Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Veterans' Quilts, Ice Dying and Lorelei

This has been a good week!!  Our Guild is working on the last Alaska Veterans' quilt.  We have been making quilts for almost 2 years for Alaska's Healing Hearts Retreat and the gals at Guild are ready to move onto a new "cause".

This last one is going to be gorgeous!!  Sally was the host for this last quilt.  Guild members make the blocks, she will assemble the top and I will quilt and bind it.  These are the 5 blocks I made for the quilt.

These next pictures show part of the ice dying process ~

The picture below is where I added the dye BEFORE the ice.

And then here are the other 3 containers with ice first and then dye sprinkled on top of the ice.  I wanted to see if there was a difference in the end result using the two different methods.  

After washing out the dye on all the pieces, it seemed like the piece where I sprinkled the dye right on the fabric and then the ice on top was not as bright as the other pieces.  It seemed a little dull.

And here is this week's progress on Lorelei ~

Continuing weekly progress can be seen HERE.

For the love of Blogging, see you next time!!

Saturday's Smile!!

 

Friday Progress on Mini Lorelei

If one is a die-hard counted cross stitch person, they would have a special counter or software program that counts each stitch so one can see EXACTLY how many stitches they have completed.  Well, that's not me, so I am looking at approximate numbers!!

This week I have completed approximately 1,400 + stitches in total. 

That makes approximately 62,000 give or take left to go!!  See the weekly progress HERE!

I can hardly believe that I made it this far!!  Go, girl, go!!

Also, here is a peek at some the dying going on around here!!  I decided to cut the fabric into Fat Quarters before dying so that each Fat Quarter has it's own pattern.  But there will be 4 coordinating Fat Quarters in each group.

In the picture above I have only shown 3 FQs in 2 different sets.

For the love of Blogging, see you tomorrow!!

I'm Off to See the Wizard!!

 The ice dying wizard, where I learned how to ice dye!!

These first two pictures were my first attempt.  I dyed them both in the same batch with the same dyes, and although the colors are the pretty much the same, there are distinct differences!!  I fell in love!!

In one of the YouTube videos I watched, the dyer said not to use too much ice, so I cut down on my ice and I got too many big white blobs where the dye did not reach because the ice melted before it could penetrate all the layers of fabric.

This next one, I folded the fabric instead of scrunching it up into a little pile.  I did not like this result as well.  It looks more like tye-die and I am not trying to get that effect.  I like the more mottled look of the scrunchy piles.

For the most part, this one is gorgeous except for the 2 BIG areas of white.  I scrunched this piece but I think the piece of fabric was too big, and again, maybe not enough ice.

Still working on those white or lighter blotches .

A couple of scrapes I threw in.  One of my favorites is the one on the left.

I was really lucky when I somehow ran across this fun technique of dying.  I had done some low emersion dying when I lived in Logan, UT and I still have all the dyes and supplies (that I was actually able to locate in all my boxes of stuff)!!  Otherwise, I would not be able to enjoy this new sport right now.

If you like the look of this dyed fabric, check out YouTube.  Lots of videos.  Well, off the dye more fabric and to play bridge this afternoon.

For the love of blogging, see you soon!!

Saturday's Smile!!

All ChookyBlue June SAL Blocks Done!!

And still time to work on my July blocks!!

All of them with pretty good points!!

I have also promised myself that I would ACTUALLY start and FINISH one of the many Heaven and Earth Designs counted cross stitch patterns that I have purchased over the past few years!!  I think it is sorta like quilting: one hobby is to buy the fabric and patterns and the second hobby is to actually make something!!  

So, I decided to do the Mini Lorelei.  Here it is how it will look when it is done:

Here it is as of July 21, 2022, the day I started it (yesterday).  As of July 21, 2022 I have completed 225 stitches in about 3 hours.  Only 63,275 stitches to go!!

For the love of blogging, see you next time!!

Saturday's Smile!!

 

I Think She's Got It!!

YAY!!  I finally figured out a way to get points on my Churn Dash SAL that I have joined over at ChookyBlue.

On my first block I tried making a block the traditional way.  And I lost the corners.  I blogged about this method HERE.

Then I thought - hmmmm - paper piecing the block would give me the points I wanted.  Well, I went onto Youtube and found a video for the paper-piecing method where you do not have to take the paper pieces off after finishing the block. Yay, Janet!!).  I thought, well that should work.  So, I purchased her PDF templates and I couldn't figure that one out either.  Getting a couple of points and losing a tiny part of some points.  Onward!!

I tried making my own template but goofed it up, soooooooooo, no points!!

Then, I sat down and made an ACCURATE template and happy days all around!!  Hoo! Hoo!!

Now, with 3 of June's blocks done and 5 more under construction, I will have June's blocks all complete before the end of July and July's blocks can move forward to the July finish line!!

I am on a batik rampage, so I am working on another batiks project.  A vanishing 9-patch.  I call mine vanishing instead of disappearing because I don't cut each 9-patch into 4 sections and then after turning 2 sections, sew them back together.

Instead, I cut all the 9-patch blocks into forths, put them in a basket , toss them around, and then then pull 4 sections out randomly and sew those 4 sections together.  More scrappy!!

After I got all 20 blocks prepped to sew together, I was missing one 1/4 section!!  How does that happen?

So, before putting it up on my design wall to make sure I liked the layout, I spent a couple of hours straitening up my sewing room to see if I could find it!!  No, luck, so I put up what I had ~

Then last night, when I was emptying my trash basket to take out to the garbage, I found that little 1/4 section hiding under the basket!!  The nerve!!

Now, onto sewing it together!!  YAY!!  Just what I need - another quilt top!!

And last, but not least, our Christmas in July Art & Craft went well.  Day 2 was much better than day one but most of the vendors signed up to sell in our Kris Kringle Bazaar in November!!  And this is the winner of the Drawing Quilt, Harley, wrapped in her darling Grandma's embrace!!

For the love of blogging, see you next time!!

Saturday's Smile!!

Saturday's Smile!!

It is finally Here!!

Tomorrow is the set-up day for our Christmas in July Art and Craft Bazaar.  With everything else going on and all the time it takes to be the big Mucky-Muk for one of these things, I am giving my table to another Vendor and will keep working on my stuff for the next show!!

But, I was able to get the quilt finished that is going to be the incentive for shoppers to buy and not just be lookie-lous!! 

Many of the Vendors are concerned with the price of gas and the rising inflation, that folks will not being buying so much these days.  So, in the middle of the night last week, I had an epiphany to offer a quilt in a drawing for those folks that support the Vendors by making a purchase!!

So, this is an OLD UFO that I finished up, quilted and added the binding.  Of course, since it is the 4th of July weekend, the quilt just had to be patriotic!!

Let's hope my idea is successful!!