Friday, February 26, 2010

The Last Snow Storm?

We had another snowfall in New England.  It wasn't too bad in my back yard, in fact rather pretty and it's almost gone now.  Lots of flooding in NH though, but I've escaped the worst.
Spring is on its way!!!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Challenge#1 PUZZLE Complete!

My first challenge for Three Creative Studios is complete.  I machine appliqued and machine quilted this 12x12 piece that I call Puzzled or Puzzling.  Which road to take?  We all make that decision about what road to go down so to speak.  These decisions are made in fiberart, art in general and of course in Life itself.  It can be puzzling.  I hope you enjoy seeing these pieces as I complete and post them. 

First photo is the front of the quiltlet.
Second and third photos are closeups of the machine work. (Double click on photo to enlarge).
Third photo is the back of the piece.



Monday, February 22, 2010

It's Puzzling

I've been working on one of my challenge quiltlets (Puzzle), and I'm almost ready to submit it to the positing.
I'm not sure the meaning will be clear to most but for me it works. Which direction to take??
 It's Puzzling. 

Of course now that's it's almost finished I'm thinking about what I might do differently if I did this one over again.  But on to the next one.  12 x 12 Squared Group Challenge word is Poetic. I think I might do something around Bob Dylan.  Some of the words to his songs just amaze me.  There are so many wonderful poets but this is one I can relate to so I think I'll "use" him.

Friday, February 19, 2010

You HAVE to check out this AMAZING QUILT!

A fellow blogger put a link to this quilt made by Laura Peterson on her page and I just had to add it to mine.  This is an amazing quilt, I had to look twice before it registered.  Click on AMAZING QUILT above to go to the page.  She shares some tecniques she used in completing this work of art.

I have plans to screen print over some of my snow dyed fabric tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

SUCCESS WITH SNOW DYEING FABRIC!

Success!!  I gave it another try, this time rinsed in COLD water first and used "fresh" dyes.  I'm pleased with the results and will definately give this another try with other colors while we still have snow.  I think I'll use some of this fabric in a challenge piece I will be completing for March, we'll see.

You never know what you are going to get from this process, that's part of the fun!  The fabric looks much more beautiful in person, but this is the best I can do with photos.  It's fun, give it a try!!

The tutorials on line are inspiring and led me to try this.  Thanks to everyone, especially Beth, who took time out of her busy day to answer some of my questions.  Also many thanks to Wil who gave me some helpful ideas with freeze dyeing.  Much appreciated!

Friday, February 12, 2010

End of the Season for Basketball and Wrestling

It looks like basketball and wrestling seasons are coming to an end.  Final competitions are this weekend.  This means spring must be around the corner and on to softball and baseball!  I really enjoy going to the grandkids games.  It's been great seeing them grow and improve their skills.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Not Much Luck

Well I tried the snow dyeing technique and had poor results.  I'm sure I did something wrong so I will give it another try.  I used some "old' dye I already had mixed and also rinsed with hot water and believe I should have rinsed with cold water first then two hot water washes.  So I'll give it another try before the snow is all gone.  I'm posting a picture of the fabric, snow and dye.  Wish it had come out with the color shown here!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Dyeing with Snow

I came across this Blog today and I'm very excited about trying this dyeing technique.  We haven't had much snow but I'm going to give it a try anyway.  The technique is explained on the Blue Heron Quilts blog and I recommend you take a look at some of her beautiful hand dyed cottons!  Lovely stuff.
http://blueheronquilts2.blogspot.com/