Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Blues (color that is)

Here are the results of dying with Pro Chem # 490 Blue. The wool is dyed using the lazy swatch method on Gene Shepherd's blog and the silk and velvet were dyed using the microwave method as described before.
  The lazy swatch method uses 1/2 teaspoon of  powdered dye to 1 cup of boiling water. Add this cup of liquid dye to  1.5 gallons of boiling water, turn off the heat as the citric acid may cause the water to bubble up, then add  1 tablespoon of citric acid crystals or 11 tablespoons of vinegar to the water and return to the heat. Take 1/4 yard of pre-soaked wool and add it to the pot ( soak wool in warm or hot water from faucet with a small amount of synthrapol added to it for at least 30 minutes ahead of time). Open up the wool so the dye can penetrate it and then gather it up with tongs or a wooden spoon and press it against the side of the pot and hold for 30-40 seconds. Do the same for three more pieces. This makes nice mottled pieces of 4 different values. It is hard to see, but the wool is of 4 values.
The silk and velvet have had the dye spooned on and the set in microwave for 2 minutes.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Hand Dyed Silk Charmeuse and Velvet


 Here is piece of my hand dyed silk charmeuse. I dyed the silk in a large (gallon) sized zip lock plastic bag.  First I spooned on liquid dye of the three primaries while the silk was inside of the plastic bag, then I closed the bag and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds so the bag would not pop open. After the 2 minutes the dye was set and I slowly brought down the temperature of the silk by putting it in a bath of hot water, then one of warm water, then a cool bath. If  the silk is shocked by quick temperature changes it will ruin it  (Ask me how I know!). I then squeezed out the water from the silk and put it on my Aga to dry. 

The next two photos are of silk/rayon velvet purchased from Dharma Trading Company. I dyed the silk velvet the same way as the silk. For this piece of velvet I used magenta and yellow only. I got some nice blending creating a few shades of orange. However, I did not get enough dye on the velvet and there are a few white spots, but overall I was very pleased for my first attempt at dying velvet. It is, also, drying on my Aga as is the last piece.


For this last piece of velvet I used blue and yellow. I got some great greens. The only problem with this is that there are,also, white spots where I did not get enough dye into the velvet. But it is all usable and overall I was very happy with this piece, especially since it was only my second attempt at dying silk velvet.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Martin's Jungle 2


Here is another part that I have finished on this quilt. I added Martin the cat and some  'foxgloves' by the base of the tree.
To make the 'foxgloves' I cut out an oval from pink wool and made a small cut out on one end. Then I cut out an oval of darker velvet and appliqued it to the lighter pink wool. The stems are from a green textured wool. I will embroidery the small stems that go from the flowers to the larger stems and, also, add some leaves.
I wanted the cat to be surveying his jungle so made his back to the front of the quilt.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter

This is my goddaughter, 3, and her sister,6, hunting for their Easter eggs in our backyard. They came over for dinner yesterday. Their mother is my husband's cousin. It is so much fun having little ones around. Their decorated eggs were really fancy, some had glitter on them.
I hope all of you had a Blessed Easter. The Lord has Risen!

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Martin's Jungle

Watching our cat under our Christmas Tree gave me the idea for this next wool quilt. It seemed like Martin was in a huge jungle and loved it. So I thought, what would it be like for him outside in the garden. This is the tree. The background is a hand dyed wool that I did several years ago, the tree is a found dark gray wool tweed, the leaves are from a piece of my hand-dyed wool. Sorry that the colors are a little washed out, but they are pale green, yellow-green and yellow. I will show more sections when they are finished.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Good Friday

This is the saddest day of the year for Christians, but out of this sadness comes the hope of new life and great joy. May we all remember what Good Friday stands for especially in our troubled world today.

Found Wool

   Part of the fun of  working with wool is the hunt of finding wool in thrift shops.Rug hookers call it 'found wool' and use it a lot as it provides texture to their pieces and can be easily over dyed to get a variety of colors from one textured piece. I like it for the same reasons in my wool applique quilts. In the piece I just started I am using a piece of found textured gray wool for a tree trunk. True you get different weights of  wool,but that is part of the charm of the finished piece
   I went to Goodwill in February and found several 100% wool jackets and pairs of pants. After washing the garments in hot water and drying in hot dryer ( kill any germs, get rid of dust and to slightly felt the wool) I then cut the garments apart.  This way you can get a lot of good wool for a few dollars.  It is even better if you can get some from  friends wanting to get rid of wool clothes.
Here is  the wool I got from a dark olive green jacket on the right ( true color is at the back edge) and a pair of brown tweed women's pants.
 I got several gray and brown herringbone  jackets which I will over dye and a great burgundy jacket, as well, which I will probably use as is because the color is great. I just cut off  the waist band of  the pair of pants and cut out pockets and the rest is easy---just take out the seams of the legs. If you start by snipping the thread of the seam for a 1/2" to 1" you can then just pull the seams apart. Jackets are a bit harder as you have to cut off the collar, take out the lining, cut off buttons and button holes, take out several seams etc., but well worth the time and effort.
   I always make sure there is a 100% wool tag in the garment. It is getting harder to tell by the feel of the garment if it is 100% wool. A good test after you get home is to take a small sample of the fabric and try to light it on fire. Wool will not melt (as polyester) or burn (as cotton).
Enjoy the hunt!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Wool Mini Quilt

Here is my first original wool quilt. It is a mini quilt made for a challenge by my mini group the Bitty Bees. We were to make a quilt from the challenge 'Something Old is New Again'. This challenge gave me an idea on several different levels. First the quilt is made of wool which is old and becoming popular again. Second the tree is very old and scared, but is becoming new again with 3 new leaves. Thirdly is uses embroidery which  is old and is becoming popular again.
 I hand dyed the background using spot dying and casserole dying. I mixed up the three primary colors then took the wet white wool that was  cut to the size of a baking pan (ie. 9x13) and put it in the bottom of the pan and then spooned the dye onto the wool. The dye mixes together to form new colors during the dye process.  To casserole dye the wool bake it in the baking pan  adding  a little water and some vinegar to the pan on the side, but not onto the wool. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 325 degrees for an hour. You can do up to 10 pieces of wool at once, diluting the dye for the wool as you add more pieces. Therefore the pieces on the bottom will be darker than those on top.The piece I used for the tree was on the bottom while the background piece was near the top. 
  Then I added lots of different embroidery stitches to represent trees and flowers. I outlined the tree using Valdani # O78 and the scroll stitch and  the horizon is stitched with a stem stitch using Valdani O572.  Then I embroidered the green and blue flowers in the front with a few threads of my own hand dyed raw silk, the spider web roses were stitched with silken thread and the leaves are outlined with French Knots of  Silk Chenille thread, while the pinky spots in the sky were embroidered using a seed stitch and pink/orange variegated flax threads (Peach Dreams). The pistol stitched flowers used Silken Perle 'Monster Mash'. The Lazy Daisy stitched flowers of yellow and orange used Valdani #V1. I, also, used this Valdani to make the small flowers from Smockers Knots so they looked like they were in the distance.
The blue green Lazy Daisy flowers were stitched in Silken Chenille with the small flowers in the distance were straight stitched with Sea Grass (Blue Hawaii).
The vine border uses a stem stitch with Teal and Green thread dyed by Laura Wasilouiski.. The pistol stitched flowers in the center of the binding used Silken Perle (Monster Mash) to match the pistol stitch flowers in the center of the piece. The distance 'trees' on the hills were stitched using French Knots and variegated Valdani  O572.  The French Knots on the binding used the variegated orange and yellow Valdani #V1 like the flowers in the center of the quilt. I found the silk flower at the base of the tree in some of my 'found' items I had been saving. Just goes to show you, never throw anything out!!! I added a small patch of my hand dyed velvet to the tree trunk for a knot hole and outlined it with a Palistrina stitch and  the 'bark' on the tree was stitched using the stem stitch with black and purple variegated Valdani #M920. This was also used for the French Knot 'trees' on the hills closest to the large tree.
  I knew I did not need to machine stitch the binding to the quilt as the wool does not ravel. So I cut the binding pieces the same size as the quilt on each side and hand appliqued them onto the quilt. Not liking the edges being loose where the top binding covers the side, I decided to stitch the edges of the binding to the sides.
   I machine quilted this piece with wool thread in the top and cotton thread in the bobbin. It goes through my Bernina easily using a 90 top stitching needle. The wool thread I used to applique  and to do the quilting is 12 wt wool Genziana. It is fantastic to applique the wool as it melts into the wool so the applique does not show. Therefore, the embroidery stitches take front and center and not the applique stitches.
  I have designed and started to applique my next original quilt. I will keep you informed about the progress as I go along.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Block #1

Here is the first Block of the Month for Sue Spargo. I love the unique shapes of the flowers and all the embroidery stitches. We learned the Pekinese stitch using teal variegated Valdani perle thread.  You start with a back stitch around your applique piece and then do backward e's from right to left through these back stitches. We did a running stitch around the leaf with the Valdani, used a ribbon for the stem of the seed pod, did a coral stitch around the pod with metallic thread and back stitched around the center of the flower with sea grass. Sea grass is a really fun thread to use. It is flat so looks really great with straight stitches. Then we learned the bullion stitch and did two of those as the crosses on the flower petals using blue variegated  Silken Perle thread. And finally we couched the yellow green Shepard's Silk thread around the blue and white cotton fabric in the center of the flower. The small circles around the center of the flower are punched out of wool with a 1/4" hole punch and then appliqued onto the wool with the wool thread. I had no idea that was possible,but it can be done because wool does not ravel. This adds a unique touch to any project and oh, so easy to add. No needle turn and circles stay round. Very fun.

Sue Spargo's BOM #2

Yesterday I posted block #3 and here is block #2. I finally kind of figured out how to start downloading photos to this blog again (I hope).
 The new stitches we learned on this flower were: The threaded back stitch, the pistol stitch, the bullion stitch and the palestrina stitch. The threaded back stitch is used around the leaves. I did a back stitch with variegated Valdani thread  and then used this thread to weave in and out of the back stitches. It makes a nice lacy looking stitch. The pistol stitch is done with metallic thread above the green velvet center. The yellow green Shepard's silk is couched around the flower center circle.  Blue variegated Silken Perle is used for the Herringbone ladder stitch on the ribbon stem. Bullion stitches were used around all the orange and rose wool in the center while the palestrina stitch was used around all the smaller blue circles.
  I am really liking these flowers.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sue Spargo's Block of the Month

I found it!!! Here is block #3. You will see the threaded back stitch around the blue green leaves. The stem stitch connects the small blue circles to the center yellow and green circle. The circle bullion knot stitch is around the yellow and green cotton circle with regular bullion knot stitches around the blue center circle.I really like the lime green Valdani perle thread used for this stitch. The fly stitch is stitched over the blue center circle with metallic thread. And Sue had us add the couched variegated pink silken perle thread that goes around the pink wool flower. It is also couched 1/4" inside the flower edge.
  I am really liking all these flower shapes.

Sue Spargo's Block of the Month

I just finished  block #3 from Sue's BOM. I would really like to show it to you but am having a LOT of trouble downloading the image for some reason. Anyway, we learned 4 new embroidery stitches this month: the fly stitch, the stem stitch, the circle bullion knot stitch, and the whipped back stitch. We have already learned the threaded back stitch and the Pekinese stitch which are stitches worked through back stitches like the whipped stitch . I must say I really like the whipped back stitch. First you back stitch around your appliqued piece then you go back and whip stitches through the back stitches. Makes a nice wrapped stitch and by using variegated thread it gives lots of color. It is especially nice when the variegated back stitches are different colors than the whipped stitches.
  I should be getting block #4 any day now. These blocks are so fun and easy to finish in a month since there are not a lot of pieces and most of it is wool.  You do not have to  needle turn wool just whip stitch it down and that leaves plenty of time to do the embroidery.
  Hopefully I will be able to post the photos soon.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

First Applique Quilt

Since I mentioned in an earlier blog that I started appliqueing in 2001, I thought you might like to see my first applique quilt. It is a small quilt since I was unsure how to applique and if I was going to like applique. I purchased a book from Piece O' Cake Designs for the pattern and the instruction on how to applique.
Here is my poppy quilt. It is 1/4 of the Poppy quilt in their book. It is, also, the first time I tried free motion machine quilting. Since then I have done 2 large applique projects. One for each of our two children for their weddings. I do not have a photo of the Jacobean quilt I made for our daughter, but the quilt for our son and his wife is the black, white, and red quilt of Aunt Millie's Flower Garden by Piece O' Cake designs that was in an earlier blog post.
    I am having some of my applique friends come over for lunch to keep me company since I can't get out with my cast on my foot. A fun group and I know it will cheer me up to be with my friends. These are my road trip friends!!!. We are VERY lucky in the Des Moines area to have 2 good quilt stores in town and  about 8 or more within a hour or so drive in any direction. So we try to spread our money around as much as possible! LOL.
Thought you might like to see my blue cast. Last time (right foot) I had hot pink.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Virginia Bluebells





  As I mentioned yesterday, my favorite spring flower is blooming, my Virginia Bluebells. Soooooo my husband reluctantly  went outside after he got home from work and took a few photos. The bluebells colors are more intense than these photos show as photos were taken in late afternoon with sun shining on the bluebells.
My Magnolia tree is also blooming. The wind was so strong Sunday that a lot of the petals just blew off. I did not realize until a petal landed on the deck by me, that the petals themselves are fragrant. Nice
  Going to spend the day today looking at rug hooking teachers and patterns to get ideas for wool quilts and MAYBE get started rug hooking again.I did hook a small chair pad and a fairly large( for me anyway), about 2x3,  rug of my original design showing our youngest daughters 4-H mini lop rabbits whose names were Off and On. I designed another rug a little larger of a wolf howling at the moon with mountains behind him. I need to finish a little mountain part and the sky. Then I need to hook the border which consists of wolf prints. We visited Mission Wolf in the Colorado Mountains south of Denver in the 90's and the wolf prints are from one of their wolves there. They have wolves that people had as pets and them realized they are a wild animal and not pets,also,wolves from other places that need a home. They are in very large fenced areas allowing them to live as naturally as possible. They do, however, have to provide food for the wolves and do so with elk and deer that are hit by cars on the road.  Wolves are probably the most misunderstood animal I can think of.  If you study them, they only kill what they can eat (unlike man), kill the sick or weak , and are highly social animals AND they were there before man. It is just plain criminal how man decided to eliminate all the wolves in the U. S. and did so.  Just like the buffalo.
Donna

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Spring is here!

I could hardly believe my eyes when I looked out my front door at noon. Since I am inside with  my foot in a cast, I really can't see out front as my kitchen window is over my sink and therefore too high. Wow! not only are my daffodils blooming, but so are my Virginia Bluebells! They are my favorite as they always bloom first or almost first. The down turned flowers bloom pink then turn a beautiful blue as they age. So there are two different colored flowers most of the time and sometimes two colors on one plant.  I started with 3 transplants that I babied along for several years, then they started to reseed everywhere. Last year I had about 12 clumps and this year it looks like a lot more (can't get out to count them).
Going to ask my dear hubby if he would please take some photos of them for me so I can see them and post them for you to see.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Photos sorting

Spent a large part of the afternoon sorting photos of quilts, family etc. into correct albums on Shutterfly. Now I have all my art quilts in one album and it will be easier to put them on this blog. My daughter graciously took photos of all of them including some closeups. Now that I have to sit around for three more weeks (at least) I can start posting them. I decided too try and post my latest quilt and it worked!! This pattern is Aunt Millies Flower Garden from Piece O' Cake designs. It is the quilt I made for our son and his new wife for their wedding quilt. Their wedding colors were black and white with some red, hence the colors. The center block that is on point is from one  of Piece O' Cakes books and is  the Anniversary Quilt. I embroidered Mike and Kelly's initials on the heart.  Here is a close up of two of the blocks  and the finished quilt. I machine quilted it myself and the embroidery is all by hand.
I just found out about a new fiber arts group that has formed here in Des Moines. It is called Fiber Road and the women in it are fantastic artists. Can't wait to be up and around and find out more about this and what all they are doing.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

All alone am I

Our daughter went back home after taking care of me for a week. It is hard to do a lot of things after foot surgery. While my husband is terrific and very helpful, this second foot surgery was about too much for him, so we called in reinforcements!
 Amy took lots of photos of all my art quilts while she was here, so I will start posting them soon. As I mentioned before, we are very fortunate in Des Moines to have a large quilt guild and therefore are able to bring in national teachers. Many of my art quilts were done or sparked by some of these teachers classes. Anytime you have the opportunity to take a class, do so even if you think you know all about the subject. I have found that there is always more to learn
It also helps to belong to a great art group of friends. There are 12 of us that meet once a month as the Designing Ladies. LOTS of great ideas float around plus encouragement. If you do not belong to a small group, I would like to suggest you join one. Besides my art group I belong to the applique group (actually two applique groups).It  is amazing how much you can learn from others, plus the close lasting friendships that you develop. Thanks to all my small groupies!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Pre Birthday Fun

My Goddaughter, 3 1/2 years old, and her family are coming over for dessert to celebrate my birthday a day early. Yummmmmmm chocolate cake, apple pie and vanilla ice cream.
I did get some stitching done on my wool mini quilt last night. I am using Valdani embroidery thread in a stem stitch to make bark on my tree. It is turning our very nice.
All for today

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dying Wool

The last few weeks I have been feverishly hand dying wool, silk/rayon velvet, silk charmeuse and raw silk for my applique quilts. I ordered the book Fusion Dying and it is terrific. There are 58 dye formulas with 8 values of each color. The method is jar dying and since I do not stir the wool while it is boiling in the jars, the wool is very mottled. Pretty fantastic.
My friend JoAnn came over and we were like kids in a candy store playing with dyes, wool, velvet and silk. Way FUN.
But I was forced to take a break as I had foot surgery for tarsal tunnel last Wednesday. I have to be off my feet for 5 weeks. This gives me time to actually applique. I belong to Sue Spargo's Block of the Month for 2011. I am on block 3 (March) so am caught up. She teaches us 4 new embroidery stitches each month. Lots of fun to do.

My background

  My wool appliqued folk art quilts reflect my rural Kansas background. Growing up on a farm I was exposed  to nature on a daily basis, especially trees, flowers, woodland animals and farm animals. This helped me develop my love of nature. Moving to Iowa only reinforced my love  and appreciation   for the natural beauty of our earth.