Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Back on track...

I spent a good part of the day yesterday in the studio. I redyed some of the fabrics for the online class I am taking. It is called Dyeing to Design, it is a class that teaches some unusual dyeing techniques and also how to design quilts that will use these fabrics most effectively. Here is my first lesson's dye results.
We started out dyeing an 8 step gradation of black. It is so interesting to see the other colors that show up especially in the lighter values when you are using black since it is made by mixing all the colors together, mine had a lavenderish cast to them and the lightest value had some interesting red spots in it. Next comes designing a quilt to use these. Here are 2 abstract designs I have come up with. I have a more realistic quilt idea that I am considering also I just haven't had time to work with that one yet.


I have made photocopies of these and now I will play with value placement to find the right arrangement before I begin to cut out any of the fabrics.

Once I did this first gradation I did another one using a dye called Palomino Gold. I need some flesh tone fabrics so here it what I got.
I think the lighter values will work in the piece that I will be creating next week while in New York at the quilt retreat. Here is another trio of fabrics and the dark brown will become the background for next week's project. I also think that the bright goldish/yellow one will work also.

Our dear friend Betsy is in town and we got together last evening for Mexican/Margarita night. Here is a good picture of Friends.
We sat and talked for nearly 2 hours. It was good to see Betsy.

I also got started on the quilting of the t-shirt quilt. Here is a sneak peak of that.

Now I am off to get a bunch of work done. I plan on dyeing a deep brown piece that I need, quilt some more on that quilt, clean up my studio as I go, start to gather up the supplies I need for the retreat next week and pack them up, and I plan on making stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. I think that will keep me pretty busy and out of trouble today. I need to look at my to do list and make sure I am not forgetting anything.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and take time to laugh and enjoy the fruits of your labor and good friends.




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