Another Glorious Fall Day

Well, I've only recently redone another initial blog post. Not sure how I've offended the bloggods, but I guess I must have. This is all new territory for me and a lesson being learned.


Some recent finishes for me are dyeing some fabrics that a friend, Trudy taught a few of the local quilters at "The Big House" on Lake Champlain. What a wonderful day: fabric, friends and great scenery and weather. Who could ask for anything more? The process is relatively simple but also a time consuming process. The technique was initially seen in Quilters Newsletter Magazine back in the 90's. We started by soaking the fabrics in a soda ash solution for 30 minutes. Then after wringing out the fabric, place them in one of 24 jars that had the dyes already mixed in them. Since I wanted a darker palette, my jars started with 1 Tablespoon of salt. The salt was plain salt with out the iodine added. The dyes were combinations of just 3 procion dyes, of course in the primary colors, red, yellow and blue. The photo at the top of my blog are the dark set I dyed, I'll also include a photo here too, just in case I change my header. Just gorgeous and very deep tones.




Since I had some dyes left over in the jars, I thought I'd try to use it up by using 2 fat eighths of fabrics. Just to see how they would respond, I used a white on white fabric and also the PFD (prepared for dyeing) muslin type of fabric. The latter had an ecru coloring to it and I wasn't sure how it would react. BUT, I really like the PFD fabrics in the finished affects. The colors have a deeper tone than the WOW fabric. I wonder how the initial dye would have been if I had used that one there too. Here is a picture of the second batch. I folded the fabrics by pairs so I could actually see the difference in the finish. The column of fabrics on the left shows the top fabric is the WOW while the fabric just below it is the PFD fabric dyed in the same solution. See what I mean in the deeper tones being evident in the PFD. While looking at all the fabrics, it is apparant with every color. I was surprised that the red lost it's vavoom so soon. The yellow and blue seemed to hold it's coloration factor longest. Of course it wa about 1 month in between the 1st and 2nd batch, so maybe if I had been able to get to the 2nd set sooner, the red might have been there.



Yesterday was the best day yet this fall. To celebrate, I went on a little hike at the Point au Roche nature trails. It is such a blessing to live in an area as gorgeous as this. Especially during this season. There were Canadian Geese flocks all over heralding the passage of the season. Probably as many as 300 geese were floating in the lake not including the numerous flocks that were honking and flying overhead.



A recent finish of mine is the 5/4 apron. I took a class that the guild offered and it was to use 5 fat quarters. Using only two fabrics I altered the pattern of course, and did a liitle embroidery and applique making the best use of the fabric and machine appliqueing them onto the apron's pocket. I joined the "stitcher's angel swap" that is headed by Helen Stubbings. While dealing with my back injury, many nights are too uncomfortable to sleep, so I'll surf the web to keep the noise down and my movements at a minimum. So, after stumbling upon the swap site, I thought why not, So I joined in. The only stipulation is to complete 3 projects by October 18th and mail them to your stitcher friend. I have a lady in Holland. So far I've finished 2 of the projects and the third I've done the needle work, now only to finish with the assembling. I'll post a picture of the other 2 at another time.
Well enjoy your day, I know I'll enjoy mine. Perhaps I'll do another hike or maybe get to try out my kayak that's never been used. (too long an explanation to go into now). Looks to be another great day.

Jane