Still Digging Out!

My studio organization has become an eternal WIP  

With so many projects going on, I am still digging out from Christmas.  I have actually cleaned out from under the studio table  and organized stuff in clear boxes.



Nice and cleared out, right.  But now what do I do with the rest of this stuff that was lurking under the table.

 Okay so you can see as I clean I leave a new path of destruction in my wake.

Not willing to tackle this at the moment, i moved on to dusting, cleaning, sorting and reorganizing the closet.  Here is my reorganization, before I started moving other things around an had to borrow some of the boxes.

 Before and after, with dye materials organized on the bottom shelf, and large fabric pieces wrapped around empty cardboard  that holds fabric bolts in the store. (Free, if you just ask, they usually throw them away)

So I spent the rest of the evening watching Close Encounters with the family. They had the couch while I began to tackle the dreaded box that has begun oozing strings and fabric.    I am sorting scraps into 3 sizes and also by color.  I have taken over a good portion of the living-room. with my piles and haven't made a dent in the box. Just how much fabric could be stuffed into one file box.  It is sort of like the clowns at the circus coming out of the tiny cat, and just as colorful.

Interesting Mushrooms

Today while checking on my rose bushes I found some unusual egg shaped mushrooms.  One was split and had an oozy looking eye.  Then I  found a tall  red mushroom.  These were different stages of the Elegant Stinkhorn  mushroom.(Mutius elegans)  Normally they are found July through September. (Off course this was the first one I've ever seen outside of a book.)  Naturally I had to dissect one.  If squeezed lots of clear fluid shoots out.  Inside was a slimy army green layer of spores coating a thick pinkish red layer that was empty.

Wild Week -UFo's and WIP's

It's been a wild week with lots of projects and doctors' appointments and Easter Programs.  Last night we had a wonderful sedar meal with lots of lamb and horseradish.  Tonight will be our Good Friday service.

 Thank you cards to mount on card stock, postage to add to envelopes to send my son tomorrow.  Card drawn by my daughter.


On to this weeks works:   A rust dyed journal cover to hand stitch while waiting in doctors offices

Pieced some  new book marks.  Still have lots of embellishment and stitches to add.

Bo Pee's lambs gone astray is coming along.















And of course garden work, or rather photographing it lots of wild weather and windfall.  Terrific green lichen for dye, lots and lots of old branches covered in it. Yeah!

 Linden and honey suckle starting to bloom. They smell so sweet and delightful.
And our last batch of caterpillars overwintered and hatched this week

One top of all this fabric dyeing and slowly working on uninstalling all the malware on my computer.  Found a great sight that helps you for free, one on one also, lots of down loading, scans and uploading logs, but my computer is running much better.  Yeah!!!!

1st compost dye project

Not wanting to waste anything I decided to do a compost project with the grape hyacinth flowers strained from the dye.   Picked leaves and flowers from outside and placed them on a piece of fabric soaked in soda ash.








Then I sprinkled the grape hyacinth over it in clumps.  Next I sprinkled a bit of tealeaves.  I also added a rusty circle. ( had to bend it in half to roll up)

It was already turning a lovely shade of green.  I dug a hole next to one of my rose bushes and covered with leaf litter and dirt.  Now how long can I wait to dig it up.  (Hopefully til fall)

 Photographed so I would remember where I buried it -( in front of orange roses and paper whites)

dyeing with grape hyacinth part 1

Yesterday, I took my grape hyacinth flowers out of the freezer and crushed then up. I added water in a 2:1 ratio and brought the mix to a boil and let simmer for an hour. Next I added a tsp of Alum to the pail mixture and it turned a very nice purple. This was let to sit for 24 hours.

This morning the mixture was strained for dyeing.  I wet the fabric I had previously soaked in soda ash and allowed to dry and used a pole wrap to create patterns.  Here is a picture of it dipped for just a minute.  It has more of a green shade than i was wanting.

I wet fabric, not soaked in soda ashed, in water and vinegar,twisted it and dipped it in some extra dye.  It instantly took on this lovely purple shade. 


 I splashed some vinegar on the other cloth and where it touched it became purple.   So I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to the solution. I like the two colors together. Will see the results in a few days.

 

After checking this evening the fabric looked more of a solid blue.

Baby Quilts

I am currently working on a couple of flannel baby quilts using Crazy quilt blocks. Here are two sample blocks.  I have finished 24, enough for two quilts.  I used 12 different fabrics.

Florida Flowers & Fauna

Took these photos at the hotel in Florida.  It was nice and warm! Wedding was exceptional!

Wedding Wallhanging

I finished my son's wedding quilt Sunday with a wedding message and quilt info label on the back. Yeah! just in time to drop it off at my parent's house before the drive to Florida.

This little quilt was a lot of work for me.  First I was trying to use each one's favorite color, red and teal.  Found some red scraps with teal batik.  I used this as a starter fabric after many other tries and pulled colors from it.

The other problem was just me.  One of the side effects of my medicine is dropping off to sleep while doing ordinary things such as talking.  This effect can take up to a year to start.  I've been on it a year with great results until now.  It's very dangerous dropping off to sleep while using a sewing machine not mention all the frog chorus afterward. (Rip it, Rip it)




I started with piecing the quilt and then used raw edge and needle turn applique.  The lettering under the house was done with the feeddogs dropped and a zigzag stitch.



The Distelfink bird was the good luck and happiness bird of the early Pennsylvania German settlers. Overall, the design symbolized "good luck and happiness" for all. I used my own stylized version as this is where my heritage starts.

Next I used Shiva paint sticks for the first time.  I put leaves the tree and stones for the walk.  I cut a stencil out of paper and laid it on the quilt to protect the rest of the fabric.  I could see these being a very fun and useful addition to my art.  The leaves didn't show up quite as much as I would have liked. Great fortune!I amidst the small scraps people gave me at quilt guild were two 2 by 3 inch floral scraps with leaves I hadn't noticed. Just a perfect size.





Finished with lots and lots of quilting, a bit of hand stitching, beads and buttons. and finally  mitered binding and tabs.  Hope the like it!

Double Wedding Ring

Finished my double wedding ring table runner yesterday.  It's a house warming gift for my son and new Daughter in law (well in 4 more days).  Anyway I thought it was pretty. The quilting is unmarked freemotion quilting.