What I did with snow dyed fabric!

You may recall that earlier this year we were blessed with snow, the first time for some years and as a committed dyer, I did some snow dyeing.

At long last I've used the fabric I produced to make some mats and a tablecloth for our caravan.  The designs were simple so I could get them done quickly and out of the fabric from this year's dyeing I made mats for the table and coffee table.

These two used all the fabric I had so delving in to my stash I found some more fabric that I did some years ago using either snow or ice - I can't remember which!

The colours are much deeper than this year's batch so I don't know what I did that was different. 

For the tablecloth, I used a wooden block to print a leaf design using discharge paste.  I had intended to do this with the first two mats but I forgot to do it!

It was a great exercise as it showed me how different coloured dyes react - some of the squares only had a very feint print whereas others were very clear.   I haven't done much work with discharge paste but I was so pleased with this work that I'll definitely do more again soon.

This month's Journal Quilt

For this month's green quilt I printed some of the fabric using skeleton leaves on the gelli plate.  The results were not as clear as I really wanted but that's the fun of a gelli plate - you never can tell how it will come out!

However, once the fabrics were cut the results were not as bad as I thought.

For the log cabin bit, I started with a uneven corner shape and then cut each of the strips into even widths as I added them.  Once complete, I quilted the strips of plain fabric with a leaf shape to tie in with the leaf prints.  It's a design I used last year on my March quilt and as I like it so much I will no doubt use it again.

When this part of the quilting was done I still felt it needed a bit more so I stitched in the ditch on all the strips.  I chuckled to myself as I did this as it doesn't seem that long ago I did the minimum amount of  quilting I could get away with whereas now I prefer as much as I can get away with!

When I was sorting out the quilts I've done so far this year, I noticed how good they looked in a stack, so good I had to take a photo!

Denim Jacket now has shells

Two shells have now been added to my denim jacket, adding to the seaside theme with the seahorse.

I've again used a range of stitches including French knots, herringbone, blanket, split stitch, chain stitch and cross stitches, all worked in stranded cotton.

I've also added some foliage and flowers around the mandalas I worked earlier so they are more joined together.   These were just simple back stitch and lazy daisy with a few French knots.

Solar Photography

For Mother's Day this year, one of my daughters bought me a Solar Photography kit which she purchased from Boo To A Moose - well worth looking at their Etsy store as they do wonderous things with polaroid prints.

At the time of Mothers Day, we were well and truly still in the depths of winter so I put the gift away until summer and the sun arrived and, I'm glad to say, this week was sunny enough to give it a go.

I started by using some shells which I thought all had good outline shapes but sadly they did not work as well as I though as the depth of them meant the shadows cast interfered with the outline shape.

I then tried with some stones from my collection of heart-shaped stones.  These worked a lot better but were still a bit blurry.

The original layouts look so promising so I will have to put it all down to experience!

For my third try I went for something flat and decided on some lace which was flat enough to be clipped in the frame that came with the kit and therefore produced a much better print.

I've still got some sheets left so I will have another go soon.  In the meantime I will read up on the process and have a better idea of how to get good prints.

Sea Glass

Since living close to the sea, we have become avid collectors of sea glass and never visit a beach without wandering along the shore line to see if we can spot some.

Most times we are lucky but it can vary from 2 or 3 pieces up to our best day when we found over 40 pieces.   The quality can vary from beautifully frosted pieces to those that look as though they were tossed in the sea the night before (these go straight in to the recycling bin).   We usually find white and green pieces, together with a few which have a bluish/turquoise colouring but we have high hopes that we will one day find a greater variety of colours.  A few weeks ago we found our first piece of real blue glass which caused great excitement!

This is typical of a 'normal' haul - including the first blue piece

For some time I have been wanting to use the glass for something but not sure what.   I've seen loads of jewellery made from sea glass, in fact I own a pair of earrings bought for me by my eldest daughter, but I don't feel the urge to get into making jewellery.

Finally I decided a do a small hanging just to see what it came out like and how easy if would be to glue the glass.   I started with an artist canvas and stuck the glass with normal pva glue which worked so I will just have to wait to see how long lasting it is.

The pieces at the bottom are the ones that had a blue tint to them, some being better than others.

Quite pleased with it!

Sew4theSoul

With the fourth stitch sampler complete I am taking a break from Sew4theSoul as I have too many ideas swimming around my head, several of which have come during the time I have been doing these samplers and getting back in to embroidery.

This sampler introduced me to Colonial Knot and Eskimo Lace stitches, the latter which has already been put to good use in my Summer Seasons hoop that I have already blogged about.

Weaving, Colonial Knot, Threaded Running and Eskimo Lace

Now all four are finished and mounted I have hung them in the dining room, with space either side to add more!

Journal Quilt for June

Moving on from yellow, this month's JQ is yellow and green.

I started with a random pieced panel in the centre which was created using fused fabric which I bonded to a backing fabric and then cut to shape.  This was then bordered as a log cabin first with yellow which I then cut at angles before completing with a green border.

I was a bit worried about the raw edges on the centre panel so decided to machine quilt narrow lines and hope it was enough.

You may recall that one of the criteria for my quilts this year was to include some fabric that I have gelli printed.  Well, I got so carried away with creating the quilt that it was only when I had finished that I realised I hadn't used any printed fabric!   The border came to the rescue and I printed some fabric with fabric paint using my own foam shape blocks on the gelli plate.