Stashing Up in the Wind

I have finally got around to doing some dyeing for myself :) After watching all the beautiful colours appear in this years workshops, I have been itching to stock up my own stash of fabrics. I have bought some new colours this year too and have been dying to try them. Monday dawned sunny and only a little breezy, so I rang Helen to change our dyeing day as this looked like the only decent day we would get before the winds returned.

The first day I tried a new blue and an old red in this two colour gradation, lovely combinations but still no real purples.

The some purples using two old colours and some new greens, which work very nicely together. I left these in the pots over night as I thought I might continue dyeing the next day.

Just as the weather man predicted, about 9.30, after I had set myself up for another day of mixing and rinsing, the wind came back with a vengeance, but with the roof vibrating and things flapping and banging, I kept going, only ducking back into the house when I thought I might be in mortal danger.

The previous day Helen had dyed up a 21 colour wheel and got some lovely results. I haven't dyed up one of these for a long time and thought it would be a good idea to try out some of the new colours. I then remembered I hadn't dyed up any threads for a long time either, so a hunt out in the back room also found some muslin, scrim / cheesecloth and a nice cotton bamboo thread I had bought ages ago and forgotten all about. All these went into my 21 yogurt pots along with my 1/2 meters. What I really like about this particular colour wheel is that it gives you some tertiary colours too. Here you can see my three primaries, secondaries and tertiaries.

And here with the extra bits of muslin and scrim.

Here's the whole lot with the threads. Amazing to think all that came out of 21 yogurt pots.

Here's a close up of the bamboo, cotton thread, the colours are more vibrant than shown here, I'm a hopeless photographer!!

Wednesday morning and the wind was still howling, but I wanted to try some multi coloured pieces using black and two primaries and in the new colour ways to go with those above.

Here is just a piece from each fabric, I love ironing these up as each one is so unique and contains little pictures, some tell a whole story :)

So three days of dyeing and my stash is well and truly re-stocked along with some other fabrics and threads. I have work right up until christmas and the school holidays are often too hot to dye so this was my last chance to get some good dyeing days in, the wind was a bit of a pain in the rear, but great for drying, took at least 4 minutes!!

Before and After and a Bit of Wind

The school holidays are flying by and I haven't done a thing on my very long TO DO  list.

I took some photo's of my workspace a few days ago to try and shame myself into tidying up. What with the quilt show, workshops and work, it had become a dumping ground, nothing unusual there, just a bigger dump than usual. I started on Wednesday morning, then went out for a very long and relaxing lunch, and of course, couldn't face it again when I got home -  but this morning finally got it finished. I even dragged the vacum cleaner out there so I could see my hideously ugly green carpet in all it's glory.  Here are some before and after pictures, it never look tidy and the back - back room is storage more than anything as the lighting is none existent so impossible to work in. One day I'll have a nice organised space with lots of posh storage and not a mishmash of old bits I've acquired from here there and everywhere. I bet everyone dreams of their ideal studio, workspace - one day - maybe :)

The weather has been absolutely horrible all holidays, I was supposed to have a day dyeing with one of the ladies that couldn't make our last weekend, but, not a chance, when it's not pouring with rain, it's blowing an absolute gale. Here is a pic looking out of the dinning room window yesterday, I really thought I might loose some serious roofing, but only a few bits of the sun room disappeared.

It was so cold too, more like winter, so I decided to put on the oven and have a good baking session. Here's some biscuits, in last years christmas tin and some cheese and fresh basil scrolls and some rather brown tea cakes, I knew I should have kept the oven at 180 and not 200 as the book said, always go with your gut :)

Earlier in the week I made my first lemon meringue pie from scratch. In the uk they have these nifty little packets that are so easy, but never seen them here. Must admit it was rather delicious. I also harvested all the spinach out of the garden and made some cannelloni with half and froze the other half. I also made Steve's favourite cabbage pie with one from the garden, my brother calls it windy pie, but still wants the recipe, maybe for a bit of revenge LOL.

That's all for now, think I'll go and have a coffee and a biscuit.

A Colourful Weekend.

We had a wonderful weekend up at Main Creek, although the weather continued to be a bit difficult as the wind blew all weekend, as you can see it kicked up another nice dust storm and drove us inside to dye.

With dust masks in place, everyone got their dye stocks mixed up ready to begin.

Then we had a break for morning tea. You will notice that I never get any pictures of the fabulous food Marion makes as I am too busy stuffing my face, next time I promise.  After indulging in scones,  vanilla slice and biscuits, all lovingly hand made, the dye pots come out and all that white fabric is transformed into a myriad of colour.

Here's the white fabric being ripped ready for the dye pots.

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OK I did get a quick picture of the table set for lunch, but as soon as the food arrived, the camera was forgotten.

After lunch, the rinsing began, we found a relatively sheltered spot and set up the rinsing table. Even the buckets and gloves added to the brightness of the weekend.

And then the fabrics were hung to dry, which took all of about 4 minutes. Amazingly, none came loose to disappear over the paddock, although a few buckets and pots did make an escape and had to be run down.

A few found a nice sunny spot and enjoyed an afternoon champagne,

just to keep the energy levels up you understand.

Day two, and although the wind continued to blow, the dust had gone, leaving a beautiful sunny day.

On the second day, the stamps and shibori poles etc. come out and the fun continues making multi coloured fabrics and over dyeing some of the previous days. As you can see, you can never have enough pots and jugs and general paraphernalia when dyeing.

Here we are at the end of the weekend, very well fed, and with that weary but contented feeling that a lot has been achieved for all your hard work. You can see the piles of fabric stacked ready to take home for their final washing and then to be made into unique and treasured quilts, bags and goodness knows what else.

Getting Ready

I have been busily getting ready for a weekend of dyeing up at Main Creek. Here is a picture of 100 meters of crispy white cotton that will be transformed into a virtual rainbow over the weekend. Little did I know that the elements would be against me when I started washing all this in preparation, first rain, then gale force winds, I know what your thinking - winds good for drying right - but not 10 meter lengths that just get them selves into knots and wrap around anything slightly grubby, and to be honest I think I would have been hunting the neighbourhood for them. This was followed by a once in a life time dust storm, yes just what you want on pure white cotton, red dust! So my house has been drapped like a shroud all week trying to get it dry and folded, what a relief, it is finally done.

We were listening to the news this morning, wake up alarm :( about a terrible dust storm in Sydney and when I opened my eyes enough to have a squint at the window, this was the eerie sight that greeted us.

The rest of the day remained pretty much like this, which did very strange things to the street lights ect, making them look either green or blueish. This isn't uncommon in outback Australia, but apparently is a first for both Sydney and Newcastle. Made for a very strange day.

I will take plenty of photo's over the weekend and show you the results of a colour filled workshop. Lets hope the weather is kind to us.

Dungog Quilt Show

I have just spent a lovely weekend up at the Dungog Quilt Show, meeting up with some now familiar faces and meeting lots of new ones. It's nice to know that people are coming back to stock up on their hand dyed fabrics and threads. It was a beautiful, sunny weekend with lots to see and do in Dungog, with a travelling quilt exhibition and art show in town too. It was also good to meet with the winner of last years raffle prize, a $200 voucher for a weekend retreat, she will be attending the new Doll making workshop next March which I am really looking forward too.

Here are a couple of pictures of my very bright stall.

Main Creek is looking absolutely beautiful, with all the usual spring happening, Marions wisteria is stunning and full of blue bees which I had never seen before. The chickens have outdone themselves this year and there are little fluff balls all over the place. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to take any photo's, but lucky ol me will be back up there in two weeks time for a dyeing workshop and hopefully it will be just as lovely and I will make sure I take some pictures. I have also got to remember to take appropriate clothing for cow pooh collecting for my garden. I did come home with two bags of premium chook pooh in the back of the ute, ready for the veggie patch.

I don't think my gourd seeds are going to germinate, I have put some on wet paper towel in a plastic bag to form a mini greenhouse, but they show no sign of doing anything, I think they are just too old, luckily I can buy some new seeds locally if these don't work.

Back from Beyond

Well I am back from a wonderful trip, refreshed, rejuvenated and more importantly back out in my studio, with a hundred and one ideas flowing through my brain which will hopefully soon to come to fruition.

I am starting here where I left off last time, back in the garden. Today is the first day of spring, so gardening is going to take up some of my time over the next few weeks. I have made a spot for my big black tub and planted the gourd seeds that I saved from that beautifully shaped gourd I used for Pandora, in the hope that the seeds will produce the same beautifully shaped gourds. Very boring picture I know, but I'm hoping that by the end of the summer I will be able to show you garden shed covered in amazingly "beautiful gourds". Fingers crossed.

My spinach and cabbages done there thing while we were away, we've had some delicious spinach inspired dinners already with plenty more to come, how much spinach can a person eat before they get sick of it? I think I'm about to find out LOL, and I have finally got some good stuff into the other end of the garden ready for my summer veg, which I hope to get this weekend.

While we were out trying to find Organoil for our outdoor furniture, I came across a lovely little shop selling "collectables". Everything was half price and I couldn't resist this old shopping basket, a steal at $14 I think. I'm imaging this full of my home grown veggies, ideal for collecting dinner in. It's sitting on my nice new table, as now the weather is warming up, on those mornings when I don't have to rush off to work, I can sit with my morning coffee and toast and watch everything grow.

That's it for now, holiday pics to follow but my alarms gone off and I have two heads and two sets of hands in the oven. If they work out as I'm hoping, I might actually get to post pictures of what this blog was originally about - textile stuff - but variety is the spice of life:)