December Projects

Well it’s the last month of a horrible year...COVID-19, US politics, shingles, vaccines, depression...sheesh just to name a few...🥴

If it weren’t for my quilting I don’t know where I’d be...I have read so many books (5 in the past week) too, anything to keep my mind busy and my days full.

More toques

Mask pouches

FSL (free standing lace) decorations

Dime door - made it on their live video again!

Christmas cards 

Made these for Joette...😍😍😍

Fabric baskets

These are from my old jeans

Snapdragon wallets 

Wall clock...I’m still looking for the hands that are lost somewhere in my studio, but I am finding other cool stuff

Watched several utube videos on my scan n cut ....even did an online course. This was my homework...

Tried my hand at tourtières

My Christmas present... thank you...

November projects

This month was all about making something different. People kept posting the cutest pictures and sharing patterns on FB embroidery groups and I needed to try as many as possible. I really like these as they are easy and used up a few odds and ends. I found forgotten fabrics... and purchased so many of these designs. Luckily there was a big sale!

Upcycled an old pair of jeans

Snapshots from FB

Took a zoom class called Circles, Circles and Curves. Learned lots on this class over a couple of Saturdays. First time on zoom and I really liked it as I didn’t have to pack up anything and cart it off and then pack it back up to come home. Scary part is what happens when the WiFi goes down like it did a week after this class!

Added some embroidery and used up a leftover piece on the back

...and then the real fun began...hooded bath towel

Toque anyone?! Donated some, sold some, still have some...OMG these are soooo cute!

After all this I am so grateful for my acupuncture appointments...thankyou Dustin 😘

October Projects

Winter came and went...I like it. However this too shall pass. 

Brent moved a few plants from the garden into the basement and placed them under the grow lights. He harvested these with promises of more to come.

He also planted some Indigo for me and it has taken off so I may be able to try some fabric dyeing soon😍

I was puttering around and had the doors open because I had been cooking bacon. Closed them and went to work in my studio....some movement caught the corner of my eye and by the time I grabbed my iPad and ran outside this is all I got...close call I would say!

I have been stitching on my embroidery machine almost non-stop. I have been so fascinated by these Silhouette landscape designs that are so gorgeous and it gives me the opportunity to use some of my dyed fabrics and a lot of thread that I have collected in the past year! The only problem I have with these blocks is what to do with them when I have finished the stitching? ...sigh...I guess it will come to me later.

This one is done with one ombré fabric. I am thinking of using this one in Art Guild for the word of the month which is “soar”

Top fabric is from snow dyeing, then it’s the marigold, then the fresh indigo leaf, then snow dyeing again

There are 20 of these blocks in total...oh boy...

Took a break from the landscapes and worked on these today. Pattern is called “Baby it’s Cold Outside” by Anita Goodesign. His patterns are amazing. He also designed the landscapes.

Three more to go on this snowflakes set.

Went for a drive with one of my quilting ladies and during the drive our conversation turned to using up scraps. So this is what she suggested that I do. I have gone around a couple more times since and then got bored! 😂

This is the DIME door of the month (sew-along). I post them each month on the website and I’ve been mentioned on the live utube show everytime. 🥰

The floor fabric is from our rust dyeing workshop.

Our quilting guild donates placemats to the Meals on Wheels program at Christmas. This year I came across a kit that purchased several moons ago and I decided it was time to use them. So the back of mine are Halloween themed and the front is Christmas fabric.

This is what we call fabric chicken....when the fabric is placed waaaay too close to the edge! I won 🤪

....and a rare moment with Mitsi

Fabric Dyeing

I have been dabbling with some fabric dyeing as in previous posts but I didn’t quite get the hang of it. Chemicals are daunting...it’s science and I was never very good at that (or math). Now that the weather is changing I am starting to get a bit charged by the process. This happened today and I was startled because I had been planning to try dyeing with some marigolds.

So what kickstarted me were all the indigo leaves that needed harvesting and ready to play with. I learned a little bit from Yumi when we were in Izu last year. 

I took some notes and she sent me a couple of videos to watch. 

“Chop up leaf with water (use blender)  & Strain through cloth

-Silk is best (or wild) can use wool also

-use 5x weight of leaf to fabric (ie 20g of fabric use 100g of leaf) y=5x (y is weight of leaves, x is the weight of fabric) 

-Changes to a beautiful blue

-If using cotton it doesn’t change to blue 

She advised me to use protein fabrics like silk or wool. Cotton was not going to work.(she later suggested soaking cotton in soy milk to help absorb the color)  But all I had was cotton in my stash. On the advice of my fellow quilters I bought some Synthropol to prepare the fabric.

So what I got was the prettiest mint green and I think I used too much water

...and then I took one piece and poured in some grape juice 



Once these pieces dried the color lightened up . Still pretty but I wanted the darker.

So I tried again and this time I added some salt to the leaves when I blended them and rubbed the mixture directly onto the fabric. I also found some rovings in my stash. Forgot to strain the leaves first 😂😂

Better but still not there

So I started researching more and found that using a mordant is important. What the heck is a mordant I asked and I learned a lot from this utube video https://youtu.be/jX0DXaeO9BY

 I didn’t want to use the metals that some said to use, like alum. I mean I was ready now and besides I didn’t have any of this stuff on hand. But what I did have was rhubarb leaves and soy milk! https://youtu.be/eZUzT9DCvXc

So....

Covered with water and simmered for an hour. Not to use same pot for cooking after this.

Cut up rhubarb leaves and added PDF (prepared for dyeing) material and cold water. Simmered for an hour. Let it sit for another hour.

Drained the marigolds



Added material from the rhubarb mixture. Did not wring it out....hmmmm...maybe I should have? I also added a small piece of material that I had soaked in soy milk that I had let dry for 3 days. This will sit overnight and I can’t wait to see the results in the morning! 

Meanwhile I have another PFD  fat quarter soaking in soy milk (watered down) and hopefully I can harvest some more indigo tomorrow. Unless the weather took them. If no indigo I will harvest something else....there maybe some beet greens...or kale...

This was kinda fun...