First of all, I want to let everyone know that I am coming tantalizingly close to 10,000 views on this blog. It may happen today! Wow! It is so interesting to see the different countries checking in and to see your comments. Isn't the Internet amazing? And the blogs I follow lead me to see new things outside my own back yard.
This is going to be a very miscellaneous post. Here is a slightly better picture of my Kool-Aid dyed yarn. One important detail that I omitted earlier is that Kool-Aid dye only works with animal (wool) fibers. I do not have a project planned yet, but have my thinking cap on.
Speaking of yarn, I have learned to knit cables! Here is a little scarf I've started using a pattern called "Irish Hiking Scarf", given to me by my good friend Sally.
Now that the Victorian challenge is finished, it is time to move on to the next challenge. The Pamlico River Quilters Guild (Washington, NC) will be having a quilt show at the end of September. Members have been challenged to create river scenes 16" x 20". I selected some fabrics a while back. Yesterday I cut a batting base of the approximate size and applied fusible to many of my fabrics.
I have a long way to go to sketch and cut and fuse .... but I like the start. I challenged MYSELF to make this piece without batiks, usually the fabric of choice for a lot of nature scenes.
Last, but not least, I've pulled out a favorite old quilt (well, it's not that old) to use as a class sample when I teach "Patience Corner" at the shop in August. It is a traditional pattern that has so many possibilities, depending on fabric choice. Mine is the scrappy version, made with charm squares.
I have a hard time passing up "FREE" craft supplies! My friend, Janie, was the recipient of multiple bags of fabric, yarn, and misc. and let me have a peek. I took all of the embroidery floss! Most of the fabric was not what I would use and most of the yarn was acrylic that didn't attract me but I was tempted by multiple skeins (over 20) of needlepoint yarn.
No, I'm not taking up needlepoint. What I liked was the fact that the yarn is 100% wool. Wonder if it will felt? (If anyone knows, please comment.) Each little skein is 40 yards. Too bad they are ALL "lily pad green".
A long time ago, I saw some yarn that my friend Mary had spun herself, then dyed with Kool-Aid. I was impressed. Now it was time for me to give it a try. Mary and I discussed it the other day and she said that there "probably" was a formula, but I just guessed. People who know me will be shocked. I scientifically placed three coffee cups on the counter, emptied the contents of three packets of Kool-Aid (grape, lemon, cherry), added boiling water to dissolve and topped each off with a bit of vinegar. I had tied off one end of three skeins and stood one up in each cup.
The yarn magically absorbed almost all of the pigment. I placed my little bundles in a baggie overnight. When rinsed, the water ran out clear. Stay tuned and see what I make out of my odd colored yarn. One mystery is that the lemon did not turn out yellow. Oh, wait! I remember now. The lemon was so pale that I poured a little bit of the cherry in with it!
It's done, it's done!! In the end, I didn't add as many beads as I thought I would. I think I was just tired ... very happy with the result, though.
If you're interested, look back a few posts to see the three challenge fabrics. Mine won't be in competition of course, since it is a challenge offered by my store, but I wanted to participate. The entrants still have one month to go until their due date and then I will have some more interesting interpretations to show off. Here's one detail photo.
"Technical" information: all of the embroidery was done with three strands of embroidery floss.
What will I work on next? Oh, I REALLY need to get back to the hand quilting on the feed sack project!
Once I had the six triangles sewn together and solved the minor problem with the size of the center hexagon, I still had a lot of embroidery to do. I worked on it off and on all day yesterday and today. I have finally finished! Every seam has some sort of stitching embellishing it.
Each triangle was pieced on a fabric foundation and I embroidered as much as I could before the assembly. Once everything was together, I basted it onto thin Quilters Dream cotton batting and the rest of the embroidery was done through all layers. I gave it a good spritz of water and pressed it well, front and back. Now it is "relaxing" on the counter. I will trim it and layer it onto the backing tonight. No quilting, just ties here and there, plus a few well placed buttons. The last touch will be a little bit of beading. Baby can't wait.
Today I didn't end up doing what I thought I would be doing. The day began with deliveries of batiks from two different companies.
It took a while to get everything entered into inventory and onto the shelf. I had to do a bit of rearranging to accommodate the 18 new bolts. Nobody wanted to shop today, so I had the afternoon to myself. I mixed and matched, cut and folded, and came up with three nice new combinations of fat quarters for our "batik rolls". They are popular in the store and at quilt shows.
That, and a visit from Lilly, who is a professional machine quilter (Lilly's Machine Quilting, Vanceboro, NC, 252-244-1988) finished off the day! I want to get back to my Victorian project next!!
Today's Saturday morning class at the store was titled "Introduction to String Piecing". Everything was organized on the table, just waiting for the students to arrive. Sure glad I have a quilting cat to guard things.
There was a little bit of noise and confusion as sewing machine cases were rolled in. Baby came back as the ladies sewed. I don't know if she likes us or just wanted to enjoy the ceiling fan.
She claimed that corner and stayed put until the last person left.
Do you ever wonder what the back looks like? Here is my Victorian project in progress. I finished embroidering the individual triangles and joined them this morning. It's not pressed yet. And I will wait to trim the outside border until just before I bind it.
One of the three challenge fabrics was a large floral print. I planned from the beginning to fussy cut one of the motifs and applique a hexagon to the center. It was silly to get it ready ahead of time. Too big! I'll have to cut it down and try again if I don't want to cover up too much of the work already done.
Once I settle the hexagon question, I'll be ready to layer and add a bit more stitching. I'm not sure yet how I am going to handle the six main seams. Any suggestions?
