Here’s an easy way to have a little design fun. Choose a simple 6″ block that has a strong diagonal, and make it in 2 high contrast fabrics. The possibilities will be even greater if you make positive and negative versions of the block. These are the 2 blocks I started with:
Blog
Oh No – No Snow!
I received a number of responses to last week’s post from readers in areas where there is no snow. Then I ran into a friend locally who had the same concern and I realized the problem … I live in the woods and, even though we’ve had a mild, warm, low-snow winter for Wisconsin – our trees are keeping me in plenty of snow to snow dye. I guess I hadn’t really noticed the lack of snow all around (duh). Here’s the current view from our deck:
This is the field across the road and my friend (and website designer) Di’s beautiful farm:
It’s hard to believe the contrast.
If you have no snow, do not despair. There is such a thing as “Freeze Dyeing”. Just go to the Milwaukee Art Quilters blog: http://milwaukeeartquilters.wordpress.com/page/2/ and scroll down to the directions in the September 25th post.
Just in case you’re dyeing to see the results from last week’s adventure – here are the burp cloths:
Plus Daddy and Mommy’s shirts and baby-to-be’s onesies and bibs:
The tie dyeing was a hit and the results were such fun!
Now I’d like to share my snow dyeing saga and what I learned along the way.
1. I waited until the snow was almost completely melted:
2. I dumped the bins onto the snowy yard:
3. I removed the bins:
4. and hung everything to drip and dry in the warm shed:
5. Then it was off to the laundromat for 2 cold water washes (with Color Catchers™ to absorb the excess dye) and a ride in the dryer.
And here’s the snow dyed results:
I was really quite pleased, but I didn’t like the way the fabric sat in the “muddy” water at the bottom of the bin while the snow melted. Thanks to Johanna for her comment about elevating the fabric with an old oven rack or cookie rack. Other suggestions were inverted deli containers along the bottom of the bin or even leftover chunks of pvc pipe.
I’m anxious to try this out on some of the leftover hunks of light value fabric in my stash. New life for old fabric! But I’d better get at it before the snow’s all gone!
Tie Dye Baby
Today I threw a baby shower with a twist for my daughter-in-law Betsy: she invited her girlfriends and we tie-dyed onesies, bibs and burp cloths. We even did t-shirts for Daddy and Mommy. What a blast!
The original idea came from Kathie Boucher with inspiration from Laura Krasinski (both friends from the Milwaukee Art Quilters). I purchased tie-dye kits from Joann Fabrics. Grandpa Mike was kind enough to make room in his barn. We covered the floor and tables with plastic and then the fun began.
Above center is Betsy and my granddaughter to be 🙂
Artists come in all sizes.
The girls did a great job, but they didn’t get to see the finished product yet (it’s all still damp and under plastic).
After everyone left I decided it was time to try my hand at snow dyeing. So I mixed up a few new bottles of dye, removed my old, stained sweatshirt, grabbed a few pair of bamboo socks for the grandkids in Washington State and phase II began.
1. I misted everything with water and bunched it in the bottom of 2 bins.
2. Grandpa shoveled the bins full of snow.
3. I patted down the snow and “made snow cones” (Annabelle is watching and wondering what I’m doing).
Theoretically the dye melts into the fabric and wonderful designs occur. So here’s the before:
Next week I’ll post the pictures of all the “afters”!
Have you had any group dyeing adventures?
WOW
I returned home from Arizona last Monday night and Tuesday the sun shone bright and it reached 47 degrees. Unusual temperatures for Wisconsin in winter – and I’m not complaining!
So, what’s the “WOW” for? Well, “Walls of Wittenberg” of course. Wittenberg is a lovely, small town in north/central Wisconsin.
Due to my friend Laura Krasinski’s kind suggestion, I was invited to present my “Challenged Mind” program there this past Saturday in conjunction with a quilt show that is going on at the WOWSPACE Gallery.
Not only was I able to share my quilts and their stories with a lovely group, but seeing the Gallery exhibit was a special treat!
From the tin ceiling to the stain glass windows, it is a delightful space for an exhibit of quilts and Fiber Art!
The Best of Show winning quilt was made by another dear friend, Sharon Rotz (please enjoy the pic of Sharon and her quilt and disregard the beautiful, bright sunshine coming in the window).
Sharon was kind enough to hold up quilts during the talk (and then invite me for a slumber party at her home that night).
After enjoying the quilts we drove around and took in the amazing murals that are painted on many of the buildings in town:
I just had to share a few of my favorites. This fascinating, 3-D mural is on the back of the WOWSPACE Gallery (I think it was my favorite):
With just a 1/4 turn to my left I was able to catch this photo of the back of the bowling alley (quite an interesting shot with the evergreen trees and remaining snow).
Then there was the grocery store:
The Post Office:
and the Middle School:
Many thanks to Susan Hanson and Miriam Nelson (and Elaine too) for all their efforts concerning the exhibit and the presentation.
The quilt show will be hanging for one more week and the murals are always there :-). If you live far from Wittenberg, I hope you enjoyed this short photo-journey and if you live close enough to make a visit, I know you will not be disappointed.