Mixed results

     We tried round three of ice dyeing. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter wanted to do more shirts and some onesies for my daughter's new baby. I wanted some fabric for quilts- some watery blue greens. We all soaked them the same, put them on the same bins, covered with the same ice, sprinkled with the same dye.

     However, the results were mixed. The shirts, a long piece my daughter-in-law did, and the onesies came out fine. My pieces came out like bad lime headaches. We did not use green, but the blue and yellow mixed awful sickly. I did all the set up, wash out, etc and was left very disappointed.

     Katie's big yardage piece that she wants to use on the wall came out fine despite that the right side had white printing on it. The backside looked fine.

See the white print that resisted the dye? Back side worked great

     My two half yards and fat quarters are a real disappointment. I don't know if I should re-dye or just forget.

The flower shape is more sickly green than it is here, not really so yellow.

My blogging universe

     Greetings from Buffalo, NY and my little space in the blog world. I am a retired art teacher and totally immersed in quilting- for art, for comfort quilts, and learning to be a better quilter. Not so much a writer.
     In the years I have followed and read blogs and then made my own, I have made great friends (met some personally), advanced my quilting/design abilities, and have had my life enriched by the lives of others. 
     I read a set list every morning, and it gets me energized and thoughtful from the start. I hope this blog has helped some people become better quilters or quilt thinkers. It is important to me to chronicle and communicate my artwork. I will never be famous or make money from my art. That is ok, I have readers and I follow some of the most excellent people on this quilt journey. 
    So when I received an invitation from Victoriana Designs to participate in a Quilters Meet and Greet on September 4th, I decided to try. I have no idea how it will go, and maybe I can gain a couple of readers and find some other quilters that I can relate to. I wish quilters had a site like Ravelry that knitters have.

https://benitaskinner.blogspot.com/2018/09/2018-online-quilters-meet-greet.html

https://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/fabric/

     Yesterday, reading Film in the Fridge, I saw a quilt that will help me with my scraps. I always cut 3 1/2" strips as per Bonnie Hunter's system, but they don't get used  much. I have tables in my garage filled with scraps that need to be processed as soon as it cools off so I tried her pattern with 3 1/2" strips instead of her 3" and it worked. No waste, easy pattern. I pulled a lot more strips from my 3 1/2" bin and figured it would take 18 sets WOF to make a decent lap size quilt. The blocks should finish at 9 3/4" x 12" with this size. Great for the comfort quilts. Set of 6 sample blocks below.

    

An unusual floral piece

     I adore floral fabric and yearn to find good pieces. Love making floral quilts. However, I was asked by a dear friend to particpate in decorating a plasic bust for a Breast Cancer Auction at the end of September. The show opens on Sept. 7 at the Artspace Gallery, Buffalo, NY and the auction is Sept. 28th. I don't like decorating. I stink at it. So, being a scrap queen, I looked up how to make flowers from fabric and made a boatload of them.  The machine  gathered or pleated them, but hot glue rolled them together. I ended up with 5 finger blisters from the glue. 
     I used Krylon spraypaint for plastics to change the white to a green. I called the piece "Bloom where you are planted".  I am relieved to have the piece made and delivered and on the wall. I have no idea why 3D or decorative things are so hard for me. I grit my teeth doing the whole thing, which speaks poorly of me. A big flaw. I would rather sew quilts. All the time.

Front view

Side view

Side view

Top

Bottom

Middle

Out for delivery

     Once again, I got a call for a comfortquilt that had to go out of town with someone who was flying out Labor Day. I have a lot of tops to choose from, but not quilted. I pushed myself to quilt on the longarm, get the bag put together, the card, the book and the pocket quilts. After washing and sewing the label on, I delivered it to the person who will ferry it along. I don't know where it is going, but it is to a woman who does not have a very good cancer diagnosis. I hope the exploding squares and quilting take her mind off it for a bit and let her gather her thoughts.

I just love striped bindings. Hard to find stripes, buy them when I see them.

Putting on the color- the shirts

     The ice dyeing shirt results were varied and brightly colored. My daughter in law worked with the kids- she mostly did the folding. They were surprised how they came out and have worn some of them already.

Call it colorful

     The fabric ice dyeing results were certainly not wimpy or pastels. I do love bright color. The pieces were about 22 x 21. I did not know how certain folding techniques would work, so I did not go larger. I am so surprised how clear and clean the colors look even though the melted ice water looked pretty mucky. I will show the kids' shirt results on the next post. I think I would like to try bigger pieces next and learn some more folding techniques.