Eco Dyed and Imperfections

I had Eco dyed some fabrics 

back in 2010; washed and Ironed

them and put them away.

I did this to see if over time

the fabric would fade or stay

the same.

And they did! They were just

the same.

So, I chose the tea dyed with maple

leaves which I wrote about 

Here 


I decided to make myself a small

bag - to experiment design, hand 

embroidered stitches and also add

some machine decorative stitches.

I also used a piece of my shibori fabric

that resembled tree bark.


 From a distance, it doesn't look

too bad.  (although I think that the length should be longer)

What frustrated me the most is that

I should have been paying more attention

when adding the decorative stitches.

The line of the stitches is off at

one point about 1/8 of an inch! 

 And again a little further on. Grrrr

I even steamed and ironed the seam

before sewing to make sure that this

wouldn't happen!  

We learn from our mistakes - I'll try

again. 

I was so angry at myself and kept

saying "it's not perfect!" 

So I grabbed my camera and went

for a walk in my back yard.

I discovered "Imperfections" learning

to live with them.

 

Feeling a little Out of Focus

 

 

 like your banging against a brick wall?

 Broken

Rotten

 

 

Cracked

 

 

Imperfect

Pick yourself up,
Take a deep breath,
Dust yourself off.
And start all over again

Pouchettes - Hand dyed shibori fabric

I have been dyeing fabric for a couple

of years now and have accumulated 

another stash! 

I've made several hand bags out of some

of the fabrics and they all sold out in

my Etsy shop last year.  So I decided to start 

making more of them. 

A Small Clutch

 I love this one in greys! It's made from a piece

of my hand dyed greys and the middle piece

is from one of my shibori pieces.

I'm having such fun making them as I am

making them intuitively - which I love doing!

What I mean is that I am working with a

purse pattern but the overall design is 

intuitively pieced.   

The fabrics are laid out on the table and then

the selection begins. That's the fun part!

These little bags are light and great when 

you just need to carry your essentials - money,

cards, keys and phone. 

I take one with me shopping when I don't want

to carry a heavy hand bag all around with me.

This should keep me busy for quite awhile!

Happy Quilting!
 

Stash Busting 2 - Strip Quilts

I'm making progress using some of my

stash! 

I was thinking what patterns I could make

to use up some of the purple fabrics that

I had. 

I saw a strip quilt on Pinterest and decided

to try one. 

I used some out of print fabrics that I was

saving for what - I don't know....?  It felt

good to finally use them.

 The back is one solid piece of purple polka dots.

For the quilting; I used channel straight line 

with my walking foot. 

This measures about 37" x 39".

I had so much fun (and a lot of left over fabric)

that I decided to make another one.

 # 2 - I added more purples and a piece

of my hand dyed fabric in blue. And also

some of the purple polka dot fabric left over

from the back of #1.  As a matter of fact -

that middle row with all of the different

rectangles is a cut off of #1 also. 

 Channel straight line quilting on this one

also. But I had no backing - so I had to break

down and buy some. 

 Pretty in purples chevron pattern - gives

it a very modern look. 

This one measures about 34" x 40".

These were fun and they're easy to make

and use up some of your stash.

I've also collected 2 more bags to donate.

Spring cleaning!   I have one more bin

to go through.

*********************

I took a walk in the back of my yard -

since all of the snow had melted - Yay!

And spotted these pretty little crocus shooting

up.

 I walked further down by the little creek

and peeked in  at the bottom of the tree

and saw some strange fungi growing.

And then further down I couldn't believe

my eyes.

 My Neighbors - tree limbs all over the place

from the storm that we had. What a mess!

But you know I was thinking that better

down there than close to the house like

I had. It was one terrible winter all over.

I have to thank my son for sawing and 

taking away all of the fallen limbs. 

Happy Quilting!