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Overdyeing

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During the pandemic my in person Art Cloth Mastery program with Jane Dunnewold was moved to zoom meetings. During one of the lessons we were learning about dyeing with primary colors, and how overdyeing those colors affects other colors. It was fascinating and I had a lot of fun creating my pieces. I had decided to manipulate my fabrics using a folded Shibori technique: a double fan fold, and then rubber banding them together to create little bundles.  By doing this there were areas of the fabric that the dye didn't reach (resisted) and so when I overdyed them the dye was overdyeing the dyed and not dyed fabric. I ended up creating a plaid-like design. I had been very good at labeling everything and taking photos of my samples which were long strips of fabric.  Two of my 15 sets of overdyed fabrics. A few years later I was going to teach a few Shibori techniques to my local quilt guild, Quilters Holladay, and I thought I could use some parts of my samples to create a quilt top. Th
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Tree

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 Since I finished "Murder in the Garden" way before the deadline, I thought I would work on a second piece to enter at Quilt National. The piece of hand dyed fabric was talking to me and we decided it needed a lone tree. I made a template, and then painted the tree on using Posca paint markers.  Trying out various threads for the quilting. The quilting is meant to emulate clouds and mountains far off in the distant.  The mountains are semi visible in this photo. After applying a facing, the quilt was ready to be photographed at  Atelier AFA . I finished the hand quilting, and the photography but I didn't know what I should name the quilt. Without a name I didn't have an artist statement, and I wasn't able to name the photos to enter. I thought, and thought about it but nothing was speaking to me. Eventually the quilt did not get entered.  The day after the deadline I discovered Bob Dylan's poem, "And death shall have not dominion." I felt like this p
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Murder in the Garden - Part 6

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 Once everything was done (well except the sleeves and label) I took the quilt to my friends at Atelier A.F.A.    They do a wonderful job of scanning and photographing my art quilts, as well as other art. Front: Back: And just a couple of detail shots: While I was disappointed to not be accepted in to Quilt National 2025, I felt okay about it. There are other shows. I feel confident that Murder in the Garden will make her way somewhere one day. Step in to the garden with me and enjoy the pandemonium. Explore the flowering blossoms. Gaze at the pollinating bees. Appreciate a murder, of crows.
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Murder in the Garden - Part 5

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 Despite having drawers full of mostly Wonderfil Eleganza perle cotton , I found I needed more thread. Most of my perle cotton is an 8 wt, or 12 wt but I wanted some 5 wt (a little heavier) too as well as some other colors in the 8wt. I put in a large order with Wonderfil and waited for the gloriousness to arrive.  Every night I sat in my recliner and stitched until my hands gave up. The numbness of my carpel tunnel could sometimes be miserable. Buzz, buzz. I knew the deadline for entering at Quilt National would be coming up quick so I decided to put a binding on the quilt before I was finished stitching. Everything was quilted down at this point, but I still had a lot of flowers, French knots and other details to add. My thought was that even if I couldn't finish up all those tiny details the quilt would be done "enough" to photograph and submit.  Now with the binding complete I could finish all the embroidery work without worrying it wouldn't be done by the entry d
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Murder in the Garden - Part 4

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 Deciding on the right colors of perle cotton is usually one of the hardest parts. Sometimes it's just best to try a complimentary color and go for it.  After stitching this flower, I decided I should get everything down by quilting going around all of the hexagons. Of course, my sister's cat, Ellla, was there to help me through every stitch. After consulting with my friend, Liz Kettle , I was grateful I didn't have too many shades of gray to use on my Murder of Crows. The shades of blue made for a much more interesting crows. After all the glossiness of a crows feathers are usually a purply-blue. My crows are everything from Turquoise to Cornflower. I always love stopping and having a look at how the stitching is looking on the back. Gratuitous cat supervision photos: I miss this little face. She is now back at home with her mommy. 
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Murder in the Garden - Part 3

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 Putting the blocks together was an interesting process. I really hadn't planned any of it.  Some of the blocks were just too busy so I couldn't use them.  As I said in the last post, I had to print a few more. I could have made this a giant rectangle but I love the shape of the hexagons. I felt I needed to leave some of them hanging out. I made the backing by using up a number of already mixed dyes and a few yards of wide cotton pfd. Love how the piece came out. There is a little peek at the corgi puppy flannel I used as a batting. Once everything was basting together using basting spray, it was time to quilt.
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Murder in the Garden - part 2

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I printed my blocks at Saltgrass Printmaker studio with the help of Stefanie Dykes. First things first, a sample print on paper. And then a bunch of prints on my hand dyed fabric. I only had one block carved when I went in the first time so we used it to make a whole cloth print. I was printing on my own when I went back to the studio to print the rest of the blocks,  so of course I forgot to take photos. When I decided to make a large art quilt with the blocks I realized I didn't have enough blocks. I ended up printing more blocks at home using Speedball Fabric printing ink and a hand brayer. They turned out okay. I was pleasantly surprised. Part 3: Putting it together
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