Dye Job!

After church I followed through on my plan to dye some fabric.  I am trying to use up all my older dyes, so I used blue, yellow, red  and khaki to make greens, blues and dusty oranges.

In total I dyed 15 yards.  I looked at some of my earlier dye attempts in my "dye book" and decided I would try some of the old ways since I seemed to get more intense colors.  The difference was adding soda ash to the dye solution as well as soaking my fabric in soda ash.   The colors sure looked intense, we will see how it does when I wash them.  Next I will use some of the pre-mixed dye powders---a orange, green, and a color called "black cherry".

I am going to quilt on "Chop Sticks" and wash some clothes.  I nice stress-free Sunday afternoon!

Busy Saturday!!!

I had planned to dye today, but got "way-laid" and quilted most of the day.  I completed quilting, binding and washing the quilt for my daughter's SO's daughter.  I love crinkly quilts for a lot of reasons, but especially because they hide flaws wonderfully!!!  Once washed, the areas where I had small tucks didn't show at all.  I used my latest CL giant templates of two size circles.  I had some "oops", but again, once washed you couldn't see them.  I found a piece of remnant in my stash that works well for the binding, used some flannel I already  had for the back, and one quilt completely finished without buying anything other than a twin batting (on sale).  Pretty good!

I am also quilting "Chopsticks".  I am using a overall panto called "Bubbles".  It is a nice change up from the CL giant boards I have been using.  I am also using a Glide pre-filled Fil-Tec bobbin.  I love these bobbins as I have mentioned before, they are pricey (about $1 a bobbin), but I have no tension problems.  This is my first time using the bobbins with the poly thin thread in them, but I used my Towa and set the tension at the same I use for the cotton, and no problem!

On the first photo you can see the magnets I am using to hold the top more taut, since I "float" my tops.  I find that by loading my quilts this way, I am least likely to stretch the top and end up with a lot of fullness I have to work in on the last couple of rows.    The magnets really work, but of course only if you have steel rollers.  They are very strong!  Don't ever make the mistake of locking them together, it takes forever to get them apart (ask me how I know)!.  The backing is fabric I bought on a Christmas Fabric close-out about two or three years ago for something like 75% off the regular price.  They are poinsettia's, but I think it goes well with the quilt.  I love pretty backs, and even if it is a bit "holiday looking", I think it is a nice complement to the florals on the quilt top.  It has a nice soft hand almost like a thick lawn that is being used a lot on quilt backs.  I bought all that was on a bolt, and still have a little left that I will cut up and put in my scrap bin.  I was also very careful to load this quilt on straight, so hopefully I will not have some of the same problems I had with the previous quilt.

I do plan to dye tomorrow afternoon though!  I am not going in to school on Monday so I will get up and wash them and iron later.

I am going to "surf" the net a little and fold clothes.  Thanks for stopping by!

Update!

I completed my version of "Chopsticks" by JayBird Quilts.  It was a fun quilt, although the cutting was a little tedious.  It is a large queen so I couldn't get it in the entire picture.  My background is grey moda and the prints are a combination of Kaffe and Kaffe-like prints.  I haven't decided how I am going to quilt it, but it will probably be an overall panto.

I have been very delinquent in blogging---not sure why---just really laziness I guess, but I have been reading a lot of others and living "vicariously" through them!  I have several quilts on the horizon---although I really do need to complete some of these UFO's---but ...........

School officially starts next week, so this is my really last "summer" week-end!  Good for me, it is going to be really warm, so I am going to do some dyeing.  I think I am going to use up as much of the "older" dyes as possible while they are still good, so no telling what I will end up with.  Then my plan is to look at the UFO's I have, choose one to finish, and maybe start another one to take it's place.  There are so many quilts I want to make, and so little free time to do them.

I am also working on the strip quilt, quilting it.  It is not going so well----I don't think I got it loaded on the longarm straight, and so now as I quilt the rows the lines of quilting are crooked.  In addition, it has stretched on the sides so the rows are "catawompus".  At this point I am at the "point of no return".  I have to forge on.  I am misting it as I go and "patting" the fullness into place.  Letting it dry and then carefully quilting over it to avoid a lot of folds.  If I can prevail, I am pretty sure when I wash it and it crinkles, it will not be too bad.  It is for a 9 year old and hopefully she, nor anyone else, will be a member of the "quilt police".  This is a lesson learned for sure.  I will be much more diligent in lining up my quilts.

At any rate, I just wanted to check in.  Clearly I am not being a very responsible "blogger", but what can I say!  No excuses!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I have been thinking that instead of feeling compelled to "write" stuff, maybe I will just start putting in a daily picture.  We'll see!

Anyway---have a great week-end!

Nothing Exciting Going On Here!

My last blog entry mentioned my "well rested" state!  That lasted for all of one day---maybe two and I am back to feeling exhausted and overwhelmed!  Some of this I can attribute to the "time of the year".  It is the end of the semester and I am working hard creating final exams, reading term papers, planning for next semester and listening to students complain about their grades, as if I created them and they didn't in fact, EARN them! 

I did get time to also quilt a top I have had of Diane's for over a year.  She doesn't put any pressure on me, but I still want to get them to her.  Of course, as soon as I took it OFF the machine I saw some tension "issues" on the back, but hopefully when washed, it will "tighten up"---this has been my experience in the past so I am anticipating this will happen again.

I also finished putting on and stitching down (by machine) the binding on three charity quilts.  In moving things around, I found two more I had prepared with backing for quilting, so I will do those in the coming week.  That will make 8 quilts for the guild.  The quilts are so simple and quick to make and it is sorta nice to think a little one will use it and because they will know it was from a stranger, will perhaps, "move it forward"----do something kind for another stranger.   Okay, so maybe not, but I like to think so anyway.  I found some minky remnants at Joann's so the next one's I make will have that backing.  That will bring my total to 10 --- all made from fabric I already had including batting remnants.  Doing good and moving fabric is a good combination.

The weather is absolutely beautiful!  If I can stay focused and get everything done, I am going to dye more.  I saw another quilt that would be perfect for my dyes, but I don't have enough of a variety.  I also have to use up some dye whose shelf-life is coming to an end!

Wanted to check in!  Hopefully I will have something interesting to say soon!