Summer Back Pack

Not long ago I took the plunge and bought an Asus tablet. Although I love my Nook for reading books, storing recipes, files, etc it is a little small for reading e-magazines, web surfing or email. My Asus does those things wonderfully and so I wanted to take it on vacation. Well it didn't fit into my purses so I finally made a little back pack which was just perfect to use as I traveled hands-free through the airports on vacation. I'm continuing to use it whenever I'm out with my Asus or just need a small back pack so I can be hands free.

I used a a kid's backpack pattern from McCall's as it was the size I wanted and it was in my stash. I added an extra pocket at the back and a long fabric strap with a clip to hold my keys yet allow me to pull them and use without unhooking them. Picking the fabrics was one of the time consuming elements as I wanted to use my hand dyed pieces. Ended up piecing some commercial pieces to make the straps and commercial for the lining. Oh yes, added some extra pockets inside too. So overall I'm pleased.

Hope you're having a fun, colorful, creative summer! Or winter depending where you are spending it!

2011 Meet 2012

I did some fabric dyeing last week so decided to use one of the pieces for this year's calendar journal. I used the same format as last year but included a couple extra business card sized pockets and it closes with yarn rather than elastic. I found I often simply folded the outer wrap section inside as a marker and only tie it closed when I'm taking it somewhere. It usually sits on the kitchen table where I check it each night and morning.

 

I free motion quilted the outer piece to 'fast2fuse interfacing' and prepared the inner piece with it's pockets before stitching the three together.

To stitch in the signatures, I used the crochet cotton thread that I had tied some of my fabrics with when dyeing.

I forego the clay button this time and simply used some matching fabric stiffened just like the journal. And once again ran some papers through the printer without dates as it is much quicker for me to add those in by hand than figure out how to get them right in the computer settings!

...dummy me ..... copied out the dates all the way to July before I realized I was using a 2011 calendar to copy the dates from (I hadn't noticed the calendar was a two year calendar, I simply saw the 2012)! So I  cut some labels and covered the wrong dates and am redoing the dates correctly now. Maybe I should figure out how to print the calendar next year!
      Hope your 2012 calendar is looking just as you had hoped!

Candy's Blog Hop and Giveaway

 Lucky me! This morning I had my coffee watching Candy's newly released DVD. Candy did a super job with this video showing how she does her dyeing with lots of tips, plus she shows her thread sketching and how she creates her lovely art quilts. All very inspiring! There are excellent in-depth reviews at the each of the blogs on Candy's blog hop. I won this copy through Diane Doran's blog. Check out all the blogs, they are all very inspiring bloggers and if you don't already have a copy of Candy's DVD you still have a chance to win one!

 This week I unloaded another load of dishes. Above are the bisqued pieces with their oxide, waiting for waxing and glazing before their final firing. Below, finished! Now it's time for fiber.....

Hope you're having a great weekend!

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!

Treat that Fabric Before Printing, or ....

this is what you may get after you wash it ......



I had printed some photos onto white cotton that I had not taken the time to pre-treat. I was in a hurry plus I didn't expect to ever wash the fabric as it was for use in my challenge quilt over at Tangled Textiles. So I started with these printed fabrics .....

I then added some fabric borders around them, thinking I'd work them somehow into a mini quilt.

However I wasn't happy with them as they were quite washed out looking and the theme was Celebrate! So I decided I'd simply wash the blocks and have them ready for dyeing. And this is what happened to the centers that had previously had a photo printed on them .....

I am actually very happy about this white square as I wasn't happy with the photos at all. I am wondering though if the photos were dull out because I had not increased the intensity of the colors (which I did do for the photos that I ended up using in my challenge quilt) or if it was due to the quality of the printer or ink I used or if it was because I had not treated the fabric? I had thought that the treating of fabric for printing was simply to help make it more colorfast so it doesn't wash away. Do you know?

More Shibori Projects

I'm still having fun using some of my dyed fabrics from Linda Dawson's Shibori workshop. I've been making covers for my stack of yellow note pads.  I like how the naked white buttons look with the indigo fabrics.

This one is a softer cover, using a regular batting rather than the heavy weight Fast2Fuse. I raw edge finished and crocheted two funky yarns together for the edging and ties. It's a furry little creature.

Inside I used two other dyed fabrics. The over-dyed piece is from Linda H. who was in Linda D's class. She over dyed a white on white print and wasn't happy with it, was going to toss it. I said it was great so she gave it to me. Thank you Linda!

I love these little breaks but now it's back to taxes..... have a great weekend, hope you don't still have your taxes to work on!

Using My Workshop Fabrics

At Linda's dyeing workshop I learned about pre-reduced indigo! If your last dyeing experience was thirty some years ago like mine your indigo dyeing was more involved than what we did. The pre-reduced indigo available now makes it much easier to create your beautiful blue fabrics and yarns with no need for lye!

Yesterday I couldn't wait any longer to do something with at least one of my newly dyed fabrics so I chose the shibori stitched cotton that I had dyed in the indigo pot. I made a folder for a little yellow pad. I've been wanting something to take to meetings and to keep in my bag for school.

I started out writing down the measurements I was using but ended changing the design as I moved along so will include a little tutorial if anyone is interested when I make another. I'm sure the next one will be a little different as I try to improve it.

I'll leave with a photo of this little guy who visited our garden last week. I followed him and believe he may live under our house!