Friday, February 22, 2013

Just Call Me The Silly Shoveler!

Thank goodness we only had 6.5" of snow last night. I have a weak back and I only shoveled two strips so my tires could get on pavement without packing the snow down to turn to ice. We had a new bed delivered today so I was sure to shovel a portion for them to get the bed out of the truck too. I am afraid of the snow blower so I am saving some fun for my hubs when he returns home tonight! I didn't want him to miss out! Tee Hee! I suppose you could call me the lazy shoveler...but I will blame it on my back!

I went on a road trip to do some shopping the other day. Found some wonderful fabrics and a few wools.

Can't wait to find the perfect quilt to use them in! I have been on a tiny print kick lately for a few mini quilts I am working on. The more fabrics the better when it comes to quilts!

I did a little experimenting with some garment wools I have had laying around for a while...like maybe these clothes have been waiting 4 years to become something! I read about dying wools with Kool Aid recently and decided to give it a try! It was super fun and super easy! Some did not all do well, so I will try again, but here are a few of my finished recycled wools that I am happy with. This first picture is from an off white skirt I used to wear in college. The colors turned out very very bright! I have no idea what I will do with these, but they sure are pretty! Maybe they would make cute Easter eggs around a cute little bunny...hmmm, ther's an idea!

This one below is from some tan pants my mom used to wear. It looks like a great tomato color, variegated nicely. This fabric is fraying, so I will most likely need to needleturn it when I use it in a quilt.

This one is a plaid blazer of my mother's. The original color is laying on the bottom right. I used blueberry and grape Kool Aid if I remember correctly. Next time I will take notes!

I did the Kool Aid dying in the morning, and then decided to try tea dying in the afternoon. I didn't have any plain tea bags so decided to use instant coffee. I cooked the fabrics a while on the stove, then layed the fabrics out on cookie sheets and baked them to dry. That gives the dark stains. I am very happy with most of these! Although, I will have to figure out how to get those deep wrinkles out! I am afraid to put sizing on the fabric for fear it will wash out those good stains! I will keep you posted on how that works!!! The base fabrics from left to right are 3 colors of tiny checks, 2 homespun plaids and a solid unbleached muslin. Yummy!

And last, I'll show off a quilt I made in the year 2000. I have not had it on my wall for a while. It's one of my favorites. It is double cross hatch quilted and has that good wrinkle that makes a quilt look old. It is a Lisa DeBee Schiller pattern called Le Fleur De Jardin. It was a BOM gift from my mother. I changed a few of the fabrics and you know I didn't follow the pattern! Haha! I set it a bit differently than the pattern called for...just a little change.

Here's a few pics of the quilting and inking details. The designer spoke at a guild as I was making the blocks. I took them to show her and she signed one of the blocks. She also added the inking twigs to the block, so when I finished all of the blocks, I had to add inking too! It was scarey as I thought I would make a mistake...but I went slow and after a few twigs, I was comfortable with the process. It adds quite a bit to the quilt!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay warm and take care,

Missie

 

8 comments:

  1. I gave up on shoveling after the last storm, spent two days in my chair after that, lol. We are getting less snow and some rain, so hoping it won't be bad.
    Great finds and wonderful pieces.

    Debbie

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  2. Nothing like a good road trip - especially when it involves fabric! Love your dye work - I'm going to have to give this a try. And you know I love your quilt - it's even better in person - still can't believe the inking - it looks so good!

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  3. The inkling----is that done with a pigma pen? Love the quilts. I have dyed with Kool Aid--Google Kool Aid Dying and you should get a recipe list using different colors at the same time.

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  4. Be careful not to damage that back further with snow shovelling. It will seriously hinder quilting. Nice fabric selection you have and a lovely treasure of a quilt.

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  5. shoveling snow is hard work, bad back or not! you probably shouldn't have been doing that.
    Looks like you have been having some fun dyeing fabrics.
    I love that quilt. I have an old pillow where I did some of the same inking. It was a pattern from a magazine but I don't remember who it was by. Makes me wonder if it was Lisa. I love the quilting you did and that bias trim around the block.

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  6. Hey Missie - I have some of those great CW fabrics in my stash - so much fun to hunt them down, huh? I found a bunch for 30% off yesterday - yay! We're getting heavy snow today - hubby already shoveled once. I just walked my friend Janet though some Kool Aid dyeing (Rogue Quilter) - yours turned out nice - I love the coffee stains on it! And finally - your floral quilt is awesome - beautiful quilting made for a beautiful finish! I haven't done any hand quilting for ages but it's SO much better than on the machine!

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  7. That snow looks so pretty - but don't envy you having to shovel!
    Kool-aid and Coffee dying sure looks like fun!
    Just LOVE that beautiful quilt you made - it's gorgeous!

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  8. I loooove that quilt- the texture is just GORGEOUS!!!

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