Working with the Weather

In a land of fairly distinct seasons -- the longest of which seems to be winter -- the weather is a never-ending source of fascination and discussion.  When I have snow, I snow dye.

And, when I have hot sunshine, well...

Friday, July 28 was hot and sunny -- one of many such days, often very hot for this part of Canada, this summer thus far.  I decided that I really shouldn't waste any more of the heat, and set out some jars of silk fabric and merino fleece in acid dye, for solar dyeing.  While I have the book Teach Yourself Visually Hand-dyeing by Barbara Parry, I also pulled an online reference from "jazzturtle", which I found to be the perfect complement to the process.

Following their instructions, I managed to fill nine large glass mason jars (ones too large for the jam-making I do) with combinations of silk fabric in various weights and weaves, and clean, uncarded merino fleece purchased on the cheap at a fibre festival several years ago.

The acid dyes I own aren't new either.  A couple -- hot pink and an orange -- are from Jacquard.  They needed the acid (I used plain white vinegar) added to them.  The others are from Gaywool, and already include the acidifier/mordant.  I bought them -- yes, several years ago -- at a knitting/spinning retreat.

Knowing the older these dyes get, the less effective they can be, nonetheless I persisted, and put the jars out in the sun:

Typically, the weather almost immediately got partly cloudy and cooled off.  I alternated setting the jars under a black plastic garbage bag -- to attract and hold in the heat -- and leaving them out.  We had a few evenings with thunder storms and at least one day of rain.  I remained undeterred; I had time.  I left them out -- moving them from time to time for better sun advantage -- for a full week. (Remember, this is Central Alberta, Canada, where temps in the high twenties and low thirties Celsius are rare, and don't last all day.  It cools off at night here -- and sometimes even before sundown, and doesn't get past the teens till well after sunrise.)

Last Friday, I decided it was time to reel them in.  The liquid in the pink and the orange jars (Jacquard dye) was almost clear, so I knew they'd be "done".  The deep reds and red-browns and brown-blacks?  Not so much.  I rotated ALL the jars through a 30-minute steam bath in a large kettle...then rinsed them in Synthrapol...and laid/hung them out to dry.  I must say, I'm pleased with the results!

Silk "brights"

Silk "earth tones"

Merino Fleece - "earth tones"

Merino Fleece - "brights"

I plan to use the 'earth tone' fleece largely in needle-felting projects; the brights I hope to tease out and try to spin them.  We'll see...because there are a great many "short cuts" in that fleece.  That's why it was so inexpensive in the first place!

As for the fabric...it will make its way gradually into various art pieces, as the Muse leads.

The idea is to use the dyes and the fabric and the fleece, not treat it as 'too precious' and thus hold onto it.  Life's too short not to play with these materials while I can!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday on the Needle and Thread Network -- for the first time in ages -- and wishing you all a lovely rest of the week!

Time to Catch Up

My last post wasn't made even a week ago, but it seems longer.  A great deal has been going on, and I'm only just getting back into a routine.

Friday (Aug. 1), late in the day, my friends arrived from Calgary for the weekend.  They've been here before for such weekends -- whereupon we talk a lot, eat a lot of wonderful food (often al fresco), make a lot, and sleep a little.  This weekend Mother Nature smiled upon us and the sun was out just about all day, every day.

Mary sketching

Shalaya preparing to rust fabric

Wonderful things happen during this sort of weekend.  For one thing, my friends get me to do things I've been meaning to do and have been procrastinating about, like acid-dyeing silk and wool yarn, heat-set by the sun:

Start with the Primary Colours, eh?

Move on to secondary colours...and wool yarn...

Next, I get to see what they're working on, and to learn their techniques for doing what I may have already done on my own, like rusting fabric.  And...we share not only ideas but materials (many of those rusty bits came from my stash).

More silk -- and Shalays' rusted fabric - drying in the breeze

Friday and Sunday night we barbequed (chicken, then beef) but Saturday the gals treated me to dinner at a wonderful family-owned restaurant in Lacombe -- Leto's Steak & Seafood House.  If you're ever in the area, you need to try it!  Don't be fooled by the "official" name, though.  The family that owns and runs is it Greek, and the lamb is....perfection!  (Guess how I know!)

Monday was a holiday here but still the gals had to head back to the city early enough to beat the "wagon train" of campers and trailers that would be heading back later in the day.  We had a thunderstorm Sunday night, so it was lovely and cool Monday a.m. -- perfect for heading out to the "U-Pick" at Billyco Junction Gardens near Lacombe...aiming for strawberries, honeyberries and Saskatoons. Another something I'd been "thinking about doing" but needed a prod...

After a good morning's picking, we went to the Honeyberry Cafe for lunch.  I had the beet soup (not traditional borscht) with barley bread...and Mary and I shared the last piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie in the kitchen.  All of this was enjoyed on the patio. Mmmmm...

Ellis Bird Farm, near Lacombe, AB

We went our separate ways after lunch with a promise to do this again soon -- maybe even next summer -- with the next planned feature to be a field trip to the Ellis Bird Farm (and tea room...of course!)

Over the next day and a half, I finished the process of dyeing the silks by washing and drying them on the rack in the sunshine.  I had a bit of trouble with the Sun Yellow dye bath "curdling" (i.e., producing a residue of apparently undissolved dye when left overnight).  This seemed to be resolve with added heat  (via microwave).  However, I think that the Scarlet and the Sky Blue were such strong colours that a) the second red silk sample barely absorbed any secondary (yellow) dye (I was hoping for orange); and b) the blue sample, when yellow was added, turned into a beautiful deep green, but still had yellow residue -- it was clearly pretty saturated too!

Top to Bottom: Pure Scarlet, Scarlet + SunYellow,
Pure Sun Yellow, Sun Yellow + Sky Blue,
Sky Blue + Sun Yellow, Pure Sky Blue

Each piece positively glows!  I have plans for them, so look for up-coming pieces...

In addition to finishing up the dyeing, I put the Saskatoons in the freezer for future use and turned the strawberries into jam:

Jammin' on Tuesday

I also got back to some sewdio activities, including more pieced blocks for the Japanese Taupe Quilt.  I've managed to lay out the first corner section (to finish at 45" x 45")...and I'm thinking I need to replace the centre line of five (5) plain blocks (which would otherwise have quilted motifs) with something with a subtle print -- or with an applique on that plain background.  I laid the section out on the stripped bed in the guest room.  Ideas, anyone?

Finally, because it's now August, I assembled Block #8 of the "Four by Four" Block-of-the-Month that I began in January, in Christmas-themed fabrics.  This one is called "Cross & Crown" and I rather like it.  Because I'm working with the admittedly small stash of "Christmas" fabric I have on hand (I'm not a 'holiday quilting' person), it's always a challenge to interpret the pattern -- even though I collected these particular fabrics to go with the background and pattern provided by the LQS.

Cross & Crown - 4 x 4 BOM - Block #8

So...while only the BOM and the Taupe Quilt qualify as 'WIPs'...I'm linkin' to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network.  Then...I'm heading outside for a bit of time in the late afternoon/early evening sunshine.  Gosh, I hope it's cooled off by now!

Day Interrupted

I set out each morning with a list -- in my head -- of things I want to do that day.  Sometimes I write the list in one long, run-on sentence in my Morning Pages, but more often than not, it's merely in my head.  I'd like to think this reflects some ability to be flexible (never my strong suit; just ask my kids!), but in reality, I like to proceed from point A to point B and so on down the line without much to interfere with "my" plans (yes, that's God you hear laughing).

Today I began well.  After my usual morning routine (Morning Pages, devotions, prayers, breakfast, e-mail, weather report online, Joyce Meyer Ministries broadcast online), I put some more ribbons in the dye pot.

This approach differs from yesterday's in this: yesterday I put the dye bath directly into the pot.  Today, I took up the instructions from my morning e-mail, courtesy of Dharma Trading, to "Play Silk Rainbow With Dharma Acid Dyes".  Now, the dyes I've been using are from Jacquard, but I bought them through Dharma...so there you go!

Because I was dyeing small skeins of silk ribbon (wound off the spool onto my niddy-noddy and secured with scraps of 100% wool), I used the smallest jars I had on hand -- baby food jars I've used for mixing MX dyes in the past.  All had been washed free of the MX, so were ready to use for this project.

Per the instructions, I filled each jar a bit more than half-way with hot water.  I put a skein of ribbon in each. For the dye, I turned to the un-exhausted brown dye bath I had left from yesterday, and put a teaspoon in each.  In the largest jar, I added a few drops of the deep purple/navy dye bath left over.  In one of the smaller jars, I put a second teaspoon of the brown.

Things were proceeding nicely when Diesel got up from his nap to eat...and I noticed some swelling around his throat.  I felt the area -- possible abscess!  I called the vet -- it was about 10:30 a.m. -- and was able to get him in for 11:30 a.m.

What about the dye bath?!  Blessedly, it had to simmer for only 20 minutes, have vinegar added to each jar (I decided to put 1 tsp. in each) and simmer another 20 before being allowed to cool.

I carted Diesel off to the vet at the appointed time.  In the interim, it appeared he'd self-drained the wound, so he was thoroughly checked over, given an antibiotic by injection, and I brought him home -- with a bottle of oral antibiotic to be given 3 times a day till finished (about 5 days).

As soon as I got him home, he ate and went out for a few hours.  Now that he's returned and had his supper, he's getting his own back.  Clearly there's no way I can sew up the second side seam of this sweater tonight:

Ah well.  There's still beading to do on "Wonder"...

Last evening, instead of beading, I finished another row on the Atlantic Sampler, and now it looks like this (well, the bottom half of it, anyway):

Only 3 rows to go...and the deadline (gift date) is just over a month away.

And those ribbons?

Here's how they turned out (middle right side):

Wait!  What's that fabric? (I can hear you asking...)  Well...remember the goodies I gave away during my three-week Blog-anniversary celebration in February?  Pat was a winner of one of the surprise mid-week treats -- and she returned the favour by sending me a packet that included several batik charm squares that (purely coincidentally!) match my new ribbons!

Also in the package that arrived from her today were these yummy fabrics -- "fruit-flavoured" batiks and some landscape fabric and one that's just plain sewing goodness.  And the lovely gift card she painted and created herself!

Aren't I spoiled?!  Thanks Pat!

Now where did I put that to-do list?

Steady She Goes

It may seem from this post that there's a great deal going on, but it's all been sewdio work, of one sort or another.

Monday I worked on P's birthday quilt, gradually filling my design wall.  I really like how it's shaping up.  With a couple of borders, it'll be throw-sized -- and P's the kind of gal who likes to curl up on her couch with her cat, so that'll be just fine.

Yesterday I started a wee gift for my room-mate-to-be at the SAQA Conference, and today I finished it up. I used a couple of pieces of sun-dyed fabric from last summer's session.  The outer cover is some sort of semi-sheer of indeterminate origin (!) and the flaps inside are some sort of synthetic slippery stuff, also of unknown material.  The lining is a commercial cotton.  Or maybe a poly-cotton.  (I dyed the first two, but not the lining fabric; it was already that colour.)  All of the fabrics were given me a few years back...

The bookmark is some Treenway Silk ribbon from the Judith Montano Series in the "Cedar" colour-way; it's stitched in place and embellished with a bead or two.  Green, of course!

Journal Cover - outside (about 6" by 8", folded)

Journal Cover - inside

Speaking of silk ribbon, my order from Dharma Trading arrived yesterday, so today I took my first plunge into acid dyeing and made these, using my modest collection of Jacquard Acid Dyes.

 It was easier than I thought, but the mixing will take some experimenting.  The instructions on the website and the jar, and in my "Teach Yourself Visually Dyeing" book all assume you're going to produce massive quantities of dyed material.  I went quite small with my measurements -- or so I thought -- but ended up having to both dilute my dye bath and shorten the time the ribbon soaked in it, in order to get a paler product.  I have dye bath left over, however -- in two colours (brown and purple-navy), so will play with combinations of them plus water till I get what I want.


I was aiming for something I could use for dry grasses/cat-tails along the pond in "Waiting for the Train".  On the upper left corner of the card you'll see a small bright orange piece and right next to it, a dark purply-navy.
The first is pure Golden Yellow -- clearly very concentrated!!  The second was created from Golden Yellow, Sky Blue and a touch of Scarlet.  Both were good starting points.

I began with a tiny bit of ribbon and boiling water, dye and vinegar in a glass jar (recommended by a dear friend who used to run her own dye-works).  Then I dug out my dye pot, put all the Golden Yellow mixture into it and began to play.  I added a cup of the purple-navy mixture, and then measured in several cups of hot water, and added some more vinegar.  That produced the deep brown, and the slightly paler red-brown you see on the left side of the card.  Adding more water/vinegar and shortening the time in the bath produced three pieces that are closer to what I'm aiming for -- the last 3 on the card moving from left to right.

All, of course, will be used somewhere or other.  Tomorrow, I may brew up another batch, using the two original colours as my foundation, diluting and adjusting from there.  This is just too much fun to fuss over!

As for "Wonder"...the beading hasn't started yet...but this evening, most likely.

In the Knitting Department, remember the sleeveless turtleneck?  I'm doing the ribbing around the second armhole.  Almost there!

P.S. Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network.  Wanna join me?