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!

Stash Busting - Floral Table Runner

     I only know of one woman who quilts

that just buys enough fabric for the quilt

that she is currently working on. She has been

quilting for over 40 years.

I guess she learned a lesson long ago.

     I have donated boxes of fabric to the

local Mennonite good will and still have

tubs of it left! 

     Since my husband passed away; I'm

desperately trying to downsize.


     I have lots of greens that I had collected for

my applique work. 

I love this fabric and didn't want to cut it up.

So I made a table runner out of it.

 This is the back - one solid piece also.

 I had fabric left over from the binding; so I made

a couple of coasters. 

Happy Quilting!

 

WIP #6

This is my WIP (works in progress) # 6

I made this table runner using the 

quilt block "Ocean Waves" awhile back.

 I was debating on how I would quilt this..?

  Traditional or modern?

I had my walking foot attached to the machine

and decided to use just the straight stitch,

using variegated thread.

 
So I started to quilt the wavy lines  trying to imitate

the lines in the fabric.

I love the wonky movement in this runner!

I used a white fabric on the back - where

you can see the wonky stitching.

Measures 41" long and 19" wide


---------------------

Going through my fabric stash (oh my!)

I decided to postpone my WIP and use

some of the fabrics that I have been collecting.

Stay tuned!

----------------------

Around Lancaster

 

 I was looking out the back door and saw this beautiful

sky line! 

 

 

Taking a walk in Long's Park the other day where 

there were lots of Seagulls (herring?) 

 

 Walking around I saw this tree that had

recently fell, probably during the last

bad storm. 

Happy Quilting!

WIP #5

Hello Spring! (i think)

I had taken a class from my friend Kathi

Beginners Bargello. I thought that it would

be very confusing but it turned out very

nice! 

 It's a Landscape Bargello and it was fun

to do, not confusing to me at all. 

 The back is one solid piece and I added

a sleeve for hanging.

 I just did some free motion quilting around

the clouds; the rest is straight stitch in the 

ditch.

I had some fabric left over and decided to

use it to make a small Landscape Bargello

table mat and coasters.

 Again, I just did straight stitch in the ditch

quilting. 

So, not only did I finish the WIP (work in

progress) but I used some of my stash fabrics.

If you're interested in making a Bargello;

Bonnie Hunter has a great tutorial ----

 Scrappy Bargello

From my backyard

 

                                     Grackles

 

Crows

 

Happy Quilting!

WIP #4

Another WIP (works in progress) finished!

Am I running low yet? Nope!

I had a bag full of 9 patches  - made out of

strips that were 1 1/2" wide.  

Not knowing what I wanted to do with them

exactly; so they were put away.

So, they came out of the WIP draw and I

thought that I would make a table runner out

of them.

                         Table runner is 30" x 18 1/2"

I really like the fabric but don't know the

manufacturer, as I bought them as Fat

Quarters. The look of it reminds me of a

Romantic Cottage style.

I wanted to try something new, so I decided

to use a decorative stitch around the sashing.

I think that it gives it a nice touch. The quilting

is just a plain cross hatch.

 The back of the table runner is a solid olive

green but with the quilting in a cranberry color

it has a nice contrast and the runner now can

be reversible. 

We have all these pretty decorative stitches

built in our machines and they should be 

used more. Don't you think?  

I had lots more 9 patches left, so I made 

some matching mats.  Mats are 10 1/2" x 13 1/2" each.

Around Lancaster

 

 Happy Quilting!