More Dyeing in the Yard

My friend and fellow Sister in Cloth member, Carol Ludington wrote an article in the June/July issue of Quilting Arts about her Parfait Dyeing.

Last week several of us met in my yard (blog post on Sisters' blog).  While I followed her directions as well as I follow anyone's directions, my batch of fabric was a bit muddy.  My assessment of my results was that I'd used too much dye and had used Procion, Jacquard, and Rit together which might not have been such a good idea.

This week a few of us re-met in my yard and gave it another go.  This time I tried restraint...which is not really one of my strengths.  I used only Procion and much less.

First attempt

Second attempt

Now I've got the use of powdered dye bracketed and feel I should give it one more try.  While there are parts of pieces that I like....well, I like looking at them...but I don't know that I would find a use for them.  And, I have to say, "form" has a lot going for it, but, in the end, it really has to "function" to be able to work for me and be a keeper.

Impromptu Fibers

I give a big thank you to the quick response of Diane Cadrain...whose motto seems to be that "nature abhors a vacuum".  When there appeared to be no artwork scheduled for the gorgeous atrium in the CT Department of Transportation building, she jumped into action amassing m-a-n-y art quilts from 16 artists across the state.  Yesterday several of us, bearing the contributions, met to select a cohesive grouping and hang it.  Amazing!

Nineteen pieces were chosen.  The collection is very beautiful and, surprisingly maybe, looks like all belong together...there is a lovely flow from one end of the atrium to the other.

The exhibit will hang at DOT's headquarters building at 2800 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, until Friday, Augsut 21.  For information or to view the exhibit contact DOT employee Delois Barnes at  delois.barnes@ct.gov or ring her at (860) 594-3307.

Diane Cadrain's "Lunch Among the Cabbages"

EdJohnetta Miller's "Evening Spirit"

Karen Loprete's  "The Big Sky"

Judy Ross' "Garden Geometry"

Roz Spann's "Papa's Greens Harvest"

Rox Spann's "Within Reach"

Wanda Seldon's "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow"

Phyllis Small's "Secret Stories"

Kate Themel's "Blood Iris"

Carol Vinick's "Moon Maidens"

Betty Warner's "Improvisation #1"

DOT atrium

Crew: Vinick, DOT Barnes, me, Cadrain and Adams

Zimmerman's, Ross', Warner's, Vinick's and Themel's

Zimmerman's (Cadrain), Spann's, Cadrain's, mine, Miller's

Diane Cadrain's and Karen Loprete's blogs have many more pics posted....as does sistersincloth.blogspot.com.

Heading West

Heading West (24" x 40") is a result of having been reminded by my Fiberaction's challenge piece, Prickly Secrets, that I really enjoy piecing and combining machine with hand stitching.

Both were created in response to a conversation I had with my friend Kate Themel a couple weeks ago.  We were commiserating with each other about our disappointment with what we had produced for challenges in general.  She said that from now on she was treating them all as just a theme...not doing the dutiful check list from her school homework days...but generalizing, making sure her response was really part of her own body of work.

Like most really good ideas, this is really simple.  I felt I should have thought of it myself...it was that good an idea.

Prickly Secrets (posted yesterday) allowed me to piece... to use colors that I related to personally...and to incorporate zippers.  ( Aside:  I have been thinking about a series using zippers and pockets as symbols for secrets and secret keeping.  Except for, oh, say, birthday gifts or surprise parties, I think secrets are destructive and should be avoided.)

This piece does not have zippers...the zipper piece is still on the design wall...but Heading West does include fabric from Mickey Lawler.  I love her stuff...buy it and hoard it.  So, it's a thrill to have actually used parts of two or three yard-sized pieces.  I cut enough to enjoy seeing it included...AND...I still have plenty to contemplate for future use.  Win/Win

Fiberactions Reveal Day: Dun and Watermelon

The challenge this time was to pick two colors and add black as the third.  Picking the two colors was the tricky bit.  We were to choose two colors that were the letters of our first and last names.  D and W for me.

In the beginning of this Fiberactions Challenge, I was unenthusiastic.  I wasn't feeling Daisy, Daffodil or Daylight.  These colors were WAY too sunny for me...then there was Wisteria....not me.


It wasn't until I googled colors beginning with the letter D and W, that it happened!  Dirty Brown is an actual color! and Dun!  I have (until fairly recently when I went red) been described as having "dirty blond hair".  So, Dirty Brown felt very comfy for me.  I was on a color high when I continued with my search into the W's.  Where I found Watermelon!!!  I was done.

This challenge gave me an opportunity to explore using zippers.  I have amassed two big boxes of new and vintage zippers of all sizes that I had been wanting to incorporate in one of my pieces.  

Titled Prickly Secrets, this piece is about those little pesky secrets...not big, life altering, guilty secrets...just those little ones that you really wish you didn't know.