I can’t stop dyeing…

Folded resist technique

I’ve listed some pieces in my Etsy shop. Shameless self promotion. There is a coupon code for my blog readers worth 10% off any item in my shop. Just enter Blog10 during checkout in the appropriate box.

Example:

Wax resist coming up next. Now to get into the sewing room and make something with it! Brother Innovis hasn’t seen much of me, but I did manage to start on the H2H quilt.

This is the sound we are blasted with every day. Enjoy!

Song of the Cicada

Flowers and fabric

Poppies

 

Irises

 

 

Honeysuckle

This grows along fence lines everywhere and is so fragrant!

I spent part of Mother’s Day dyeing more fabric. The strips and squares are scraps of Kona white and are not PFD.

The only piece of PFD fabric I had left is in the center of the photo below and was laid flat on a piece of plastic to dye. The other fabrics are either Kona white or a good quality bleached muslin from my stash. This was just playing around to see how the colors blended and how to scrunch and fold for different results.

 

All of these colors came from various combinations of Dharma’s fuchsia, turquoise and lemon yellow Procion dyes.

I should receive an order this week with some additional fabric and dye to try a few more techniques. This is becoming an addiction!

WARNING!! If you’re squeamish about insects you can skip the rest of this post!

It’s hatching time for the 13 year cicadas here in the south. They’re creepy things and the exoskeletons are everywhere. As I was taking pictures of the honeysuckle I noticed their ‘remains’ on the leaves. These shells are empty.

 

This is the critter that comes out of shell.

They’re ugly things! Click for a closer look if you really want to. I like bugs just slightly more than I like reptiles and rodents. I’m not really scared of any of them, but I’d rather keep my distance.

I feel bad to leave you with that image, so here’s something prettier!

Dyeing fabric

Fabric dyeing has been a persistent little thought in the back of my mind for about a year, so I took the dive! I got this dye kit from Dharma Trading Company and some Prepared For Dyeing fabric from this Etsy shop.

The dye powder came in plastic bags, so I transferred it to more suitable containers.

I used the tutorial from Candy for the dyeing process. She has a great website and blog, too. There are several other really good sites, but Candy’s was easiest for me to wrap my brain around.

Here are the mixed dyes.

Not knowing what to expect, I kept it to a minimum of pieces. There are two gradations of each of the three colors. I also mixed a purple, green and an orange/red/coral color.

Don’t you love the colors on the paper towel? Next time I’ll put a piece a fabric down to catch those drips.

The fabric stayed in the tubs overnight and this morning I rinsed (lots of rinsing!) until it was ready to machine wash, dry and iron. 

The results were pretty close to what I expected, although some of the pieces are a little blotchier than I wanted. Too much fun and the colors are spectacular!

I received my H2H fabrics from Megan. It’s been a long time since I’ve made anything with a calico type fabric, so this should be fun! I think I’ll choose a pattern from the book I won recently.

There’s a Whoop! Whoop! party over at Sarah’s and I’m linking this post!