You know it's summer when...

 

The fabric dyes come out and the fun begins!

I dyed a rainbow, so to speak!

Mixing dyes and seeing new colors bloom is such a joy.

 

This time I played with some tone on tones.

 

What great results they gave me.

 

Best yet, they were all from left over dyes. Once I dyed my main fabrics, I just poured off the extra liquid on these. That's why they are more pastel. They just soaked up the leftover dye. It's always a bit of a mystery as to what will happen.

Not bad results, but there are a couple I might re-dye next go round.

 

Here are some solid extras too. They just don't have the same punch as the tone on tone, do they?

 My main goal this time was solids, but when I was at the end and had some dyes leftover, I played with dumping them together and squishing them into a small container of fabric. I do love the design that happens.

It was a good dye day.  47 yards in all!

I found a bolt of Bamboo fabric hidden in the ole sewing room, that needs to be dyed. 

Hidden with it was 12 more yards of fabric ready to dye.

My quilting Sista bought me some white PFD batik... Ohh I can't wait to play with that.

and today I went and bought 12 more yards of polka dot tone on tone. 

I've got a plan....

It's gonna be a Happy Summer!

 

Last snow dye photos I promise

So this is the last of the snow dye photos. I promise!

I absolutely love the movement in this one. It looks like it should be a water project to me!

                                          And a sunflower project on this one!

I got some really cool mixing of colors this time, with some very unusual designs. It's always a mystery how they will come out, but I was thrilled with this batch.

These last 3 are the entire yard pieces. I just love them!

I dyed a total of 40 yards. 3 were a thumbs down, but the others were great.

I learned that adding a piece of fabric under your grate, catches the drips from the top fabric as well as sops up some of the extra run off, and you get some spectacular results. The I pushed it a little more and I poured off the "gluck" as I refer to it, on yet another piece of fabric and in most cases I got a much lighter 3rd piece of fabric, in what ever color all the run off dyes made when they mixed.

All were great and will work into any number of projects down the line.

Waste not, want not!  That's my motto and I am stickin to it.

Hummm...

Speaking of that, Madame Samm invited me to post on Tueday over on Stash Manicure.

So keeping that waste not want not, thought in mind, make sure you visit us on Tuesday!!  
                                                        :-)  See you then!

Just can't stop myself

So what do you do, when your going out to dinner with friends in a snowstorm?

That's an easy question, you quick grab a shovel full of snow and cover yet another bunch of fabric with it. Throw on some dyes and run out the door!

That's just what happened last night. Why anyone would feel the need to drive in this stuff if you didn't need to, is beyond me, but there we were. Needless to say, there was no waiting for tables at the restaurants and we got front row parking! I felt like queen for a day!! 




Even better, I came home to these!

 Another one of those bottom feeders. I am always looking for brown to work with. :-) Don't you love the texture!

Now tell me you don't see the Alien in this one!  There are even lights shining out his eyes.  You know right above the olive green crab!

And I haven't even been hitting the sauce!!! hahahaha

Another bottom feeder...

   This again, was in the bottom of the tray and basically just mopped up all the run off dyes. I find myself looking at the patterns. I see a spine in this one, what about you? (I think it's the aliens)  Acutally this is the same piece as the alien above, and the designs are symetrical because it was folded in quarters.

This is a close up of the piece below. I love the way the colors ran and mixed.

This is the full 36"x44" piece, and definitely my favorite of the day.

Wish I had more of an idea what I did, but I was in a hurry and dumped on the dye and ran out the door.

 Doesn't it just figure that when you hit a home run, you have no idea how!!!

Hummm, I still have another day off and there is lots of snow on the ground.

Blue, where is my blue. I need more blue fabrics.

See ya later!

Results are in!

I deemed, snow dyeing day, a success.  It's been awhile, and I completely forgot about all the rules with mixing colors, but it was fun, and I am happy with the results.

Next time I will plan a bit more.

 While I was not too sure about putting fabric under the grates, it worked out great.

This is one of the cloths in the bottom of the pan. Even the run off, dyed a great piece of fabric.







I think this has to be my favorite. It has a Valentines feel to me!

Kind of reminds me of Monet's flower gardens.
For these pieces I took the little bit of snow that was left on the original fabric and dumped it onto a new piece. It's much lighter, but has a beautiful floral look to it. It's a great way to get the most from your dyes!

                                                          This is the piece that I copied LuAnn Kessi's idea for. I just love it. This piece is 36" x 44". It almost could be stretched on a frame and called art all by itself! 

 

So there you have it. My day at play. You see, snow isn't all that bad...

At least if you don't have to get out in it!

:-) 

It's here!

A picture says it all, I am told!  Does this explain just what happened over night?

No strong winds, so no blizzard, but a nice gentle snowfall. Perfect for my snow dyeing day!  And better yet, I have power!  :-)

I love the way the snow draped over my evergreen bush.  As you can see, it's still snowing lightly!



BUT...

out came the shovel, and I got to work.
Not clearing the sidewalks silly, I am shoveling for my snow dyeing!

Last time I did this, I experimented with putting a piece of fabric under the grate to sop up all the left over dye.  I really can't say I remember the outcome, but I thought I would try it again. Worse case scenario, I can always over-dye it next summer!

I've made up my little fabric bundles.










Mixed up my dyes, and started to play!

I saw this one on LuAnn Kessi's blog. It really intrigued me!

You can see her snow dyeing extravaganza HERE .








          Snow cones, are all I can think of!

As you can see my fabric is starting to peek thru!!

Now I have to play the waiting game!! Patience has never been my virtue!!