Paper Making

This summer I had time to make some paper using old newspapers and little bits of  ..... netting from onions and a little twine ....

Below ... dyed cheesecloth with bits of thread from some napkins I made plus the third photo shows one with flower petals.....

Bits of novelty yarns are fun to use in paper .....

Here's one with a flower petal plus some of those threads from the napkins that I finished with a raveled edge ....

Now to make some clay tiles as these were made with wall curves in mind but little paper features are fun to use in any mixed media, cards, etc. They are just fun to make even if only to make a stack!

Oh in the top photo are some papers with spices (turmeric, pepper flakes), some flower petals, crochet yarn and paint.

Hope you're having a fun, creative week!

Welcomed back!

After one of my longest summer vacations ever, I arrived home in Florida yesterday. Being my birthday (and I'm sure he would have done it anyway) my husband had picked some wild flowers from our garden and displayed them in one of my pitchers, part of an oil and vinegar set that I never use but leave it out on the counter.

And I opened only two pieces of mail even though I have STACKS of it, but the rest can wait, these two were special, being the gifts I had won at two blog give-aways. Lisa from Upstatelisa had a giveaway for one of her sun-print fabrics and I was the lucky winner!

My other package was from Candy's giveaway at Candied Fabrics.  She had a giveaway for one of Quilting Arts Gift Magazine, in which she had two projects, one for an ipad sleeve and another for her journal covers both featuring her really cool machine sketching which I am determined to try out this winter, probably on a journal cover. Candy also included a gorgeous piece of one of her Candied fabrics!

I am certainly going to enjoy some tea breaks as I browse through Quilting Arts gifts, trying to decide what projects I'll use these beautiful pieces of fabrics in! Thank You Ladies!

Inspiration

Earlier this summer a friend and I were hiking and came across an interesting art show, a medical office that offers there wall space for art shows, had fiber art on display. Of course we went in and here are a few of the art quilts from the show.

I wish I could tell you the names of the artists but I did not write them down. I did meet one of the quilt artists and she gave me her card and I cannot find it!

This is the setting of the show .....

Elizabeth and I also found these inspirations on our hikes this summer .....

As summer comes to an end I hope you are enjoying your September whatever season you are in!

Finally Tie dyed

Tie dyeing was popular when I was in high school but I don't remember ever doing it. So I finally did some this summer! I haven't quite figured out if there is a true difference between tie-dyeing and shibori. I'm thinking that tie-dyeing is the simplest, basic form of shibori. Dye gurus, is this right? Anyway I did use some techniques I learned from Linda's Shibori workshop back in the spring. 

Summer Dyeing

 Yes, summer dies sometime in September but summer is a great time for dyeing. I finally mixed up the three dyes I have (those pictured above), soaked some fabrics in soda ash and did some tying, twisting and clamping, then squirted on some colour ....

The two above were old white pillow cases. Below are parts of a white cotton shirt I made many years ago. I had added dimensional paint designs which of course remained after dyeing.

Above, some scrap fabrics. The green one had been used in paint clean-up so shows a few touches of stains but it still has lots of potential. Below is an old tea towel that used to be white.

And my favorite is another clean-up rag but the few stains are quite ok with me. I doubt I'll even cut around them when I get to using this piece.

Hope you're enjoying a wonderful September!

Summer Fun!