Super Secret Quilt Project Is Completed

It’s done and way ahead of time. No last minute panic sitting up into the wee small hours to finish off this gift. No siree! Way back last October I started making Suffolk Puffs out of left over grey/white/black fabric.

Then I hit upon the idea to make a quilt for my sister’s 50th birthday.

I now had an excuse to use the jumbo template that had been hiding in my craft cupboard forever. It also meant I had to buy some larger pieces of fabric.

Most of these fabric were purchased as black and white prints. With a couple of packets of Dylon’s Antique Grey ( love this colour, just wait to you see the skirt I’m making for myself) I overdyed the commercial rints to achieve my chosen colour scheme. The ‘solid’ greys were my Eco Dyed Fabric.

Once I had enough puffs I whipped up the quilt base , no rocket science here. Just quick and simple.

Next step was to work out the placement of the large puffs, took way longer than I expected.

Nest step was to plan the pattern placements of the smaller puffs.

The puffs were attached to the base when attaching the buttons. This served as the ‘quilting’ as well. All done.

To break up the monotony in every row I have replaced the big puff with 4 smaller ones. It  just adds a little variety. The hanging sleeve is attached and quilt bag is sewn. All that’s left  to do now is the wrapping.

Off to Market

This Sunday is the QLD Embroiderers’ Guild’s Annual Mother’s Day Fair. I’ll be there with all of TrishAlan Designs Eco Dyed Threads and Fabric as well as some extra  one off goodies.

If you have been following my recent Crochet Blog posts here, here and here you will recognise these. I actually didn’t plan on making anymore of these bangles or at least not in time for the fair but thanks to Mum’s recent stay in hospital I did a few more while visiting. If you can’t make it to the fair you can have a go at making your own here.

What’s New

The shop has been overdue for a rearrange for ages. I finally stopped  procrastinating and did a total makeover.

It also gave me an opportunity to play around a bit more with my new camera. It took me absolutely ages to find the anti-blur setting.

Usually I display like products together because I am basically lazy.

This time I went for a colour theme.

I love the finished look but already I’m noticing that I need to do more tidying throughout the day. Not my favourite thing. I wonder how long I can keep this display going?

Masked Surface Design

With no internet connection at the shop yesterday my plans to catch up on the business side of things was thwarted. Damn, lol. There was nothing to it but to indulge in a little creative play.

This fabric was dyed earlier in the year. It is slated to be used to make some patchwork bean bag style poufs. But first I wanted to jazz it up a bit more. I’ve masked up a simple grid.

Acrylic paint was mixed with fabric fixative then rollered onto the fabric.

Once the paint was dry I rubbed silver paintstick onto the masking tape. Using a hard toothbrush I brushed it onto the fabric.

Most of the masking tape has been removed. The oil has yet to evaporate out of the paintstick. Depending on the humidity this may take a couple of days.

More often than not I pop the fabric outside in the sun and it is ready for heat setting in a day but we have a miserable wet day here so I will just have to be patient.

Now to jazz up the other couple of pieces in the same colourway using different patterns  and techniques.

Craft Day

Last night when the was rain bucketing down I made the decision to not go into the shop today. I had planned to do some dyeing but knew the fabric wouldn’t dry. A day at home creating would do me good.

I started making some fabric coasters. Probably should have kept going until I finished them but today wasn’t about shoulds. Besides I didn’t feel like doing detail work. I was in a scrappy mood.

 Grabbed some fabric and did a bit more on the fabric collage I have been working on. Then I ran out of glue….. 
Delved into my bag of thread scraps, found some fabric strips  and started twisting.

Still need to add brooch backs to these. Will make a few more before I start that step, I haven’t even made a dent in that thread bag.
PS The sun came out.

Cloth Weaving

Late last year I used up some old thickened dye and created a fun piece of fabric.

 I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it until I stumbled upon Morna Crites blog. Suddenly I knew I wanted to try Cloth Weaving and what I could use for my first piece.
   The first cut is the deepest. I cut my strips 7cm wide.

This is as far as I’ve got. I need some backing fabric and a few more bits of fabric to weave into it before I start stitching. Like Mona, I think this could be the first of many.

Salt Dye

The results are in from last week’s dyeing adventures.

This is a fun activity to do with children however I love the subtle spots of colour.

I love stitching random floral shapes and building collage pieces.

This was from the piece I wrapped in cling wrap and hung up. You can see the colours started to run a little. If the sun had played its part better the colour would have run more like water down a window pane. Never mind the fabric certainly won’t go to waste.

Sun & Salt = ???????

The sun was out when we arrived at the shop yesterday. I looked skyward, could see blue sky all around so I rushed inside to start a dye project.
I soaked the fabric in a soda ash solution. While I was waiting I found my shakers of dye powder and salt. I’ve had these mixes for a while now and the lids have rusted so I was simply wanting to use them up beofre the lids disintegrated completely. You have to be patient with this method as it does take a little while for the colours to fully develop. If you have patient children this is a fun and not too messy dye project to do with them.

Once I’m happy with the colour spread I simply cover it over and let it dry out.

For a slightly different look I like to wrap the fabric in cling wrap and hang in the sun. The fabric will sweat a little and create water droplets which cause the salt/dye mix to run a little. Now that was the theory. Unfortunately the sun disappeared. If you look closely you can make out one measly water droplet.  It was closing time before I knew it so pics of finished piece will have to wait until later in the week.

And Finally…..

….I have got back to the super secret quilt project for my much older Sister’s 50th birthday. Gosh I love writing that.

This is the jumbo maker and my Eco Dyed Fabric.

When I took this photo I still had another 48 jumbo puffs to make. Construction is scheduled for the Easter Break, so far so good for keeping to timetable.

Holiday Craft Fun

While Alan has been busy replacing the pergola roof,

 

I’ve been inside crafting up a storm. Once the Bedroom Make-Over was complete I started creating Suffolk Puffs for my (much) older sister’s 50th Birthday Quilt.

 

All of the patterned jumbo puffs are complete, I still need 78 more jumbo puffs in my Eco Dyed Fabric.

This fabric is now drying on the line. Still have a heap of large puffs to make but have plenty of time up my sleeve, her birthday is not until August.

I couldn’t find a diary with a full day to a page, including weekends, in a pretty colour this year. Mind you I didn’t spend anytime looking either.

As the sewing machines was up I whipped up a fabric cover for my diary. Just in case I find myself regretting so much pink I have made it reversible. Much easier to find in my bag as well.

Working on a few other projects as well which hopefully won’t take the remainder of they year to finish. Wish me luck.

Dylon Dye 63–Burlesque Red

Great name for a lovely colour.

The feather on the front cover is a good representation of the colour but as usual there is some variations due to fabric and weave.

The top left fabric is cotton, the bottom left is washed silk and the fabric on the far right is sari silk.

This t-shirt was cotton rich with 5% Viscose.
I also did some exhaust dyeing with a difference. Will share the photos when project is finished.

Dylon Dye 64–Overdyeing

I received an email from a reader who told me how she wanted some hot pink and black fabric for a quilt. Unfortunately she was unable to  find a commercial fabric so she bought some black and white fabric and pink Dylon dye. Well naturally I was curious.

I bought some black and white fabric. Washed it well to remove sizing.

Mixed up some of Dylon’s Amazon Green. There was quite a lot of fabric in this bucket, certainly more than 250g. I needed to be very diligent about moving the fabric to ensure even dyeing.

Now this has got me thinking. I have another project forming in my mind. This could keep me out of mischief for quite a while.

PS: when I first wrote this I could not for the life of me remember who it was who told me about this. Was it one of my buddies from the many forums I'm a member of, maybe a twitter follower? It was in fact Eileen Lau a FB friend. Thanks for the tip Eileen.

Look What I Found in the Back of the Fridge

Not month old vegetables. Thickened dye left over from some project or other.

I spooned it onto a glass plate.

Then with gloved hands started spreading it out.

Before placing a piece of brushed cotton on top. I used the brayer to ensure good contact.  Now at this stage I need to make a couple of points. The thickened dye was old and there was no guarantees about its effectiveness. I also hadn’t actually planned to do this so hadn’t properly prepared the fabric, no prewashing etc. So colourfastness wasn’t a priority or even likely.

I could have sworn I  took a photo of the fabric before this stage but sadly no. After I had finished stamping the t-shirt from yesterday I used the leftover gold paint to add a little detail.

No need for heat setting. The dye wasn’t set so I couldn’t see any point in going through the motions. I’m now pondering my next move. Exactly how I will use it is unknown except that it won’t be washable. I have a few ideas but with the busy time of the year quickly appearing it might be put on the back burner for a little while. Something else for the list.