Tea Bagging

The wadded up mess

Before the rinse

Rinsing in salt water

Dried

My recycle the teabag experiment turned out, hmm, well, ok. Not great.  The first soak in water released a lot of the tea.  Then I soaked it overnight in salted water.  I wrung it out, did one more quick rinse and then let it dry.  The dried photograph is a bit on the light side.  I still think that this idea should work.  The last time I tea dyed something in a full strength solution, it was really dark and then I tried to put it in a bleach solution to lighten it a bit.  Which barely helped.   

I am now saving the tea bags and letting them dry.  When I have a bunch saved up I think that I will start with a wet piece of fabric and re-wet the bags.  Maybe even take out the leaves from the bags. 

As for the first piece, I am going to cut it into fat quarters.  I will use one with another experiment using coffee grounds.  One will stay as is as a control subject.  Maybe I will add rust to another and maybe use the fourth for the second round of the tea bag project.

Has anyone done any experimenting with tea bags/coffee?  OH, how about red wine?

Design wall

Almost done with the swap blocks

I am still working the swap blocks.  I have 2 more sets ready to run through the machine.  I just need to cut one more set and that is the end!

Challenge fabric

Wednesday at the Wales quilt group we were given a fat quarter of this fabric.  We need to use it in a recognizable amount on a quilt.  The challenge is due at the September meeting.  I like the fabric, just don't have an idea yet.

Hexagon layout

I brought my bag of hexagons.  I only have 15 flowers sewn together, but I do have a large bag full of basted hexagons.  I think this is the layout I want, starting from the center and making some sort of medallion.

This is my design wall Monday post for the week.

One year!

I started writing this blog one year ago today!   Thanks to all who have read my blog.  I appreciate the wonderful comments and encouragement.

Mid-April in Utah

Yesterday we woke up to 6 inches of snow.  Welcome to April in Utah!  My daffodils were just starting to open and now they are buried under a heavy wet snow.  Hopefully it will not hang around for too long.

Tea bag dyeing

I have started to drink tea in the afternoons.  2-3 cups of it.  As I was washing out my insulated mug, I realized it was getting some tea stains and it occurred to me that I could use my used tea bags to tea dye some fabric. So I tore off a yard of washed muslin (I don't have any PFD around right now) and wadded it up inside a plastic grocery bag.  I am tucking the wet used tea bags in the fabric and then closing the bag to keep some of the moisture in.  I have been doing this for about 5 days now.  I will give it another week or so and then check it out. I drink a variety of teas, so the colors should be a bit different than if I had used all the same type of tea.

Art Cloth Round Robin

About 6 months ago I blogged about a fabric round robin that a group of my friends invited me to join.  I started my piece of fabric with some rust dyeing. I got my piece back the other day.  I like it!  The photographs are a bit washed out,it is a bit darker. The first  person did some dyeing after blocking the rusty spots with a resist.  Someone else did something with some keys and also gave me a couple of old keys to use in my finished piece.  I like the gridded blues.  I kind of have an idea of what to do with this, but will let it sit for a bit since I don't have a clear vision.  Luckily the deadline has been changed to a later date.

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

Lost and Found

My Bountiful Basket!

Plain sight

Scraps for bowls

Missing sets of swap blocks

Coffee bean burlap bag.

Last year a friend got me hooked on Bountiful Baskets. We got several baskets before our garden started producing.  I usually get them every other week since there is just the two of us feeding off of the basket.  This is our first basket of the year.  And I am pleased, it was a good one!  I hope to get another next week.

A couple weeks ago I had blogged about losing my swap blocks and how they must be in a very safe place.  Sure enough they were in plain sight!  I have a couple of hooks on the side of my cutting table. I use them to hang scissors, rotary cutters, measuring tape and a bag into which I throw my skinny leftover strips for bowls.  I must have hung the bag with the swap blocks on a hook so I wouldn't lose it.  Famous last words.  I have been working on the blocks.  I really need to knuckle down and get them finished and in the mail.

I have been roasting my own coffee for a few years now.  The company I order my green beans from have started to package the beans in these cool burlap bags!  I made a lined knitting bag for my friend and it turned out nice. I have a bunch of these bags (we go through a lot of coffee in this house!) and want to make more for my Etsy shop.  Hopefully if I get the swap blocks finished I can get a prototype made up, I need to improve the design from the one I made for my friend.

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