Playdate with Lisa!

Capitol Reef

I went to Salt Lake earlier this week for my granddaughter's birthday party. While there I arranged to meet up with my dear friend Lisa to retrieve my National Park quilt from her. She lives near my daughter.  As we were making arrangements I mentioned that I was sad to be unable to attend the guild Dye Party that she was heading up. She said we could have our own when you pick up Capitol Reef! Oh Yeah! And so we did!

Twins!

Because so many events have been cancelled in the last year and a half, Lisa and I have not run into each other in about 2 years. Although we are in contact a lot. I drive up to her house and what do I see? A twin of my car! LOL! The last time I saw her she was driving a mini van.  These twins are the same make, model and year. The only difference is that hers is silver and mine is a gray metallic and I have a trailer hitch.

So wonderful to be together!

And since we are both fully vaccinated, we are able to hug and take a photograph with our faces next to each other!

Lisa's outdoor studio

Lisa has a wonderful outdoor covered patio that is perfect for dyeing!

Lisa mixing dyes

We had a wonderful discussion about safety around dyes.  We are both extremely cautious with the fine powders. It is important to always wear a mask when the jars of dyes are open and until the dyes are safely mixed.  We both have taken classes (from different teachers) where they poopooed the importance of masking while handling the powders. It appalls us both. Error on the side of caution. I was at least 10 feet away and upwind from her. There was a slight breeze.

Dye Spots

I had previously tore the fabric into pieces and it was in a pile next to Lisa, downwind. Notice that the dyes made their way on to the fabric. Usually when I mix dyes I put a damp soda ashed piece under where I am mixing so that it will trap any loose powders.  I use the same piece of fabric numerous times. You never know how it will turn out.

Parfaits 

Lisa was showing me some dyeing techniques that I had not used before. This was parfaits. Mine is on the left and Lisa's on the right.

Popsicle sticks

We also did some popsicle sticks and rubber banding. I don't have a photograph of my rubber banded fat quarter.

We each dyed a yard piece and then we had the various fat quarters. The parfaits used 3 fat quarters. Lisa did her yard piece  with the rubber bands.

Swirled and tied

My yard piece was swirled and then tied. 

Ready to cook!

Our bags of fun!  We needed to let them "cook" for a while. I headed back to my daughters house and had all of my baggies in a bucket to take home for rinsing.  I finally rinsed yesterday since I had a busy day Tuesday (party!) and the long drive home on Wednesday

Yard piece swirled

The results of my fabric dyeing.  I am happy with my yard piece! I may do some overdyeing on it.

Parfaits

My camera is not the best, but these are pretty accurate. Some of the dyes were old, and maybe we didn't have enough soda ash. The piece to the right was on top and the left was the bottom.

My rubber banded piece

Again, my camera does not accurately photograph purple. This piece is a deeper purple with a hint of green in the left quadrant.

Popsicle sticks

I used orange at the center and corners. This also has the purple. I am happy with the result.

Fan fold

We also did a fan fold in both directions.  The green is brighter in person. I believe I also used marigold besides the bright green and where they touched made a different green.

Crumpled in a zip lock

I am happy with the dark blue on the left. The other one is meh. So it can be over dyed or stamped or something or another. 
 

I know that Lisa will be blogging about her side of the story sometime soon. So check her blog as well.

Cactus in bloom

My pretty photograph for this post.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Frédérique

On the Road Again!

 I think it is exciting to have a piece of quilt art in a traveling show! I belong to an online group that does a yearly challenge. And then the group of quilts travel together to several shows.  I have been with the group for the last 4 years.  The 2020 collection did not travel since all shows were canceled. So they will travel this year. Our coordinator received a last minute opportunity to display our quilts in a Gallery. She still had possession of the 2020 quilts, but they needed more for the display. She sent out the call for any previous years quilts to expand the collection. I had three quilts available.

Clouds in my Coffee

Sego Lily

20 Circles

I could not find a finished photograph of this piece. I am sure there is one in a very safe place. It was finished with a faced binding. 

Saving Red Knoll

This one is the 2020 piece. The challenge was "community".  My local community came together to save Red Knoll from a frac sand mine proposal.

Here is a link to a video of the show. Video show The exhibit is at the Cultural Activities Center in Temple Texas for the rest of June.

I have two other pieces in traveling shows. And as the previous one, they also were not traveling last year. They are both on display now.

First up is the "Inspired by Elvis" collection which is in Reno for the quilt show this weekend. 

Moonlight Swim

Second up is the "Inspired by Endangered Species" which opens on June 19th at the Forest Preserve District of Will County The entire collection will be there, although spread between 4 of their buildings.

My piece is "Bear Claw Poppy".  Still looking for a photograph of it.

Another Cactus in bloom!

And my pretty photograph for the post.

Linking to:

Alycia

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Anja

Finished with Joe

I have another finish to show off! I took a class from Joe Cunningham in September of 2017. It was a lot of fun! I love free form cutting and sewing techniques and this really hit the spot. As so many of my projects, once this was a top it got set aside.  Sometime in the last year or two  I started to quilt this top. It kept getting put aside.  Earlier this year I was determined to finish it. 

Barbara and my work in class

I was working on my piece in class and then went to the luncheon. I sat across the table from my friend, Barbara. I realized she was wearing a blouse that looked just like my project!  

End of the day progress

I pretty much finished the top in class. Looking at this photograph now I can see the issues that came up later in the process. Look at all those ripples at the edges. And note how it isn't even close to have a straight edge on any of the sides.

Quilted

I finally got it quilted last summer. This is the first trimming. It is too large for my cutting table and I tried to straightened edges by folding it. Did not work. Not only is there ripples at the edge, but it was no where near having 90 degree corners.  It went into time out.  I tried to stay stitch around the edge and then block it flat. Nope.  Time out again.  I pulled it out last month and ironed it and then carefully trimmed. I added a binding and called it good to go.

Finished!

I took this photograph after it had been folded and stored for a bit. It is kinda, sorta flat if you look past the fold lines.  I think I am happy with the final result. Looking at the class photograph I can see that I didn't lose too much of the design in the trimming of the quilted piece. I have a lot of chunks of large trimmings. I set them aside to play with at another time. The quilt measures about 44 inches by 37 inches.

Bowl

I had enough fabric leftover from the backing to make a bowl!  I hadn't made any bowls for a while and it was fun.

And for my pretty photograph of this post I have two of the same cactus flower. I love the coloration of this one! Not sure which photograph I liked better, so added both. Which do you prefer?

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Alycia

Nina-Marie

Gail

Sarah