I Almost Forgot!

While I was working away on my "Connected" piece yesterday, I had a couple more pieces of silk and a piece of unprimed artist's canvas simmering in the second dye bath made from the ornamental crab leaves.  (Yes, I made two batches from the one gathering of leaves!)  I still have a bit of the bath left for another time.  What was interesting was the results on the silk, compared to the effect of the bark dye bath.

First the silk charmeuse:

Next, the silk habotai:

The bark dye produced a golden colour, while the leaves produced more of a red-brown.  Either way, they're delicious, don't you think?

Oh...and the canvas?  An interesting gathering of dye residue in creases, for a slightly rusted look:

With all this playing around, I have only a small strip of silk to take into my Craftsy class with Jane Dunnewold.  Time to order some more I guess, eh?  Music to this quilter's ears!

And in Other News

I have some more natural dyeing results to report.  :-)

A few days ago I shared a photo of the first batch of leaf-dyed fabric and wool batting I'd tried.  At the same time, I'd tucked away two bundles of silk (one habotai, one charmeuse) wrapped around some of the leaves from that dye bath, secured with heavy picture wire and sprinkled with vinegar.  They'd sat in a sunny window ever since.

This morning I unwrapped and rinsed them, and ironed them dry.

Oh my.

Before I post the photos, let me assure my dear friend arlee that she has no competition from me on this front.  :-)  Here's a photo of a portion of the piece of silk I bought from her Fyberspace Shop recently:

arlee's fabulous fabric (C) 2013 arlee barr

And I thank arlee for the inspiration...I just had to see if I could do it, even on a small scale.  So here's the leaf-wrapped silk charmeuse:

Left edge

Centre

Right edge

And now the leaf-wrapped silk habotai:

Left edge

Centre 

Right edge

I love the effect of the leaves, and the imprint of the rusty bits of wire binding...and just the general texture of each piece.   I know there are tree trunks in there, and perhaps some wintry skies...and who knows what else?  Though Peggy did warn me this could be an addictive practice, our leaves are now under a thick blanket of heavy, wet snow.  Methinks the 'natural' dyeing will be taking place in snow banks in the near future, and the leaves and bark will have to wait till Spring.

Then there is the bark-dyed fabric, now finished and dry:

From dye bath made by soaking and simmering
bark from aging ornamental crab apple tree

Top to bottom: silk charmeuse, silk habotai, some sort of brocade, and two pieces of crinkle cotton.  The silks are the best, with the charmeuse winning the "stunning" competition hands down!

The wool batting is going to be nice too -- more golden than the one dyed in a bath made from the crab apple leaves, but it's still drying:

Bark-dyed wool batting

Then there are two bundles of bark from the bath, wrapped in silk -- one habotai, one charmeuse -- and tied with fresh heavy picture wire, just percolating in the window, waiting for time and sunshine to do their work.

Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, I see the snow has stopped and the sun is peeking through.  Perhaps a little later I'll try to dig a path to my bird feeder so I can replenish it for those feathered few who dare venture out in this weather.

Have a warm and  happy Sunday!

Look closely!  There is a feeder in this tree outside my sewdio!

What's Blessing This Friday?

I was all "up and at 'em" this morning -- laundry, dishes (manual washer in this house!), baking...

Baking?!  That wasn't on the original agenda for today, but this is Day 5 of the first week of an online retreat through Abbey of the Arts, and the music following the written reflection was "Soul Cake" in a rendition done by Sting (yes, you read that correctly!) and I was inspired.

Wikipedia has some interesting information about All Souls' Day, and I managed to find this recipe, which with a bit of added egg and milk (because I couldn't get the dough to form), produced these biscuits:

While doing up the dishes, I took the opportunity to prepare some more fabric for natural dyeing -- this time with a dye bath made from the bark of another of my aging ornamental crab trees:

Left to right: fabric in vinegar/water prep bath; jar of 'bark dye'
empty dye pot.

The fabric in question is a bit of silk haboti, some silk charmeuse, some crinkle cotton, and some white-on-white damask.

After the fabric was simmered in the prep bath for about an hour, I put it into the dye pot with the "bark dye" and heated that up.  It's now simmering merrily away.  On impulse I added some un-prepped wool batting from the stash...and had to add some hot water as there wasn't enough liquid.  Alas, this likely means I've diluted the dye...oh well.  It's just a sampling!  ;-)

Meanwhile back in the sewdio, I'm attaching binding to The Door Quilt.

Binding fabric waiting to be cut

The label has been printed and will be ready to apply when I get to the bottom corner...

Before I get back to work, I'm linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...

Have a blessed weekend!

Look for Problems?!

I'd rather play in the leaves!

Until a little earlier this evening, I was part of a free online class that I thought would deepen my knowledge of the design process.  Alas, it was not to be.  The focus of this particular course was on creating designs of "artifacts", which were defined as items (material or conceptual or behavioural) made in order to "fill gaps" -- i.e. to solve "problems".

I knew I was in trouble when one of the assignments for Week #1 was to identify ten (count 'em!) "gaps" in my life -- gaps between what I wanted/needed and what I had.  Well.  I could only come up with three, and of those three, two of them would be easily solved if I just got off my duff and got my act together.  The third one would involve my buying a new coffee maker.  Not going to happen.

I decided that the course, while well-intended and no doubt of value to others, wasn't for me.  I decided instead to turn off, tune out and drop in to my studio.

This involved scratching a late-in-the-season itch to use some of the leaves from my ornamental crab apple trees to do some dyeing.

NOTE: this is my first attempt at natural dyeing and I'm rather lazy/casual when it comes to the dye process -- any dye process!

I began by soaking the leaves for 48 hours in some cool water.  Then I turned on the heat and simmered 'em for a couple of hours.

Leaves soaking in water - old aluminum pot

I strained the leaves off, and returned the 'elixir' to the pot.  Meanwhile, I prepped some fabric (cotton, cotton velvet, muslin) and some wool batting in warm water and vinegar, simmering it for an hour or so.  I then transferred it to the dye bath, added some salt for good measure, and let that whole thing simmer some more.

Muslin on top of wool batting just put into dye bath

Wool batting and muslin floating in dye bath

Once I got a colour I thought I'd like, I took the materials out of the dye bath, rinsed them gently in cool water, and put 'em out in the sun to dry (sorry; no photos at the moment).

I washed out the pots, and put some crab-apple bark in cool water to soak.  The experiments continue...

In betwixt and between, I kept working on The Door Quilt, the foundation of which is now finished, and measures up at 39" W x 74" long.

Door Quilt background laid out on cutting table

What remains?  The creation of the top motif -- quilted separately and appliqued onto the quilted background -- and the binding, label and sleeve.  This afternoon I began the former, using recycled clear laminate plastic to draw the design.  Tomorrow I'll transfer it to fabric, and work on the next step of quilting -- just fabric and batting -- before applying it to the quilted background.

Finishing is so close I can taste it!

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Friday, in which she discusses 'Bucket Lists', after a fashion.  I won't admit to having such a list in any formal sense, either, but God willing, in the next few years -- before I turn 70 -- I'll visit Scotland again, and make it back "home" for the 40th anniversary of my graduation from McGill.  I'd also like to get to the LaConner Quilt Festival, to take a course at Asilomar and/or Alegre, and maybe brave the crowds at the IQF in Houston and one of the major fibre festivals (like Rhinebeck or the KR knitting retreat)...

One day at a time..."For I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep..." (Robert Frost).

One of Those Days

When you wake up far too early (4 a.m.) and have trouble going back to sleep because a) your cats are chasing each other around the house; and/or b) you're stomach is growling.  In my case: BOTH.  Sigh.

Started off with coffee and my Morning Pages.  Back to sleep...almost over-slept...then spent the day in a highly distracted state.

Looking back, I did manage to get a few things crossed off my list:

• "Sentinels" - Apply label and hanging sleeve. DONE. And I have to take a moment here to thank everybody who left kind remarks about  this piece.  Even if it doesn't sell at the Lacombe Show in April, I feel good about it and if it meets size requirements, might even manage to enter it somewhere!
• Easy Street - I met some blocks on the upper right corner (;-)) and managed to put them together!

Whoa!  It's pretty wild, I'll have you that, but I love the colours.   Definitely on the blue-green side but the neutrals balance it better than I expected.  :-)

• E-mails: caught up on my reading.  Had a chunk of editing to do on a catalogue that SAQA Western Canada is producing for our current travelling show, "Meet the Best of the West"  NOTE: It's being hung this week in Galleria in Calgary, and opens there Feb. 2.  If you're in the neighbourhood, enjoy!
• Miniatures:  managed to prep the foundation fabric for six of a planned 12 minis -- 5" x 7" finished in 8" x 10" matts.  This means I applied double-stick fusible web to muslin -- using Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite...and have run out.  Would love to order in bulk (cheapest I've found is $35 for 4 yards, 24" wide.) Will be in Stettler on Thursday so will check at Homespun Seasons before ordering online.  I like S-a-S 2 Lite because of it's flexibility and light hand for stitching.
• Other pieces: printed off photos for 2 pieces I want to make at least 12" square.  (One of them will definitely be that, and be my donation to the annual SAQA Benefit Auction 2013.)  These are "Waiting for the Train" and "Can You Hear Me Now?" -- both prairie landscapes and kind of fun, based on photos taken near home.
• Knitting: I'm working on the left mitten for my friend B, have made it past the thumb gusset and am working on the final ribbing for the hand portion.  Tomorrow: the thumb!
• Dyeing:  I ironed the snow-dyed pieces I finished the other day and will be using them a bit on the aforementioned miniatures.  Today, as promised, I moved onto dyeing with black tea -- using a full pack of the two I was given by a Secret Santa at Christmas.  It's looking deep brown right now, but the instructions have me leaving it over night, so this could change.  I got my tutorial HERE.

Tea in a cheesecloth sack, boiling up

Sack of tea removed; heat off; left to steep overnight

Tomorrow will tell the tale. Stay tuned for the results!

Right now (7:45 p.m. Mountain Time) am I relaxing with decaf and Bonnie's Quilt Cam. My list is still there to haunt me...but shorter.  We're in a Deep Freeze right now, and snow is expected over night, so I'm hoping by this time tomorrow I'll be caught up!

Some Knitting and Some More

In all this quilting activity, please don't think I've not been sticking to my knitting.  :-)

Isn't she lovely?  I made the hat at left with THIS FREE PATTERN and Bravo Crazy Color yarn in a darker colour-way featuring deep blue, wine and a hint of gold.

As you can tell from the photo on the right, I'm no model, and it's hard to photograph oneself!  LOL!  However, it'll give you some idea of the colour (#85 in the Bravo Crazy Color scheme of things).

And I've been knitting away on the fingerless mittens I mentioned a wee bit ago, a birthday gift for my friend B.  I've finished the one for the right hand (this pattern is specific) and the cuff for the left, and I'm just about to start the gusset for the left thumb.  Although I've not washed and blocked it, you can get a good idea how it looks in this photo:.  Isn't that cuff simply too pretty?

The pattern is Short & Sweet Fingerless Mitts by Anne Sahakian, and the yarn is Elann Collection Peruvian Baby Silk -- a luscious blend of baby alpaca and silk -- in Raspberry.  The ribbing for the top and thumb isn't tricky, but it takes a bit of juggling to do it on double-pointed needles!

And for those who may be curious, here's the results of my 'snowverdye' experiment.  I laid all 4 pieces (2 large, 2 small) on my cutting table here:

And the same group, taken from the top (I stood on a step-stool):

A close-up of one of the large pieces (muslin):

And the two small pieces (cotton sheeting - originally white):

As these pieces will be cut/torn into strips for sunsets and sunrises, for the most part, I'm very happy with the results.  The colour reminds me of the inside of a fresh peach, and I managed to achieve enough pink amid the scarlet and golden yellow.

The neat thing about dyeing, for me, is that I do it in very small batches, and even if I use a recipe, it's rare to get pieces that turn out the same way twice.  That bit of mystery keeps me coming back to it.

I think my next experiment is going to be with a natural dye -- for the first time.  Christmas Day an anonymous giver left a package of goodies on my back stoop -- including two packets of black Ceylon tea.  Now, I'm not much of a tea-drinker; I've tried it, and it's OK.  But two large packets!  Then I read arlee's blog, with a link to Wendy's blog  with a link to a list of plants for eco-printing.  If you scroll down far enough you'll find this entry:  "Black tea, dried leaves".  Well, duh!  Now to do some reading on the how-to (as in, how to get the best results, how to prep the fabric etc.)...and go for it.  Yes, I know it'll give me blacks, browns, and perhaps greys -- and these will be perfect for skies, gravel roads and bush...I see more landscapes in my future!