric when I post again on Monday.

Dirty Little Secrets

I'm about to share an embarrassing secret with you.

Perhaps you have this secret as well.

My studio regularly turns into a disaster area.

I like to blame a mischievous cat who knocks things around
as well as a creative daughter who manages to avoid me when I ask her to put things away but to be honest - it is mostly my fault.
I have been sewing and painting like crazy since before Christmas and have straighten up once in a while but it just wasn't enough.  Last week I had finally had enough!

I mean, just look at this disaster:

A- Started to put up cork board squares and didn't finish

B - Mischievous Cat making himself at home among the mess

C - Daughters missing water bottle - oops I guess I stole it

D - Boxes of stuff from classes I taught last Oct. that need to be put away

E - Bags and Bags of projects needing attention

Keiko is scared to enter the room because it is so messy.

What a disaster!

I just couldn't hide from the mess anymore.

Something had to be done!!!
So this week, I spent an entire day rearranging the furniture
and putting up new shelves.
Then two days getting everything into it's place.

And I couldn't have finished without the help of my friend, Sylvia, who kept virtually harassing encouraging me, and my creative daughter who ran things here and there whenever asked.

My daughter was motivated by the desk I gave her for all of her art supplies.

I like the new arrangement and I really like the cleanliness.

*deep sigh*

It's so beautiful when it's clean.

Another secret:  Next week it won't be this clean.

Jelly Roll 1600

I've been a little obsessed with these Jelly Roll 1600 quilts.  It's easy to get obsessed because they only take an hour to sew the top.

Yes, you read that right.

One Hour for a 48" x 64" quilt top.

This one is made from Jane Sassaman fabrics.

The plan for Monday is to get it quilted and hung in the shop before the big sale starts on Wednesday.

Charlotte Warr Andersen

I had the opportunity to take a three day appliqué portrait class from Charlotte Warr Andersen the last three weeks. 

  I love her quilts and have wanted to do a portrait quilt for some time.

 Charlotte collaborated with her daughter on this beautiful piece.

 Her daughter painted the faces and armor. 

 This wolf and horse are actually pieced, not appliquéd.  I'm hoping she teaches this class sometime soon.

 And yes, the wolf is upside-down and I forgot to flip it around before posting. :S

I am working on a portrait of my cat, Bubba.  I thought a cat might be a little easier than a face.  Turns out I was WRONG!  I'll post the portrait once I finish it but in the meantime here is the photo I'm working with:

Wish me luck!

The Kindness Chronicles

It's time to make the world a better place by showing a little kindness.  

(Click this link to read all about The Kindness Chronicles.)

Smile at someone and really mean it.

Do the dishes for your spouse without being asked (I know, most of you are the ones who are doing the washing already but my husband likes to wash the dishes and one day I did them instead, just because).

Let someone in front of you at the store or on the road.

Bring coupons you won't be using to the store and leave them on the shelves next to the products.  (This one has made me very happy when others have done it.)

Make cookies for a neighbor and learn who they are.

What random act of kindness have you done this month?  I'd love to hear what you've done and ideas you haven't done yet so that I will have more ideas of ways to be kind this month!

Over Dyeing

No the title doesn't refer to me being tired of dyeing fabrics.  I don't think I've done enough dyeing for that to happen yet.  It refers to these blocks here:

At a Quilters Holladay meeting someone gave me these lovely hand appliquéd blocks and wondered if I would like to try spicing them up a little.  They sat in a bag for a while and were finally pulled out during the last snow storm, along with some dyes I mixed last fall.  The dyes have been in the refrigerator but I still wondered if they had any oomph left in them.

Apparently they did!

I'm thinking about over dyeing these blocks again.

Any color suggestions?

Jelly Roll Racing

Last spring I won a Jelly Roll of Fabric (basically a Jelly Roll is forty 2 1/2" wide strips of fabric).  The colors and style of the fabric are not in my favorite color way so they have sat on a shelf.  I finally decided that perhaps they should be used and might make a sweet baby quilt for someone.  I looked for ideas and came across a video in which a quilt top was made in just one hour!  And it was cute too.

I pulled out the jelly roll and went to work.  Sure enough, one hour later I had a good sized quilt top!  Mister would not let me photograph it without him.  I'm thinking that if I put some red borders on it and get it quilted I might actually like it on my bed.

I'm now looking at jelly rolls in a whole new way!