It's All Fun!

What could be better than a workshop where you don't have to bring a sewing machine, fabric or any sewing supplies?  How about a workshop where you don't have to stress about color choices or if you have the exact seam allowance?  What if you got to choose from lots of colors to dye yards and yards of fabric?  It's a no brainer and it was lots of fun today as Calico Cutters Quilt Guild had a fabric dyeing workshop - at my house. 

 

I spent a day making up about 10 gallons of dye in about 20 different colors for my fellow guild members to play with.  I'm so happy I didn't have to schlep everything to a different location.  The workshop was Chez Lynch. They just had to bring lunch and come in clothes that they didn't mind were splashed with dye.  Fiber Reactive Dye is just that - and it's permanent. OOPS!   Holly didn't mind! Who spilled that dye on her???  I won't tell.  It matches her shirt.

 

The plan was to dye outside.  No mess indoors and if something spills, the grass would hide it.  But Mother Nature wouldn't co-operate.  It was chilly, the grass was wet and the forecast called for some intermittent spritzing.  So I waited for the last minute to clean out my garage.

 

 We started the day by ripping 4 yds of fabric into fat quarters.

Soaked them in a soda ash solution and started dyeing.

 

Everyone had their own dishpan to keep their baggies.

it was a beautiful thing to watch them fill up.  Everyone went home with 18 baggies each with its own fat quarter.  They would sit overnight and washout would come in the morning.

 

We did single color dyeing, single color gradation dyeing and 2 color gradation dyeing. We had some extra time and those who wanted dyed some cotton thread.

 

Our guild meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that some of my new dyers wake up early enough to do a washout and dry their fabrics in the morning. This reveal is the best part of dyeing your own fabric. And,  I'd love to see some hand dyes at Show & Tell.

 

I do really enjoy sharing the fabric dyeing experience.

Girlfriends Quilting Getaway

Three days of quilting, eating, talking, and fabric dyeing with four of your  best girlfriends (plus a doggie girlfriend) on a beautiful lake in the Pocono Mountains.  Nothing could be better to recharge your soul, your friendships and your creative juices.  Since I am the owner of this "retreat house", I really get the best deal of all.  These friends of mine do not allow me to cook, do the dishes or clean!  It can't get any better than that.

Everyone brings their own projects to work on.   I used to bring a new design to work on.  I would be giving my brain quite a workout. It turned out that it was great having my friends there for input, but I never finished anything.  On the other hand,  my friends would bring multiple projects with the fabrics already cut and they would power sew.  They got so much done.  I have now adopted their methods.  Finishing the tops for two braid quilts for this mountain home were on my agenda.  I decided I needed to use up my stash of homespun fabrics.  I cut it all up into 3"x8" rectangles.  I started it at our last getaway during our retreat in Maryland (at our alternate location) and I finished it during this retreat.  It's headed to my wonderful longarmer, Susie Rocabaldo, and when they are back, I'll share them.

We cut back on the food this year but still had way to much.  The winner of the most creative cooking award went to this cake, a quatro flavoraggio (a take off on pasta a quatro fromaggios).  Of course you had to have four pieces to taste each of the four flavors of frosting.  It was so yummy. 

We ate lunch and dinner on the dock, sometimes with a beautiful sunset.

And we spent a morning dyeing fabric in baggies and also dyeing thread outside.  That was so much fun and so productive that we had to run out and buy more fabric!

At the end of our 4th day, the weather was the most beautiful of all.  We just had to sit on the dock one more time to chat and think about what lucky girls we are!

So,to share this wonderful experience, I am thinking about offering retreats at my lake house that would include a 3 day workshop and delicious meals down on the dock.  I could accommodate 5 people.  If you have any interest,  shoot me an e-mail.

Play Day

I really needed a play day.  My brain has been taxed.  I have spent the last couple of weeks writing patterns.  I still have a few to write, but those can wait.  I need a fun day.  I had refrained from dyeing fabric while waiting to tape The Quilt Show.  I always end up with dye on my hands, no matter how careful I am .  I didn't think that would look good on camera.  So the show is done and I've been itching to put some color on fabric.  My inspiration has been this group of fabrics that I bought at the Quilt Odyssey show this summer.  I love these colors.

I had 3 1/2 yds of one PFD fabric and some smaller pieces of some other PFD fabrics.  I also found an apron at Target that was 100% cotton and I had  a PFD t-shirt that I had bought when I was at Pro Chem.  I also decided to  play around with dyeing some threads.  I like to use these plastic rods from my kids' K'nex.  Aren't I glad that I decided to save them for potential grandchildren and now they have been repurposed. 

To limit the amount of dye that ends up on my hands, I like to use plastic baggies.  If I want a mottled look, I just put in the fabric, pour in the dye mixture, then the soda ash solution and I leave it.  If I want a more solid look, I mush, mush, mush it.

Ta dah - the results:

Fall River Here We Come

We are going on a road trip. The dog, the husband and me!

We're heading to Fall River, Massachusetts to take a fabric dyeing workshop at
Pro Chemical & Dye with Carol Soderlund.
The class is full. It always is, so I registered on the first available day. The description says you go home with a binder of 1000 dyed fabric swatches and how to formulate them.
Sounds like fun to me.
I'm also bringing 5 yards of cotton, cotton threads and some dupioni silk to dye.

Yes, it is a family adventure - including Bailey.
A 6 hour drive for 5 days of fabric dyeing heaven.

The supply list included lots of office supplies and lots of empty bottles.
I also packed lots of black clothes.

I'm bringing my computer and will try to post as often as I can. Let me know if you have any questions that I can ask them for you.

Quick Snow Day Project

So we are having yet more snow! We have broken the all time record for a winter snowfall. And yes I really do miss Key West. But this would make a really beautiful quilt.

Our quilt guild is having an auction next month. These fundraisers are necessary to help pay for our monthly meetings, especially when we have nationally known speakers. I try to donate something, wether it's a finished piece or offering a class. I am not sure what my schedule is going to be like this spring since it seems like my time will be tied up with the bulk of the editing of my book. So I decided to donate some hand dyed fabric.

Previously, I had used a kit from Pro Chemical and Dye. It was a Rainbow Gradation Kit. It resulted in 30 fat eighths of cotton fabric. I started with 3 different dyes - Mustard, Navy and Burgundy. The wonderful thing about dyeing this way is that all of the fabrics "go together". I even dyed a scrap piece of fabric with the leftover dye in a mottled design that worked as my binding. I liked the value and colors so much that I ordered the 3 dyes so that I could do it again. (Just one word of caution here. Dyeing can be hazardous to your health. You need to take proper precautions to not inhale the dye powder and make sure you use containers/utensils that are dedicated for dyeing only - not for food use after you have used them for dyeing.)

This would be the perfect time to do this again. I had some tone on tone beige fabric - enough for 12 fat quarters. The only problem was that I couldn't find the directions that came with the kit. This is the story of my life. After spending a considerable amount of time looking for my hard copy and searching Pro Chem's website, I found a website with directions that were similar, at http://www.quiltpox.com/. I pre-washed my fabric, made up the three dye solutions and the soda ash solution. I deviated from the directions in combining the different dyes so that I ended up with 12 different colors. This can be done with any variations of the 3 primary colors. A - Mustard, B- Navy, C-Burgundy. I used zip lock baggies and placed them in a plastic cup for stability while filling them.Below are the tablespoons of dye solution that I added to the soda ash solution in each of the baggies.

#1 4 Tbsp A
#2 4 Tbsp B
#3 4 Tbsp C
#4 2 Tbsp A + 2 Tbsp
#5 2 Tbsp A + 2 Tbsp C
#6 2 Tbsp B + 2 Tbsp C
#7 1 Tbsp A + 3 Tbsp B
#8 1 Tbsp B + 3 Tbsp C
#9 1 Tbsp A + 3 Tbsp C
#10 3 Tbsp A + 1 Tbsp B
#11 3 Tbsp B + 1 Tbsp C
#12 3 Tbsp A + 1 Tbsp C

The next step was to add the fabric. Into each baggie I place a fat quarter of the fabric, zipped it and smooshed it as best I could. It is also important to place the baggies once they are filled with dye and fabric into a large container like a dishpan, just in case one of the baggies leaks. Then the hardest part was yet to come. I ha to let them sit overnight.In the morning, it's rinse out time. I rinsed them in my sink with very hot water.
Then into the washing machine all that yummy fabric goes with a capful of Synthrapol. And ta dah!! I think the ladies will like it.