Thursday, August 6, 2015

I'm calling it...

...Free Form Ice Dyeing. 
 
I  don't know what anyone else would call it but that's what I am going to.
 

The other day I want to try my hand at dyeing something that didn't require tyeing.  So with a scrap piece of fabric that was approximately 22" x 91", I started twisting and scrunching till I could fit it on my dyeing rack.  I then put ice on top of the fabric and sprinkled several of my favorite colors on followed by blue gray over the entire piece to soften and mute the brightness.

I am beyond thrilled with the results.  In hindsight my only regret is I wished the piece of fabric had been bigger.  Because I absolutely love it.

The big question now is what to do with it.  Before I dyed the piece I was thinking about making a bunting.  But now I'm not so sure.  A bag perhaps?

What would you make?

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Tropical Paradise

 
 
Tropical Paradise
45" x 45"
 
 
My husband's response upon seeing this piece was simply "Gorgeous"!  I'm not sure if I've ever gotten a "gorgeous" out of him.  Don't get me wrong.  He loves everything I create.  He's my husband and biggest supporter.  But I consider it high praise to get a "gorgeous" out of him.
 
What started out as yellow, lime, aqua, and blue, turned into something altogether different that I didn't quilt expect.  But that's the awesome thing about dyeing.  Until you open it up and rinse it, you don't exactly know what you're going to get.
 
I love the how the lines radiate from the center.  It gives it a sparkle that I REALLY like.  I will definitely be repeating this fold and playing with other color combinations.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Not to toot my own horn but...

 
 
...isn't it beautiful?
 
This is my second inclined ice dye using the same colors as the first.
I love how completely different they both look.  You can repeat all the steps
exactly the same each time and never the get the same results.
 
Here area a couple close up shots.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

What do you see?

 
 
I see a koala.
 
I see a ram.
 
I see a stag.
 
What do you see?

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Same Dyes, Vastly Different Results

Wow...what a small change can impact dyeing results.

Below is a picture of one of two pieces I did yesterday.  It came out as I had anticipated.  
As the ice melted it dripped the color the way I'm used to seeing.  


You will notice each color has stay mostly pure and blends only where it came in contact 
with the color next to it. Here are a couple close up shots to see what I'm talking about.




And here is the second piece...


My jaw dropped when I opened this one!

Like I said before, both pieces were dyed with the exact same colors.  The difference...besides the fact that they were folded differently...this one was dyed on an incline.  

Here are some close up shots.



As you can see, dyeing on an incline allowed the colors to commingle
 as they ran down the pieces to the bottom of the drain pan.


I am sooooo over the moon with these pieces!

The first piece is destined to be cut up to becoming butterfly wings for a large 
applique project.  It would also make some beautiful applique flowers!

As for the incline one...I'm not sure what I'll do with 
it yet but the possibilities are endless!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

What do you see?

 

I see an ant.  One of my friends on Facebook said they saw an angel.  I can get there.
 
 
What do you see when it's reversed?
 
 
 
I have a feeling this is going to be one of my "go to" dye techniques because the
possibilities for a fabric like this are endless!  You could fussy cut for applique or quilt it
as a wholecloth.  You could even stretch it over a frame or hang it unquilted as a tapestry.


Thursday, July 2, 2015

Jewel Tones

Believe it or not, I've always had a love for jewel tones.  
They have a calm, soothing effect that just makes me happy.
 
I had a bunch of fabric folded and ready to dye with no specific plan for them.   
So I decide to take the opportunity to do some experimenting.
 
I applied dye to the ice very randomly, not thinking about what was going where or
next to.  I used a combination of green, teals, blue, purples, and red violets.
 







Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Curiosities by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics

 
 
Sweet Finds colorway


 
Fresh Encounters colorway
 
 
Don't you just love it?!
 
I love the color variety in this fabric line.  So often collections are limited
to five or six colors and the prints are repeated in each color...snooze.
 
Thank you Art Gallery Fabrics!
 
You rock!

Monday, June 29, 2015

My Little Enchanted Forest



You can draw one for yourself too by following Johanna Basford's tutorial HERE.

A Renewed Interest

I'm dyeing again!  From the first time I dyed with Mark Sherman, I knew I wanted
to LOTS more dyeing.  But then life got in the way and I forgot about dyeing. 
I had the supplies but not the inclination.

But few weeks back I saw a blog post by Tim Latimer, hand quilter extraordinaire, 
that got me charged and wanting to dye again. 

I had the opportunity to take a two-day one on one class with
Debra Linker.  She is an awesome artist and dyer here in north Texas.

We started the day by folding some fabric and ice dyeing it...one with the dye underneath
the ice and one with the dye on top of the ice.  I had never ice dyed before so
I was super excited to learn this technique and see the results.



Once the ice dyes were started, we set them aside and started working with mixed dyes. 
I was very determined to learn a mandala.  Man was it hard to tie!  I struggled with
the artificial sinew a lot.  There is definitely a sharp learning curve to it but I powered
through it.  I wanted to learn and that was what I was doing...good, bad, or
indifferent.  Below is the resulting mandala using gradated dyes. 


If I could do it again I would not use the chartreuse green and the brown. 
I would have chosen Raspberry and Deep Purple. But all is not lost. 
This piece will be really good for practice quilting.


Next we dyed some white tone on tones I brought.  This was a lot of fun. Here they
are in their cups after applying just enough of the liquid dye to saturate the fabric.



And here are the results!



I will definitely be doing more dyeing with tone on tones at some point.


 Next, I asked Debra what would happen if I did "this", showing here the fold 
and she said "let's find out!"  Here is the results.


Personally, I love it!  While the colors didn't turn out as I had hoped, that wasn't the
point with this one.  It was the folds.  And I think the folds were a success. 


 Below is the only I really considered a failure...but not entirely. 


While its too blended and doesn't really look like anything I did learn a new fold. 
And since then, I have been able to do successfully at home.  So its still a winner
in my mind.  And this piece can either be cut up or used as a
background for something else.


 And last but not least, the results of the ice dye! 


Dye on fabric and then ice



Ice on fabric and then dye
These two are BY FAR my favorite pieces from the two days spent with Debra!
If you think they look vibrant on your monitor, you should see
them in person.  They're just awesome!


So that's all for now.  I have a ton more pictures of dyes
I've done the past few weeks but I'll save them for future posts.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Spring Quilt Market 2015

Instead of doing a long written post, I'm sharing a
Flipagram video of my favorite things seen at Market.
   
Enjoy!



If there is any particular photo you'd like to know more about
just leave me a comment and I'll respond by email. 

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Points and Petals & Priory Square

I could sit around and design quilts all day long.  Lately it seems I haven't had the time or felt the inclination to design.  I guess that's just how it goes though.  You just can't force creativity.
 
But finally...the other day I found sitting around itching to do something creative. And after a few minutes I came up with this idea.
 
 
The center block is a simplified version of Block Base #4060. 
 
 
 
And this is what it would look like as a quilt using the current setting blocks.
 
 
In the end I settled on the smaller design and immediately knew I wanted to make this into a pillow cover and I immediately knew what fabric I wanted to use...Priory Square by Katy Jones for Art Gallery Fabrics.
 
 
They are a perfect match for what I envisioned!
 
 
Here it is!  I'm calling it Priory Petals.

 
Priory Petals
20" x 20"

Since the center block was originally from Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns I assume it was meant to be pieced but I couldn't imagine doing that for this design.  So I turned it into an applique...so much easier.

I can't wait to quilt it.  Unfortunately it'll have to wait till I get back from Market!  Which reminds me...I need to start packing!  So I'm off to pack now.

Stay tuned for an after Market post.  And who knows maybe there will be a giveaway if I find something really cool worth sharing.

Till next time...

Monday, May 11, 2015

Like a bad penny...

...I always turn up.

I can't believe I have blogged since September...sigh.  For a while I could have said I had a good reason why I wasn't but that excuse doesn't work seven months later.  I've made several attempts at writing a post but its been hard coming back after so long.

But anyway...what have I been up to? Well...I'm back in Texas for one.  But that's only until the end of the summer and then I'll be making the move to eastern Washington state.  I won't bore you with all the details other than its all related to my husband's work.

I've been doing a lot of sewing the past few months.  Here's just a little of what I've been doing...

 
Once Steam a Seam II was available again I made this
wall hanging designed by Toni Whitney.
 

 
I made a new rug for my kitchen.
 

 
I started the Millefiori quilt along and haven't worked on it anymore past this point.
 

 
I made cathedral windows that will be going into a tablerunner.
 

 
I created this quilt from 10" squares after making the NY Beauty below.

 

 
I made some blocks from some Downton Abbey fabric.
 

 
And most recently I started making this quilt sample
for my good friend Jennifer Lee's online shop Red Thread Studio 
using Jen Kingwell's new line Gardenvale for Moda.
 
 
So there you have it.  That's what I've been up to. 
 
Keep an eye out for an upcoming post about Spring Quilt Market next week.  But if you can't wait to see all the fabulousness, you can follow me on Instagram as I post pictures during Market.
 
Till next time...

P.S.  I've missed y'all...I really have.