I've got the Dyeing Blues!

Turquoise in a ziplock

Accordion folded in a ziplock

Crumpled in a ziplock

Accordion folded on the diagonal in a ziplock

Dye painted on with sponge brushes.

I did a second dyeing!  This time I was working with 4 shades of blue.  My favorite color! I dyed 3 yards of fabric.  4 half yards and then one big yard piece I painted the dyes on.  The photo of that one is not true to the color.  It is going to be a night sky scene. I had so much fun with this!  I always enjoyed the dye party that the guild in Salt Lake puts on almost every summer.  So I did have a pile of hand dyes that I had done the last couple of years.  But I hadn't washed them after the rinse and had an issue when I used a piece in a quilt.  I had washed the quilt to block it.  The hand dyed piece leached dye, but only into the back of the quilt.  After this dye session I decided to wash all of my hand dyes with synthrapol to be on the safe side. I found that I had a bunch of "scenes" that I had dyed at the parties that never got finished.

Mountains

I am not sure what I was trying to design with this

And each year I had made a tree.  A series of sorts I guess.  The bottom tree was the first one and the top was the second.  The middle one is my favorite right now.  But that could change.  So my goal for 2014 is to get some of these scenes quilted and embellished. I am also wanting to try some stuffed work on the trunks of the trees.  So a new technique to start the new year.

Two years ago my friend Anne and I did a collaboration. It was very inspiring for me.  I set the rules; we each pieced a top and then the other had to somehow expand it from within and then finish it off.  We decided to do another collaboration.  This time Anne set the rules.  We were to send the other person 2 fat quarters, or quarter yards.  One was to be hand dyed (by us).  The other could be dyed, but had to have some sort of surface design added. Stamping, painting, or whatever.  We then have to use a recognizable amount of each on the front and can add two more fabrics to the mix. We just exchanged our fabrics. We will be having a reveal of our quilts in the fall.

My dyed piece for Anne

Oops, forgot to take a photo after I had
rubbed a paint stick over a textured surface
the turquoise fabric

I thought I had taken a photograph of my surface design piece of fabric.  Can't find it.  But it is really cool!  I rubbed a Shiva paint stick over a texture plate.  I used a copper metallic stick.  

The fabrics that Anne sent to me.

I have an idea on what I want to do with these two fat quarters.  I am still in the mentally designing stage. And I won't be able to show you my progress, you will just have to check back in September!


This is my Off the Wall post for this week.  Check out Nina-Marie's blog to see what everyone else is up to!