Badger Canyon Hand Dyes

Caribbean

2011-09-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

Pictures for Karen

2011-06-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Life

2011-06-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Best buds

Waiting........

Here birdy, birdy, birdy........

Hunting. She points, he digs.

This years lawnmowers.

Newest work finished. Title?

Perspective

Busy busy

2011-05-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

New dress. Shibori resist, hand stitched.

Under painted & wrapped.

Finished

No snow update

2011-03-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick posting of eye candy. These are the balance of the No Snow dyes done a few weeks ago. These pieces were over-dyed using a low water immersion technique due to the large amount of white space. Freezing 2 yard cuts in a bucket jammed with 14 yards total results in lots of white space. Bad effect. I think they turned out pretty good after the 2nd dye run.

Oh, all of these were dyed in the same bucket. The color variations are amazing.

No snow? No problem

2011-03-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Photographing and posting the snow dyes I did this winter inspired me to do more. I didn't let the minor issue of no snow slow me down. I put a two gallon bucket of soda soaked fabrics in the freezer last night. I had 10-12 yards of various fabrics hanging in the gargage waiting for me to do something. Well something finally came along in the form of a gray rainy day.

I am ready for summer.

I had planned to dye two batches. The fabric had other ideas. It was impossible to spit into two piles. The purple/green run will have to wait.

Set up and ready for fabric

Santa Fe blue & Adobe Rose. I threw a little lilac in there to cover some white areas.

Rice resist update

2011-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Rice flour resist. Sapphire blue & jet black mixed 2/1

Interesting. Will have to apply it thicker next time

March already

2011-03-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

Ok........ I spent 20 minutes writing a wordy post and Blogger ate it! So pictures only now that I don't have time for do-overs.

Rice flour

2011-02-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

This looks like it may be interesting. Several things I learned:

1) 50/50 mix of rice flour & water results in dry fabric absorbing moisture faster than I could spread paste. I ended up mixing it at about 2 to1.
2) Very smooth coverage once it's thinned enough. No cracking on the surface as it dries. Drying
will take longer as the amount of water was doubled.
3) A 16oz bag of rice flour makes approximately 4 cups of resist. I used just under 2 cups on a 36x44 piece of Kona Bay. This could result in an economical resist if it works as well as dextrin. I doubt it will give the detailed cracking, but could prove interesting.

Can't resist a resist

2011-02-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

My last post showed the beginning of an oatmeal resist technique. Here are the results of that plus a bonus resist, potato flakes! I went shopping at the asian grocery, so will post picks from my next round of resists. These include tapioca starch, rice starch and of course flour resist.

Oatmeal. Jet black poured down the center, pushed to edges adding water to dilute.

Oatmeal detail

Potato flake resist batching.

Potato flake back

Potato flake finished. Moss green. Pattern was made using the bottom of a plant try.

Potato flake detail

Potato flake detail.

Current events

2011-02-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Ombre turned out OK. They are not OMG beautiful, but they are acceptable. My ugly perfectionism is rearing it's head, but I am doing my best to tamp it down.

On to more positive things. Here are a few of the works in progress. Baby quilt for a friends new grand baby.

Oatmeal resist.

Oatmeal resist with dye.

Backside.

A little comic relief. Blue and Squeak napping.

Rinse & repeat as needed

2011-02-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well Blogger ate another post. Good thing I don't spend much time posting or I would be plenty frustrated right now!
Anyhow, on to round two of the Ombre dyeing. I plan to press out the blue piece and decide if it needs another run.

Plodding along

2011-01-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

Just pictures today with captions. Don't feel creative enough to be witty.

Judy K's grays. Will need another run or two, but think I'm in the right color zone.

Ombre fabrics. Keep those fingers crossed!

Newest quilt. An actual bed sized piece. Played with the quilt as you go method. It works, but I think I'll just wait for Whinnie or send them out if large.

Current work. Calling it "Waste Not", but may need to rename it. All these strips are dye runs I've done for Judy and they don't begin to cover all her colors.

This is how it will hang or lay.

Newest addition to the Wink family

2011-01-13T22:16:00.000-08:00


Austin Tyler Wink	1

Great-grandma Letha

Scouring the Black Friday adds

Ho Ho Ho

2010-12-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

Can you see the cat laughing at Blue??? He is so not happy with this situation!

Almond Roca. Yummmm

Cookie time

Missing Hawaii

2010-11-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

This was yesterday. It snowed all night with wind, so have drifts a few feet deep today. Burrrrrr it's cold!

Hawaii

2010-11-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

Aloha

Crow Barn

2010-10-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

A few of the fabrics from my week at The Crow Barn. I will post the rest as soon as I find the camera.

Karen

Daline

Kathy

Kate

Andi

More of mine

Karen F with her finished top

Beautiful

Prisilla with her tops

Mona with her to dye for fabrics

Petra. Lucky girl was staying on for a second week.

Brenda working on her soon to be queen size top!

Daline. Her's was so nice I had to post it twice.

Jump start

2010-10-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

The countdown has begun. I leave for the Crow Barn in less than 3 days. I am so looking forward to a full week immersed in creative endeavors. Over the last year my creativity has stalled out due to family obligations which seemed to snowball to a general inability to get excited about doing anything. I look at my supplies sitting on shelves and feel guilt not anticipation. I believe this coming week will jump start my creative engine. I so much want to wake up every morning excited about getting into the dye room.

I think I may need to have some deadlines to keep me motivated. My local guild holds a show each year that I have vended at in the past. I think I should begin building inventory for that or maybe put together a few classes. I also need to research online venues. eBay frustrates me, Etsy is not easy to use for volume listings and all the other sites are too obscure to invest time in. Having my own website would be my choice, I just need to find someone to put it together.

The first thing I need to do is put together a list of all the things I was to accomplish, then prioritize it. This is a real problem for me. What I call extreme multi-tasking. I start one project and think "what if" and off I go in another direction...........

Catching up & New Things

2010-08-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

These beautiful things came off my very own peach tree. These are what inspired me to try a few new things.

This year seems to be the year for me to try new things. This summer I am learning to can and freeze the fruit from our trees and all the beautiful produce at the farmers market. Preserving fruits/veggie always intimidated me. I was terrifired of the food poisoning thing. Think I have that whipped now (hope so, these will be X-mas gifts)!

I went on a diet to drop 25 pounds. 10 down, 15 more to go. It has been a real struggle to stay away from all the fresh fruits available right now. No carbs, no sugar, no fat. I'm giving this another week then I'm going on a low carb eating plan. I can't live on a liquid diet. I love food too much.

I am really looking forward to a Shibori workshop I am attending in October. I am taking my mom so she can visit with my brother. I will meeting a wonderful cyber friend for the first time. I am so looking forward to seeing her in person.

Plums cooking for jam. Must try to capture this color in my dyes.

Some of the jams and the canning kettle steaming away.

Bings. One of the perks of living in ag country. We have fresh cherries, apples, asparagus, sweet onions and many other wonderful things.

Yep, it's lemons. I made lemon jam. I know it sounds terrible, but it really is wonderful.

We took a quick trip to Portland a few weeks ago. The following are some pics I snapped from the truck.

Columbia Gorge.

John Day Damn.

Kite surfers & wind turbines. Kind of go hand in hand.

Multnomah Falls

A few of my roses. I think I may have to print and frame a few of these.

Sunsets, Grand-baby & the 4th

2010-07-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Catching up

2010-06-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

I am eagerly packing for my trip to Ohio for the Shibori class. I know, I know it isn't until October. Can you tell I'm excited? I have never taken a formal class. Everything I've learned has been through trail & error. We'll see how well I learn in a classroom situation. Here are some pics of what I am going to learn. I think I have everything on the supply list gathered. I plan to ship the required supplies in advance. The cost is about the same as checking them, but I don't have the schlep them through the airports.

Above is Jan Meyers-Newbury, it is her workshop I will be attending. The piece next to her pic is done using the technique I hope to master.

I am also going to finally meet a wonderful online friend in person. I have been dyeing fabric for her unbelievably beautiful and complicated quilts. She does awesome work. She has a piece entered in Quilt National. I am impatiently waiting for the unveiling. This is one of her Knot Quilts.

Awesome! There is NO applique or fusable here. All seamed.

And now for the "real life" segment. Our oldest son has a new baby on the way the end of October. They recently found out it will be a boy, but I had already decided I wanted to do a screamingly colorful quilt. I wanted something the baby could lay on and be entertained. My year old nephew was here over the weekend and helped validate my choice. He spent hours playing with the fabric I used, so the actual quilt should work as intended. Here it is.....

Close up. Bright enough?????

I will of course do an heirloom quilt for mom and dad to put away. Something a little more traditional in blues and whites. Something like this maybe......

Outside interests

2010-05-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Have spent the last week or so cleaning, organizing and painting. My spare bedroom officially looks like a spare room. here are a few before and after pics. All of this was in the spare room along with the furniture. This is a 2 car garage, so you can imagine how crowded the room was.

Here are the after shots. My wonderfully organized closet storing my hand dyes, art cloth and some finished pieces.

Here are the rest of the after shots. It is amazing how much room there seems to be!

After painting. I added sheers to the windows in a cinnamon color which adds a nice rich glow to the room.

This is another of my obsessions, my gardens. The size of the Peonys this year was amazing.

The roses are finally doing something. The weather has been so cool and windy I didn't think they would ever bloom.

The last of the Rhoadys. I didn't get any pics of the red one in bloom this year. I think there may be some in a 2009 post.

Stormy Weather

2010-05-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

I think thunderstorms are awesome. Here in S.E. Washington it can be calm and sunny one minute and the next one of these roll through.

Time

2010-04-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

How is it that there news seems to be enough time in a day? Just when I think I have a block of time to get immersed in my fabrics, something comes along to interrupt me. My dream would be to have a studio away from my home where there are no distractions.
Enough whining. I am nearing the end of Judy's order. One more dextin piece, a couple greys, a few blacks and the box will be on it's way. Her newest work takes my breath away. Go here to appreciate her art. Judy's Blog
I have a few ideas brewing in the back of my mind. The colors of some of the "not quite right" pieces have been calling to me. I haven't designed anything in such a long time. All of my pieces have been mindless sewing. Time to change that.
No pics today. On my way to work, so no time (there's that word again) to spare.

Dextrin

2010-04-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

Have been working on the dextrin pieces. They take longer than any other technique. The fabric needs to dry for several days before the dye goes on. Here are two different pieces.

Below is the dextrin. It has been too long since I've done this. The first piece I did was a disappointment. I didn't let the dextrin cool long enough and then I used too thin of a layer.

This is it after the dextrin has been applied.

This is what it looks like when you don't pay attention to the details. Bad results.

Here's what a little attention to the details will get you......

I know it's hard to see, but notice the nice pattern of cracking.

The backside while batching. Going into the sink for rinsing.

I don't have any pictures of the finished piece yet. I'll post some after pressing. On to the black piece.

Coming along

2010-03-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Mornings are always the best time for me to get something done. The light is perfect for color matching. I surprised myself with the 7 colors I did yesterday. Four of them were perfect and the turqious was really close. The yellow/green was a failure. I got a great wheat though. I plan to split the turq into 1 yd pieces and deepen the color one run at a time until I reach the saturated turq needed.

Any of the failed color matches will eventually end up on the new page I managed to created titled of all things, Fabric for Sale! I still need to grab the code for Buy Now buttons from Paypal. Not sure which will work best for people.

S.W. Turq and a perfect purple/blue. This purple began as turq one shade darker than seen here. Overdyed with Imperial. I love it.

This picture doesn't do justice to the red here. I started with 2 TB Chinese, O/D with 2 TB Chinese and 1 TB Oxblood. It's important to do several overdyes (O/D) to get the depth of color. The rust/red started out a rust orange, O/D with 1 Oxblood, O/D with 1 Chinese & 2 Oxblood. This one is perfect. I still need to do one a shade lighter.

I tried a new mixed color here. One run with 2 TB Marigold achieved the right shade. Will need to tinker with it for the other two shades needed.

This is the purple mentioned above. Yummy! You should see it pressed. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a minute to post finished (pressed) pieces.

Lazy day

2010-03-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

Spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing. Well not really, but it sure felt like I didn't get much done. I am scouring 100 yards of 200 TC cotton for an order. I can only do this in 12-14 yard batches to assure stripping the finish. Here is what 50 yards looks like.

Between loads I thought I would use up some old dyes I had sitting around. I drug out several shirts and shibori tied and stitched them. This is what happens when you think it's a waste to throw out dyes or just pour them together for "muck" dyes.

Muddy, faded colors. Needless to say the rest of these leftovers are headed for a muck dyeing run. One yard of fabric is way cheaper than shirt blanks. Oh well, this one will be fine for a dye shirt. It sure won't matter if I splash dye on this!

I ran some fabric/dye samples today. The photos were too fuzzy to post.I'll try again in the daylight. I used 1-1-1 ratio on Egyptian, 200 TC and Sateen to compare dye strike, vibrancy etc.... The results were almost as expected. The 200 TC dyed much softer and muted than the other two. I was hoping the Sateen would have a better result than it did. It dyed up more vivid than the 200 TC,but not enough to justify the added cost per yard. I think the hand of the Sateen is heavier than the 200 TC though not as heavy as the Egyptian.

Here is a fun little bag I've been working on each morning. I spent 30-40 minutes each morning satin stitching & quilting the units. It's supposed to look like a Chinese lantern. I haven't decided what I'll use for the handle yet. Think I'll go browse the trim aisle tomorrow.

I may use some fabric paints to tone down the lime green. I plan to bead the top as well as other areas. Maybe I'll foil it!

Completion & Natures Perfection

2010-02-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Letha's quilt made the journey to the long arm shop today. Here are the before and after pics. Of course no quilt leaves here without first being tested. This is Boo our official quilt tester. The pile of coral/green fabric is for the backing.

My husband has the green thumb in our house. This is one of his masterpieces. Oh, BTW the quilts in the background are a few of my class samples.

Pretty in Pink

2010-02-03T23:46:00.000-08:00

Headed for bed soon, but thought I would post a few pics of Letha's quilt. She went shopping with me just before the holidays and picked out pinks, greens and a few browns. I added some white on white and a few pink pieces I had. I told her I learned something from the kids blue/brown string quilt. Hers' would be done in squares instead of rectangles. That way I didn't have to worry about placing the dark center strip on half the opposing corners. I also decided I wouldn't worry about light and dark halves. I'm just grabbing and piecing. These blocks are only half done. I put them up on the design wall to make sure my obsessive half would not surface and force me to do the light/dark thing!

One down

2010-01-31T20:18:00.000-08:00

I remember now why I don't do these as gifts. The hours involved in piecing is unbelievable. So here is the latest. Moving on to MIL string quilt then maybe the spare Blue/Brown one. I've been playing with some shirts in between. I have a dozen or so waiting for dye now. Will post some pics of them later.

Multi-tasking

2010-01-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

Just a few things going on around here. I did manage to get Judy's order finished and shipped. The photo with all the strips of fabric are my recipes for her order.

The ones with the pressed & unpressed fabric are the sample swatches as well as a few colors that weren't quite right.

The blue and brown string quilt was a gift for our oldest son and his new wife. I actually managed to complete the top, dye the backing and get it to the quilter in time to give it to them for Christmas. The block you see here is the one we will keep. It will also be king sized when I manage to complete it. I made a small error when piecing. I pieced all 90 something blocks going the same direction. Problem is if you want diamonds half of them need to be mirror image, hence 2 quilts!

The pile of pink, green and white will be another string quilt. This one will go to my MIL. She brought to my attention that I had never made her a bed quilt. One quilt coming up.

Pineapple baby quilt was a surprise to me. Hubby came home last week with the news one of his friends was a new grandpa. They know I do fabric and quilt, so a gift from the store won't do.

And last, but certainly not least there is Blue Boy. He is my work in progress. Too smart for his own good most days, but with that face who could stay mad? He is filling out to a beautiful boy.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Just a few member of the family. Will have to do better with the camera next year.

Scatter Dyes

2010-01-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

A few pieces for sale on Bonanzle. Link on the left. Something new I'm trying. Opinions?

Costa Rica

2010-01-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

As promised we returned with both pictures and tans. Enjoy the slide show.

Best laid plans

2009-12-10T21:07:00.000-08:00

No pics tonight. I have been scrambling around all week trying to get everything done before we leave town. Not going to happen.

The fabric for the custom order took longer to arrive than I planned, the dyes struck the fabric at an alarming speed, so had to do several colors over. I will have to shoot for the end of the month.

I did manage to get the top put together for the kids' Christmas gift. My savior (Jamie) at the quilt shop agreed to quilt it before Christmas.

The dog knows something is up. We put the luggage next to the front door and he hasn't let us out of his sight since. He and we love his sitter. Cinnamon (yes, that's her name) stays here when we're gone and I thing she spoils him worse than we do.

I will return with pics and a golden tan!

Preparing for the Holidays

2009-11-20T09:44:00.001-08:00

I overslept this am, so have been rushing around trying to get stuff done before I leave for work. I managed to assemble 13 Christmas cards (need edges finished), sew 12 blocks for the kids quilt and rinse out 12 yards of fabric.

I have an order for 88 yards custom fabric. I had this novel idea that maybe I should run test swatches (is a yard a swatch?) this time. I will be using Egyptian instead of the regular 200 TC which costs more. The Egyptian is on order and I want to have all my recipes ready when it arrives. I want to have this in the mail to Judy before we leave town.

I fudged on the cards this year. We will be gone Dec 10 - Dec 20 so I just won't have the time to design and make them from my fabrics. Oh well, they are still handmade and come from the heart. I still have several rows of the king sized quilt to finish for the kids. Not sure if I will have time to actually quilt it thought. They may receive only the top.

Here are the basic materials for the cards. Only 20 more to go!

Random Images

2009-11-17T20:36:00.001-08:00

I was clearing old images off the camera when I came across a few that I thought would be interesting. Above is a common sight here in the Northwest. The ridge lines are covered in these. I find them strangely beautiful.

Tray dyeing in my state of the art studio!

View from my patio this summer. We have some of the most awesome sunsets. Sunrises aren't bad either.

Test runs for Judy's newest order. Normally I just jump in, but I will be using Egyptian for this, so don't want too many oops pieces.

This is my dream studio. It is actually a horse barn down the road from us. I would buy this property in a heartbeat just for the barn.

Supernova

2009-09-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

Something new!!! I love this fabric. I haven't been this excited about a technique since I first learned how to dye. The color combinations are endless. Off to do some more.

Wax on, Wax off

2009-09-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Spent the day with Loretta playing with thickened dyes, thiox and silkscreens. This is one of my work aprons that didn't turn out as planned. Of course it probably would have helped if I had a plan!

Before discharge:

After Discharge:

Now I just need to put down a few more layers.

Face time with the laptop

2009-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Some days I have to force myself to sit down at the laptop. My stores desperately needed updating, so finally got to work on the one at Bonanzle. Here's the link for the store. http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/annettewink You can see a few of my items at left. Pictured is a few of the items I put up for sale. Gotta run for now. I'm on a roll!

Tabs and other random thoughts

2009-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Tabs, the kind on your web browser. How many do you have open at any given time? 2, 4, 8....?I just counted my tabs and29 is a little extreme even for me! I don't like bookmarks as it requires you to search for whatever page you want. Well there are some days that I don't know what I want. I'm looking for inspiration.

Here is a sampling of my open tabs:

I love the rotating gallery on the SAQA home page.
http://www.saqa.com/index.aspx

Go here if you are looking for inspiration.
http://www.surfacedesign.org/default.asp

I love Rayna's blog. I want here life.
http://studio78notes.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

Hmmmmm...... not one of my pages. Well at least DH didn't close out the entire browser like he normally does.
http://www.mgshooters.com/shooterinfo.htm

One of my online stores. There are a few pieces of fabric and a bunch of random fiber pieces.
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/annettewink

Here's the other one.
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Badger-Canyon-Hand-Dyes__W0QQ_armrsZ1

We want to retire here someday. Will have to settle for a winter vacation for now. I think this would be an awesome place to open a surface design retreat.
http://www.google.com/search?q=costa+rica&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Project Runway, need I say more?
http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/project-runway/about-project-runway

This is the owner of my LQS. I love this lady, she really does enjoy teaching new quilters. She has helped me along on my twisted journey.
http://www.villagequiltworks.com/workshop.html

Think I'll go dig thru all those old bookmarked pages. This ought to be interesting.

Something Fun

2009-08-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

I am trying to jump start my creative engine, but I'm having some difficulty. I just can't seem to dive into my projects with the single minded drive I used to. I have several things I need to get done besides the normal Christmas stuff. I know it's only August, but you have to start early.

This is something fun I put together this morning. Thought it may help the process. I took a toddlers jean jacket, removed the sleeves and made a backpack. Added a little hand dyed lace I had laying around, lined with a piece of hand dyed fabric and voila! a fun little bag.

Oh, the background fabric is something new I am playing with. I had some dyes dry out in the garage, so instead of wasting them I decided to play. I soaked some fabric in soda ash, crumpled it into trays, sprinkled the dried up dyes over it and added some extra dye powder. I'll get some pics of the other pieces and post them next time.

Marbling Day

2009-04-07T20:17:00.001-07:00

Today was another wonderful day weather wise. Whinny and I decided to take advantage of it a get some marbling done. I prepared the fabrics and sodium alginate last night so we were ready to roll first thing this morning.

These are our mop up rags. The full size fabrics are still hanging in the garage. I want to make sure they cure a little before heat setting them.

Works in progress. Beautiful workshop huh? I really can't complain too much, hubby gave up his side so I could have the extra space.

Looks like this is at the end of the road for the size. Pretty yucky looking after 12-14 yards.

Ran out of hanging room. Driveway works pretty well!

More works in progress. I think a few of these will be fantastic.

Here's Whinny busy laying down paint. She got a lot less artistic about getting that stuff down. When you're working in one yard pieces, it really doesn't matter how you get it on there as it takes a lot to fill it.

That's it for me tonight. My back is really talking to me about bending over the tray all day.

Recharge

2009-01-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

The new year has arrived, and it is time to take stock and recharge my creative batteries. I thought I would share a few of my pieces today.

Here is a rust dyed piece. I just love the organic feel of these.

This piece is available here--->
http://tinyurl.com/8hhmb5

Here is a bright and shiny piece to brighten even the darkest day.

This piece is available here--->
http://tinyurl.com/7gn54p

That's all I have time for this morning. Have to get busy taking down the tree. The sooner I get the holiday stuff taken care of, the sooner I can focus on new work.

Last ones, I promise

2008-12-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

I swear these will be the last holiday photos I post this year. I am really looking forward to getting back to being creative. My fabrics have been calling to me. I do this every year. Spend weeks preparing for the holidays until I'm burned out on it. I think I have hit the wall, so it must be time to drag out the dyes again.

Holiday update

2008-11-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well as you can see, we haven't gotten very far with the decorating. After 2 trips to town for more lights I was able to get the garland and angle on. It has been a little hard to get motivated this year, as the kids and grand babies won't be here this year. I did talk with the G-baby yesterday via Skype, so was able to show her the tree etc.....

A few of my much treasured ladies that go on the tree each year. When we bought this tree I found normal sized ornaments got lost on it. All of the over sized ones I could find were cheap looking plastic. After wracking my brain it dawned on me that the angles that go on top of the tree would be the perfect size. I cut the plastic cone out and added wire to the back.

Close up of the garland I custom made to fit the tree. I had all of these beautiful ornaments that were dwarfed by the tree, so I took lengths of fabric and beads and created my own garland. The ornaments were wired on every 18" or so. The downside of course is I am stuck with the same color scheme each year (burgundy, gold & white). Maybe I'll get busy some year and do another other colorway.

Celebration!

2008-11-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished editing all my listings on eBay. I started with 300+, ended with 268 I think. Every one of the listing had to be updated for shipping, price, return policy's, etc.........

So to celebrate my loving husband decided it was time to begin the holiday tradition of setting up the tree. This is a huge event in our house. It entails many hours of hard physical labor, quite a bit of mumbling bad things under your breath and dodging varies animals underfoot.

Here is my husband trying (unsuccessfully) to convince blue his services are not needed. We did manage to get the tree into the house and assembled. Loving husbands part is finished for now while I "fluff" branches. His services will be required to help hang the lights. The tree is 15 feet tall, so I am not able to climb the ladder holding 100's of feet of lights, and hang said lights without some help.

Here is another member of the crew. Boo sticks to supervising, unlike Blue who feels the need to be hands (paws) on.

Yep, definitely supervisor material.

Doesn't he look proud of himself? I am not looking forward to bringing in the ornament boxes. Blue is only 8 months old, and everything on the floor is a toy. Things could get very interesting around here.

These are a few of the Christmas cards I have managed to complete while I edited listings. I don't know about the rest of you, but I must do something creative most days or go crazy. Spending hours on the computer editing HTML about cooked my brain.

Here is the tree in all it's unfinished glory. I'll keep the camera handing to update our progress.

Critters, Classes & Cancer

2008-07-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been way too long since my last post. Things have been a little hectic around here lately. We have had a few new additions to the household. This ones' name is Blue. Winks' Blue Boy to be exact. He is about 10 weeks old now. Hopefully I can get him to look at the camera next time so you can see his miss matched eyes. Very pretty, one blue one brown.

We call this one baby. He's about 350# in this picture. I would guess he has put on another 150# or so. He is a Brahma bull calf. The one next to him is one of four we picked up to keep the pasture under control. Cute little guy, isn't he?

This is a piece of sateen I am playing with. I think I would like a long duster style coat with this design on the back. I've since over-dyed it with Cayman Island Green. Haven't had much time to design anything lately, so will have to check back to see if it ever gets made.

This is the only picture I took of the surface design class I gave in May. The following are a few pieces they did using Seta Color, masks and salt. I had 15 ladies, so it was kind of hectic most of the time. We covered Soy Wax, breakdown printing, rusting, sun painting, flour resist, shibori and one other technique that slips my mind.

The month of June wasn't much calmer. I spent a week in California visiting a close friend of the family. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer this winter. She has to be one of the strongest people I know. At 63 she managed to go thru 8 rounds of chemo and 5 solid weeks of radiation. When we pulled into the driveway she greeted us with the same large smile and warm hugs as if nothing had happened. Her Dr. believes they got it all. If anyone deserves it she does.

Well time to get back to the dye pots and pressing table. I have a couple of large orders that I am sure my ladies think I have lost. No so, as a matter of fact I am about 3/4 thru them. Have a few colors that are fighting me, but that just goes with the territory. I always seem to get it right eventually. I suppose I could make it easier on myself by writing down the recipes, but that would take all the fun out of it. I enjoy the challenge of color matching by eye. It also results in much richer looking fabrics because I "stack" the colors to achieve the desired hue.

2008-05-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

These are a few samples of some of the techniques I do. I can do most any value you need. Just let me know what colors you would like to work with.

The low water immersion pieces can be done in many different color combinations.

Low Water Immersion # 4089 (36x44) $14.00

Low Water Immersion #4096. (36x44) $14.00

Low Water Immersion $4079. (33x44) $12.00

The rust pieces show some of the patterns available. An all over bark-like pattern, a light patterning and novelty patterns (horseshoes, grill marks etc).

Over rusted hand dye #2039. (72x44) $30.00

Rust Dye #2035. (34x44) $14.00

Rust Dye #2032. (35x44) $14.00

The hand dyes can run from almost black on the dark end to a wash of color on the light end for any color.

Hand Dye #201. (66x44) $20.00

Hand Dye #254. (34x44) $12.00

Hand Dye #255. (35x44) $12.00

Hand Dye #272. (73x44) $20.00

Spinning my wheels

2008-04-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

At least it feels that way this week. I did manage to get 150+ items listed in the store. Unfortunately there are 150+ items waiting to be listed! I haven't been able to stay at the computer for any length of time at all this week, and it looks like I will be out of the house at least tomorrow. I promised my mom I would shampoo her carpets and wash her windows for Mothers Day (I know, not too "pretty" of a gift but it's what she wanted). Anyhow, she wants it done tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed nothing comes up for Friday so I can spend the day getting something done.

Here are a few of the items I need to get listed. I kitted (is that a word?) up a bunch of these purse patterns for the quilt show. I have about 50% of them left, so thought I would give them a shot online. I have another class planned later in the summer, so will need some for that.

I really need to wrap up all the loose ends so I can focus on the 2 day workshop coming up in May. I am giving a surface design workshop for the guild. At the time I agreed to do it I really didn't have any plans for the Spring/Summer. Since then I have made plans to be out of town for a week in May and another in June. Needless to say I will be moving full tilt for the next couple of months. It's a good thing I work well under pressure.

Aftermath

2008-03-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

My mind is still spinning with all the things I need to do. I did manage to inventory everything. Now I just need to photograph, edit and list all of the fabrics that I did, but haven't posted to eBay. I really want to launch a website, but need to get these out there for sale first. Once that's done maybe I can focus on the website.

I need to send in a proposal for two, 2 day workshops later this summer. One here in the Tri-Cities and the other in Walla Walla. Have to decide if I want to vend at two out of town venues that approached me at this show. Haven't decided if I like packing everything up, unpacking and repacking. That's alot of packing!

I was surprised at how many people were interested in the actual quilting of my pieces. I never thought it was anything special, but apparently it is unusual. I received a few inquiries about quilting for others. Think I will give it a go for those that want what I do. Don't think I would do well taking direction, but that's nothing new!

The fabric I'm rusting is not working with my schedule. I think it should be ready, but it has other ideas. It's kind of like cooking a roast. You can't rush it no matter how impatient you get.

Now it's bedtime. It's early I know, but the weekend has caught up with me.

Show Time!

2008-03-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Meet my mom. She's the lady who is refusing to look at the camera. I'll try to catch her by surprise tomorrow.
Well it was a very short night, followed by a long day. Not complaining, just tired. I learned so much today. I have also cultivated many new contacts for future workshops and classes.
So anyway, this is my booth. I am so thankful I was put on the end.; I originally had only a single booth (10'x10') but due to a layout problem I was able to gain 8-10 feet more than I should have. Even with all the extra space I was sure I wouldn't get everything out. I did end up leaving a few totes under the table to keep it from looking too crowded.

These are samples for the workshop coming up in May. The light colored piece on the left is flour resist, the one leaning against it is rust dyed, and the rest are breakdown printing. email me at mail@badgercanyonhanddyes.com if you would like to register for the workshop.

2 days and counting

2008-03-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

You know how you're sure you've forgotten something? Well that's me this week. I am sure I will walk off and forget something important. I've written more lists than I can count. Have now resorted to walking around mumbling to myself "don't forget ______". My wonderfully supportive husband is leaving town on Wednesday (lucky him).

My biggest fear is that I don't have enough inventory. I have 500+ items ready, but want the booth to look full. Oh well, times up.

I did manage to design and put together another bag pattern Didn't have time to kit up any, so the patterns will have to do. Here's a picture of the newest.

Now to that lady on the east coast who is just as driven as I am, the last 2 pieces are down in dye. If the brown looks good I'll get one of them rusted in the morning. All should be ready to ship out on Monday. I'll email you Sunday night with an update.

Think I'll go "veg" for awhile.

Rust dyeing

2008-03-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

Finally, the new black dye arrived and I have been able to get almost all of the grays done. Just when I think I have it whipped, the brown decides to test me. Silly fabric. I am nothing if not persistent. I will get it right. I do admit a small retreat. I usually drive right in with the full yardage, this time I was forced to go back to 1 yard cuts until I get the correct mix. I mainly dye by "eye". I can look at a swatch and match it. Most of my pieces require multiple dye runs, so color can be adjusted with each successive run. Not this time. I am actually having to write down the measurements this time! I just know it something simple I am overlooking. In the meantime I am accomplishing several things, the rejects add to the quilt show inventory and the recipes go in the book.

Some Photos

2008-03-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

New bag of the month. I try to do a new one every month. I think I will do this one again making the opening slightly larger.

Here is the other end of the dining room. Yes I know there is a couch in there. I decided to leave it there after moving it to make room for the X-mas tree last year. That puppy weighs a ton! Anyhow, I have managed to get 100+ bag kits done up, 100 patterns, couple dozen silk scarves (see below), 20-30 packages of roving and too many other things to think about right now. I am about 8 days from set up time, so am trying to get it all together. The totes are filled with various fabrics. Several more of those are out of the frame. I am seriously beginning to think have lost my mind! What was I thinking??? We'll see if it's all worth it on th 30th.

Lesson Learned

2008-03-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well, that'll teach me to complain about email programs. My internet provider experienced what they call a "catastrophic failure". This means I have lost all my files that were stored on the server. Now this usually wouldn't be a big deal, but all my business communications were there. Still trying to process this info. Not sure what the impact will be.

There was one bright spot in this mess. My address book is still intact. I am thankful for the small stuff.

On another electronic front, I picked up my Visa machine yesterday. Found some time to sit down with the literature today. Having a "Quick Reference" guide is nice, but I really would have preferred a users manual. Guess this means another trip to the back tomorrow. Maybe I can Google it.

Still putting together inventory for the booth I'll have at the quilt show. Today's results were disappointing, so no pics. Maybe I'll get some up in the morning before I overdye.

Judy, if you're out there I haven't forgotten you. The new dyes arrived today, so plan to get some more grays down. I wasn't happy with the results I was getting from the black I had in stock.

Time to get back at it.

Success !!!

2008-03-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, you know you have too many email addresses/passwords when it takes a half hour to log onto Blogger. I've made so many trips up and down the stairs (multiple computers) that I have forgotten 1/2 of what I planned to say.

I thought today was going to turn out to be a totally unproductive day. I was saved from that when my wonderful friend Loretta showed up. She whipped me into shape, and we managed to get 100 patterns put together for the quilt show. She also had some great suggestions for inventory tracking. I owe her big time. Working alone all the time is not a good thing. I tend to get so focused on one way of doing things I fail to consider other options.

No pictures tonight and be warned I plan to write my "to do list" below. So if those kind of things bore you I'll say goodnight.

Finish sample bag on machine.
Start/finish clutch sample.
Dye last couple dozen scarves.
Bind samples.
Mount samples.
Try to create some interesting cloth for mounting.
Play with heat gun & meltable (is that a word?) "stuff". (have an idea cooking)
Prep felt/roving for notebook covers.
More coffee sleeves.
Put together texture bundles. (need interesting name for these) They include hand dyed scrim, silk roving, silk carrier rods, dupioni silk, various fibers, and maybe some beads. Any suggestions?
Get fabrics down for multi color LWI.
Work on sample book for custom orders.
Rinse/wash rusted fabrics.

Think I'll stop there. I'm tired already!

Avoidence

2008-02-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

So many things to do. I have no idea what to start, that I thought I would avoid it for a little while. Things I should be doing,

Attaching photos to purse kits.
Need to email Marlene to let her know I went ahead and printed the photos myself.
Type up the headers for every piece of fabric I plan to have at the quilt show. I'm dreading this one as there is 200 + pieces.
Finish satin stitching the flowers onto a comforter. My girlfriends daughters' B-day is the end of the month, and I agreed to put some large flowers onto a plain comforter. I should have looked at the comforter before agreeing. It's poly filled, so it's like wrestling a sleeping bag thru the machine. Only one more flower to go. Hope my back holds out!
Dye up more roving.
Kit up more purse patterns with above roving.
Check on the fabric rusting in the garage.
Play with the new interfacing screens/stencils I made.
Go upstairs to get camera so I can post a photo here!

Okay, I'll start at the bottom. Shagged my dragging butt upstairs for the camera. This is one of the roving purses I'm putting kits together for.

Pile of roving. This has all been kitted up. Time to dye more.

Same pile of roving as pictured above.

The monster comforter. My sewing chair is under there somewhere. I really should crawl back under there and get busy. In a minute!

This was my dining room until this last weekend. I have been stacking all the finished items here for the quilt show. I have half a dozen totes full of fabric waiting to go in here. They need the headers attached, them they are ready to go. I guess I've put it off long enough. Back to the machine.

TCB

2008-02-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like every other week is the best I can do keeping up here. I've been madly dyeing fabrics, roving, fibers etc to prepare for the annual quilt show here. I decided to jump in and vend at the event. Of course I don't have enough inventory, so it will be nose to the grindstone around here for awhile.

I also plan to have kits for 4 bags, silk paper notepad covers, silk paper kits and maybe a few other things for sale. I'll try to get some photos up of the samples. If I have some time I may make up bags for sale too.

Did I mention I have a class (bags) to give the end of this month, and another next month? Yeah, trying to get that together too! I'll be giving a surface design class for the local guild in May, and am planning another for June.

Needless to say I'm feeling a little behind. It's a good thing I work well under pressure.

2008-01-29T21:16:00.001-08:00

Here you go Jeanie. I'll follow up with an email. The yardage is listed below each photo.

1 yard

2 yards

1 yard

1 yard

5 yard

1 yard

6 yard baby blue.

1 yard

6 yard stonewash blue.

3 yard blue & white stripe.

3 pieces as follows, 7/7/3 yards

4 yard lime & white stripe.

2 pieces as follows, 6/6 yard dark blue

6 yard med blue.

2 yard

2 yards

2 pieces as follows, 2/4 yards

2 yard

2 yards

1 yard

2 yard

2 yard

2 yard

3 yard

2008-01-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

LOL! I just looked over yesterdays post. That inch of "snow" under the snow should have said ice! That's what happens when I try to muti-task. I know better than to talk on the phone while trying to type.

Below is what is shaping up to be a series. Working title of :Study in Orange". I have one more I want to make, maybe a few more.

2008-01-27T17:09:00.001-08:00

Spring flowers. Notice the snow out the window.

8 am this morning. About 2" on the ground. There is about an 1" of snow under the snow.

4 pm tonight.

Poor trees, they are so loaded.

About 10" now and still coming down.

Been busy

2008-01-22T10:33:00.001-08:00

Really, I have been. The first 3 photos are another drop cloth. I'll add a few more layers, and see what happens.

This piece was a failed potato dextrin resist. I attempted to do this when the temperature was too cold for the dye to batch. A couple more layers and it should be an interesting piece.

These 2 are a piece I bound resisted. The circular design is from a shower floor drain. I find the most interesting tools at Lowes/Home Depot.

The piece is now backed and batted waiting for its' turn on the machine. I think I'll call it "Color My World".

I put this one together last night. I dyed up some cotton sateen and dupioni silk a few days ago. Loving the bright colors. No name yet. It is on the machine waiting for me to get off here.

Had to run to Home Depot Sunday to pick up a new dryer hose for my girlfriend. They bought a new house last week, and being the friends we are we "volunteered" to help them move. Anyhow, I wandered through the contractor area and found these 12" pieces of rebar. They were already beginning to rust, so of course they had to come home with me. I've laid them out in a star burst pattern. If the pattern turns out the way I hope I'll be picking up some more of these to print yardage.

Yep, more fabric

2008-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well here it is after rinsing, washing and pressing. I was pleasantly surprised to see more yellow/blue than I thought would come through. I is now hanging in the garage waiting for step two. I prepped 5 screens tonight. I hope they have dried in time for me to do the next step by tomorrow.

I really should be spending some time putting listings up on my store. I did manage to get some yardage pressed and photographed. These are a couple of the yummy blue/blacks I over-dyed a few days ago. The purple/blacks are waiting on the pressing table. Maybe I'll get ambitious and list these in the morning. We'll see.....

Thought I'd leave you with this shot. That's Mr. Wonderful checking out what was supposed to be the granddaughters' Christmas present. As you can see by the date it will not be happening until next Christmas. I was very hesitant about sending her as she will have silk roving for hair. I plan for it to be waist length. The roving will pull apart if played with too much. I think I will need to redesign the hair. Good thing I have until December!

Unproductive day

2008-01-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today wasn't very productive for me. I had planned on doing breakdown printing all day, but other things came up. I did manage to print one screen worth. This is a two yard piece using the sapphire blue/yellow screen. There were some touches of yellow here and there. Won't know how much of the yellow will wash out, so I will use more yellow next time and leave some "white" space between the colors.

Other than it being mostly green I am pleased with the patterning. I'm not sure what the next layer will be. I'm thinking maybe rust would look good. Think I'll let it sit awhile.

I did manage to get 8 yards of darks over-dyed. I like layering my dyes as opposed to going straight to black. I think they have much more depth this way. No pics of these as they are still waiting for me on the ironing board. Maybe tomorrow.

I spent most of the day at the machine putting down another line of satin stitch on the previously mentioned "WIP". The blue is done. Hope to finish the red and green tomorrow.

Drop Cloths

2008-01-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here are the drop cloths I posted about a few days ago. These are great for the first layer. I placed these under my screens as drop cloths.

# 1

#2

Stuff

2008-01-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

No fabric pictures yet. Just a few photos of an interesting item I stumbled upon. A few months ago we purchased a condo for our youngest son . It had been owned by an older gentleman who hadn't updated it since he bought it in the 70's. Needless to say, it has been a full time job getting it in order. Yesterday my husband hung a new mirror light unit in the bathroom. The packing materials for the mirror proved to be the high point of my day. Just look at these.

I think these will make an awesome patterning tool for breakdown printing. Of course my husband thinks I'm nuts, but loves me anyway.

Step Two

2008-01-12T22:00:00.001-08:00

These are the screens with the print items removed. Isn't this grid pattern great? I found one of those rubber mats you use in the bottom of the kitchen sink at Lowes and knew it would make an awesome printing tool. My poor husband is so tolerant. He just cringes when I mention going to the hardware store. Most guys would love it. Mine knows I can spend hours looking at the nut/bolt wall alone!

A word of warning, You will have colorful fingers if you do as I do. I can't feel the items I am trying to add or remove from the screens with gloves on, so I just live with the odd looks I get for a few days.

These are two of the fabrics I use under the screens as drop cloths. After the dye paste is almost dry I pull the items off and lay them on the fabric where all the dye drips thru. I know they look pretty dark right now, but they will lighten after rinsing and washing. They will be ready for washing tomorrow. I'll post pics if I get to them early enough.

Screen Prep

2008-01-11T19:16:00.001-08:00

Thought I would try and follow thru on the promise I made. Here are some photos of the breakdown screen I prepared today. They will need to dry at least overnight, so no printing until tomorrow at the earliest.

This is a work in progress. I am playing with reverse applique. Not sure if I like the cotton sateen I'm using or not. It drapes like silk (yummy for garments) so may be too soft for this project. I plan to continue on. Worst case is it turn into a practise piece for FMQ.

Preparation

2008-01-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no pictures today. I'm prepping to do some breakdown printing tomorrow. Have been busy mixing up print paste, pulling dyes, soaking fabric, over-dyeing fabric and rounding up all the equipment. Sounds boring (it is) I know, but I should have enough prepped to get me through he weekend of printing.
I promise to take pictures of the process and finished fabrics. I have been contemplating having a booth at our annual quilt show this year. I've thought about it for 3 years now. I think it's time to do it. I've been piling up some inventory, so by March I should be good to go.
I also have a 2 day workshop scheduled in May. I need to get some techniques perfected and samples done for the class. Looks kind of bad if the instructor is fumbling around with the tools etc...
Back to the dye room.

Procrastination

2007-12-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I said I was headed for the ironing board, but as I scrolled through my old posts I realized I had no photos of my quilts up. Here is what I found on the computer. Will have to dig out the CD's for more later. Most of these are samples for classes I have given.

Piece includes dimensional paint, Shivas, rusted fabrics, hand dyed fabrics and a fiber binding.

Gelatin plate prints, hand dyes and fiber binding.

Silk and cotton hand dyed, rusted and beaded.

Painted commercial fabric, hand dyed scrim and hand dyed silk carrier rods. Some beading.

Clutch made from a sample of velvet. Silk papers, painted misty fuse, stamped, and free motion quilting.

2007 Christmas cards. Silly me mailed all of them before getting a picture of the finished piece.

Just playing around. paper pieced, drafted by me. Machine appliqued.

Wood nymph. She was a gift for a friend battling cancer.

Amish nine patch. One of the few traditional quilts I've done. I had a pile of hand dyed rems lying around. It sounded like a good idea at the time. It really is straighter than the picture shows.

Autumn leaves. Hand painted using thickend dyes. Thread painted detail.

Two more clutches from the above mentioned cloth. It was a large piece.

Time flies

2007-12-21T00:03:00.000-08:00

Where does all the time go? I have been busy, but that's no excuse for slacking off. The first 5 pictures are some of the things I've been busy creating. The first is discharged black kona.

220 thread count sateen using a modified low water immersion.

200 thread count cotton bound resist dye.

Another bound resist. Trying to decide if this one is finished, or if it needs another layer.

The following are some bundles I put together. I have a huge tote full of bits and pieces of these fabrics. It was overflowing, so decided to share the wealth. These plus many more are now up on my eBay store looking for new homes. Have a look.

http://stores.ebay.com/Badger-Canyon-Hand-Dyes_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Back to the ironing board and camera. I want to go shopping at Lowes today. I'm looking for new bound resist stuff.

White Christmas?

2007-11-29T10:28:00.000-08:00

Oh how pretty. This is what greeted me this morning around 7:00. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

There won't be any dinning on the patio tonight. Can you see the snow falling?

Nice! No need to decorate outside if this keeps up.

Thinking out loud

2007-11-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Follow along if you like while I ramble through some ideas bouncing around in my head.

I am contemplating doing a different surface design technique a week. Kind of patterned after Jeanne Williamson's quilt a week idea. Some of the techniques I would explore would include:

Resists, both dye and paint.

Soy wax screen printing resist.
Potato dextrin.
Flour.
Wax paper.
Gel medium.
Gel glue.

Whole cloth dye painted and textile painted quilts.

Foiling

Use of unusual items both as tools and elements in a quilt. These could include soft metals, screening, foil, plastic netting, plastic fencing, rusted items, paper, fibers, roving, fusible web, plastic bags, feathers, tyvek, heat sensitive fabrics.

I believe a week will be sufficient time to explore most of these ideas. If I find a particular technique that I love the week may not cover it. My main interest is to document through words and pictures my failures and successes.

Stocking Day

2007-11-26T22:01:00.001-08:00

The annual stocking making day at the Wink house! Every year a group of my friends get together for a day of sewing, food, some wine and a good time. These are my non sewing friends, so we try to keep it simple. My best friend and I are polar opposites. I lean toward obsessive compulsive, and she leans toward "close enough". Needless to say it usually means a fun filled day.

This is Jami putting the finishing touches on her Asian themed stocking. The girls have to work with whatever fabrics they "shop" for in my stash room. They are really brave about going in there. I'm pretty sure we lost someone last year.

Here I am in my left over dye Tye-dye shirt. I tried to keep the 6500 to myself. I'm more protective of it than I was with my children!

Jami and Chelsey.

Terri picking out her fabrics and trims. We ran out of table space, so the floor always works.

Leanna and her daughter Dotty choosing their fabrics.

Chelsey busy at the 6500.

Chelsey's finished stocking. Pretty nice huh?

Dotty about halfway there.

The finished pieces. Purple one is Chelsey's, maroon paisley belongs to Terri, black Asian is Jami's and the blue velvet is Dotty's. Leanna chose to do a table runner this year. As you can see the Asian theme was popular.

Class sample

2007-11-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

This is one of the two patterns I will be teaching at one of the local quilt shops. The main elements are hand dyes silk roving and organza. I trapped some scraps of fiber between the two. It is free motion quilted to hold the layers together. This is a great bag for embellishing as the base is felt. Can be beaded easily prior to lining.

Domestic stuff

2007-11-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting going on today. I finished my fabric Christmas cards today. Now need to sit down and address them. I also managed to finish the stockings for the grand-babies. Of course I forgot to get a picture. No I am not going to open the boxes I spent a half hour packing to take one either.

I plan to get a few more done for other family members, so will keep the camera handy. I love this time of year, but am already tired of rushing around. I hate to post without a pic, so here's one of our tree. Yeah, it's a monster. It takes a full week to set up and decorate, so we always have it up by the weekend after Thanksgiving. Had to get a head start this year as we will be out of town the last week of Nov.

Projects, Ideas & Inspiration

2007-11-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Dextrin resist pieces rinsed, washed, pressed and ready to ship. The first is the black. I did find the black dye didn't develop as well as I wanted due to garage temp below 70. The brown piece developed better, but still shifted slightly to green for the same reason.

This is the pattern I sketched for my Painted Hills piece. The colors in these hills located just outside John Day Oregon is very close to what I saw while in Nevada.

Photo of the hills. Yes they really are this colorful.
First step of quilt finished. Many pieces of fabric fused using Misty Fuse. I applied Oil sticks to create shadows and depth. These will cure for several days before I heat set them. I plan to thread paint more detail before backing and FMQ.

Progress

2007-11-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Here is what I've been up to the last few days. The first two photos show the front side of the dextrin resist batching. Gorgeous reddish browns, and one in black.

These four show the backside prior to rinsing. Love the crackled, lacy effect.

A few posts ago I have a photo of some rocks I picked up on my last trip to Nevada. We drove to Virginia City from Reno one afternoon. The hillsides where blazing with color from these beautiful rocks. My wonderful husband was very patient about stopping several times so I could bring a few home. Below are the fabrics I dyed up trying to come as close as possible to the changing tones. I think I came pretty close. I have one more piece in dye. Hubby pointed out the "purplish" tones in the far right stone. Good eye!

Now I just have to design a quilt around these. I keep seeing long narrow 3 panels. Can't decide if I will piece this or tear the fabrics and fuse in place. Will have to do a few samples.

2007-11-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some samples using gelatin plate printing. As soon as I catch up with myself I'll post a tutorial on the technique.

Photo of a few of the students in the plate printing class. Hey Loretta!
I know this is hard to see, but trying to photograph a clear shiny surface is difficult. This is potato dextrin in the curing stage. Going into my 3 day of waiting. I plan to get some dye onto these pieces tomorrow. Think I will do some color testing later this week. I need to come up with recipes for tans and rusts.

Christmas Cards

2007-11-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

OK, I think I have gotten most of the need for wild color out of my system with this set of cards. They still need some stitching/embellishing and the backing done. I'll send these to my more open minded friends/family.

These are much more traditional. Well color wise anyway. The background is a sun printed fabric. The pomegranate is hand dyes, and the centers are hand painted. I plan to stitch using gold and outline with metallic pens or paint. May drop some shadows in too if I find time.

Here is a wide angle shot of both. Note my new design wall. I have needed one of these for some time now, but never got around to it. I finally broke down and did one only because I needed a surface to pin fabrics to when dextrin resist dyeing. So I thought I may as well buy 2 sheets of insulation while I was at Lowes. I've been photographing all the steps while doing the dextrin and will post the when completed.

This last photo is of some rocks I picked up in Nevada last month. I just love these earth tones. Believe me the hillsides were much more impressive than these small samples are able to prove. Poor hubby was made to stop 3-4 times on a very narrow road so I could gather these!

Creative overload

2007-11-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

I seem to be paralyzed with creative overload. There are so many things I want to get done for the upcoming holidays, that I don't know where to start.

On the upside, I did manage to finish 6 sheers and 3 window scarves for my girlfriend. I have never worked with sheers as far as hemming etc... Now if it involved slashing, burning for an art style quilt I would have been right in my element. I did learn how to use the rolled hem foot/stitch. Something to file away in the back of my mind for future use in a quilt.

I think part of my problem may be that alot of these holiday things seem to be very traditional. I'm seriously thinking of sending fabric postcards instead of regular Christmas cards again this year. I have always done them in fairly traditional fabrics or style. This year I think family & friends may be getting cards done with hand dyes in turquoise, orange, lime and hot pink. I need something bright.

Thinking of doing a simple jacket for mom this year. She may be getting it in wild colors also if I haven't worked it out of my system with the cards.

Picked up Quilting Arts mag special edition for the holidays today. Haven't really had any time to more than flip through it though. Looks like there may be a few "out there" things I can use to chase away the traditional blues.

Challenging myself

2007-11-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

This seems to be the only way to make myself sit down and do this. Here are some examples of what I'm working on today.

This is a piece that has been dyed using a potato dextrin resist. I just love the texture and weathered effect. I am currently trying to finish 3 more pieces using this technique, but seem to be having temperature issues. I believe it may be too cold in my garage for the dyes to fully develop. The pieces are rinsing out very faded. I may have to give in and batch these in the spare bathroom. Won't hubby love that!

This is a rusted piece. Again I love the organic "feel" to this technique. This technique can be over-dyed, or you can start with a piece already dyed.

I have 5 yards in a Santa Fe blue dye waiting to be rinsed/washed so they can be over dyed using a Rust red. This is a combination I call Southwest. Yummy colors.

Back to the "life getting in the way", the stucco guys are here, the phone is ringing, the cat wants in/out, and I need to go pick up a special order at the fabric store. Silly me agreed to make drapes for a friends living room. She is a very good friend, but seems to be afflicted with the same thought process of those who don't sew. They are under the impression that if you own a sewing machine, you must enjoy doing these types of things. Not true, but I do love my friends/family, so will occasionally cave to the pressure!

Life got in the way

2007-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the original post, I haven't done very well keeping up with this. Things have finally slowed down enough I think I can focus on getting some things down on "paper".

Currently I'm doing some surface design using potato dextrin as a resist. I also have several LWI (low water immersion) projects going. The first run of the dextrin didn't go well. I got in a hurry and put the dextrin on the fabric before it reached the proper temperature. Knew better! Now I have some pieces that will need a few more layers added.

I'll post pictures as soon as I locate the batteries. Think hubby may have "borrowed" them for his camera.

If all goes well I plan to post technique tutorials with photos of some of the surface design techniques I use. These include:
Rust Dyeing
Mono printing
Fabric painting
Dextrin resists
Flour resists
Gelatin Plate Printing
Screen Printing
Low Water Immersion Dyeing
Hand Dyes
Foiling
I'm sure I missed a few.

Badger Canyon Hand Dyes

2006-05-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

May 24

So I thought it might be a good idea to try and put down in words some of the things I do with my art. I work instictivly, usually without a "finished" project in mind. Something will catch my eye and I just have to put it into an object of art. Some are art just for art sake, some are functional, and some are just for fun. My idea of art may not be your idea of art, but I look forward to any comments you may have.