Dyeing Color Family - Second Color

This is turning out to be an encredible color journey for me.



These are the results from the first 6 batches all dyed varying degrees of Tangerine.
They are sorted, stacked and ready to go into the next color which is Scarlet.

I will dye each stack a different value of Scarlet.

This is the third lightest value of Scarlet seen in the Wonder Washer as I am pausing the dyeing cycle.



These are the swatches that have now been dyed Tangerine and Scarlet stacked and ready for the next dye bath which will be the 6 different values of Turquoise.

I love these colors and was tempted to stop right here!
But then I would not be fulfilling my obligation for the swap so I will persevere.

Stay tuned to see the results of the last color.

Dyeing Color Family - First Color

I accomplished more than I thought I would today, in spite of a major problem.

I started the day by dyeing 3 values in my Wonder Washers. They are amazing. They make it simple to get evenly dyed fabrics and you don't have to stir the buckets manually.

I believe Carol Soderlund is the person who first mentioned using them. A lot of my fabric dyeing friends have used them and loved them.

I was very skeptical about them as they say "As Advertised On TV"!
I have never found anything "As Advertised On TV" to live up to it's promises.
Well, these don't advertise as a product to use to dye fabric but they should!


These are Wonder Washers 1 and 2. If you can see the numbers on the control you can see I stagger the timing. In addition to the times to cycle them on and off I use 3 kitchen timers to time the resting periods between agitating.



I know this is the third lightest value because each washer is a different color and I have them arranged in value order!

I am sure you are wondering WHAT the major problem was.
I dyed the first three batches and about 25% of the tyvek labels came off in the washers along with a ton of staples.

I was able to restaple them on. Not only did I restaple those on, but I removed and restapled all the others.

It was time consuming and not fun, but I did it and didn't give up.

Tomorrow should be the day to start dyeing Scarlet. I have a tight schedule tomorrow and I am not sure I'll get a batch dyed. There's always tomorrow!



This shows five of the six values of Tangerine I dyed today. The are still wet in the photo and waiting for the washout which I did finish beofre calling it a day!

Someone commented that they would be interested in how I set up my dye studio.
It is really just my old laundry room in the basement and is not fancy at all.



I have two shelves over the laundry tubs where I store the dyes and measuring and mixing tools. Larger things are stored in other areas.

Dyeing My Personal Color Family

I am finally getting to something that I had hoped to do long before now.

I am dyeing a color family ala Carol Soderlund.



The colors I am using will be Tangerine, Scarlet and Turquoise.

I have spent the past few days reviewing the procedure until I understood it again.



I had stapled the labels to almost all the fabrics quite some time ago. I finished this and checked to be sure all the staples were secure and made sure everything was in their proper stack.


Today I worked on preparing my space. I had some cushioned floor mats put down in my dyeing area to making it easier on my feet and back. We exchanged the small table I had in that room for a longer one so I have more space to organize the process.


This afternoon and evening I went through the supplies for dyeing and straightened them and the shelves out.



I put the things I needed on the table or on top of the washer and dryer.



These are my 3 Wonder Washers. By using them to dye the swatches I will eliminate the continual stirring by hand.
I plan on dyeing 3 batches at the same time. I will need to do 18 batches to finish the color family.



I mixed the Tangerine dye I will be using tomorrow as it is best to mix it the day before.

This will not be a tutorial. I will just share my journey as I do this project.

Murphy and Marley

Last night I visited my two new grand dogs to take some photos of them.

When I got in the house one dog was SO happy to see me.
It was Riley, one of my older granddogs. He hasn't seen me for a long time.
I think not only was he happy to see me, but he was happy to see someone who would give him the attention he needs now that the puppies take their share which means less for him.



It was so much easier to get Riley to "sit" for his portrait that to take photos of the puppies that never stopped moving!



This is Murphy with Heather, Jeff and Cooper. Sally thought he would be the more active of the two but he has proven to be the calmer of the two. Murphy is Cooper's dog and they do have a great time playing together.



This is Marley with Heather, Jeff, Cooper and Kierstin. Marley is the ringleader when the two of them are together. Kierstin gives Marley a lot of attention and guidance.

They will be 8 months old in 3 days. They each have wonderful dispositions which I am sure is due to the fact that Sally trained and handled them so gently but firmly and made sure they got a lot of love and attention.

Today or tomorrow, depending on when you are reading this, Sally and my son Jeff both have a birthday - something we found out when we first met 48 years ago! We lost track of each other many years ago and have just reconnected this past year.
Another one of my small world stories with a happy ending.

Tessellation Teaser - Lesson 7

I am working on the Tessellation tutorial again after a long absence while I was busy with other things that took on a higher priority.

I have always lived a very serendipitous life. I do not set a life plan or long range goals and when something becomes apparent that I need to do it right then I stop where I am and go to the higher priority task.

That does not mean I don't plan and keep on task. In fact yesterday I gathered up all those slips of paper I had been jotting "TO DO" things on and put them all on one list.
The amazing thing is that by having them all on that one list I was able to accomplish most of them yesterday and today. Yes, I will be adding things to the list, but it is a good feeling to be able to cross things off the list.

I am showing you two photos to get you excited again about the project and hope you will be as excited as I am to work on this again.



This is the master template I cut from my index card pinned to the fleece I have drawn the grid on.
I will be explaining how this is done very soon.



In this photo you see one shape from each of the fabrics I used for my tessellated shapes.

This will all make a lot more sense as soon as I explain it.

I do hope you are up to date on the exercise and are ready for the next part. I certainly have given you enough time!

If you have not been following along and would like to you can find all the other steps by putting Tessellation in the box at the top left and click on the magnifying glass and the first exercises will all come up for you. It is NOT to late to start this and have fun with the rest of us.

An Unusual Get Together - Sibling iPad Get Together!

On Friday evening we had our first Sibling iPad dinner at my home.



The evening began with Pizza Fondue which has become my recent "specialty"!
Mary brought one of the most delicious salads I have even tasted with home made salad dressing. Karen made a fantastic apple dessert which she served with the best vanilla ice cream.


It was a lot of fun and we each learned and shared a lot.

Here Bill is showing Karen some Apps he likes.

We shared Apps we like along with some techniques on how to do things. I stayed up way too late working/playing with it after everyone left.

I have found one of the best ways to get good Apps is to ask others.

I have also learned it is NOT a child's toy - don't ask me how know!

Do you have any Apps you like for your iPad or iPhone? I'd love to hear about them.

While we were playing with our iPads my sister in law Mary cleaned up the kitchen and put all the dishes in the dishwasher - how did I get so lucky to get the perfect sister-in-law?

Where have I been?

I have been buried under all the things I am selling on eBay.
It took on a life of it's own. What a great feeling to have empty space in my closet again.
This has been a more than full time job for me for about 7 weeks. I will list one more time this Sunday, September 26th and then I will take a break for a while and regroup.
What do I have to show for it?
I am now a Power Seller on eBay! I was so busy doing the work I didn't see the message until at least a week after they sent it.

I made some money to help pay for some of the "necessities" I recently purchased.

I have many many empty hangers. These are just a few of them.
I have empty plastic bins that I had been storing things to sell in.


I feel re energized and ready to tackle some other things I need to do.

I shipped 30 packages today - a record!


These are some of the clothes I have listed this week.

I have "met" some great ladies who have become repeat customers and I am so happy my collection will have such good homes.

True, it was a lot of work. But it also kept me out of the refrigerator and I lost a couple of pounds.
Up and down the stairs, walking from the computer to the ironing board, to the table where I measured and package, to the design wall where I photograph and down stairs to eat, sleep, wash things, bring packages down to ship, bring empty boxes up to fill, and on and on and on.

And if you look closely you will even see quilts on this post!

A BeautiFALL Day

It doesn't get much better than today.
The high temperatures were in the low 70's.



The farmers' market was in full swing with fall produce.



I couldn't resist the colors of the red and green cabbages together.
Mother Nature is a fantastic artist.
I believe the farmer who's wagon I've photographed is named Del.

And I can not think about a farmer named Del without thinking about this joke.

A man took his Dell computer to the shop to get it repaired.
The repairman opened the back and said "I see the trouble. there's a man in there."
The guy said "Don't tell me it's Leonard?"
"No," the repairman said "it's a farmer"!



The colors in this quilt look just like the fall leaves I picked up this week to scan.


This is a small tesselation quilt of fall leaves I am working on.


Not only am I back, I've got a puzzle for you!

Two Trees Too Many

The last two days we have had "entertainment" in the yard.
There were two trees that were huge and past their prime. It was time for them to come down.

The tree trimmers appeared yesterday before noon.



I took this photo from my second floor studio window. This was shortly after he climbed into the tree and started cutting it down. You can see from how high he is if you look at his location (see the red in the tree) and compare it to the buildings, people and fence. All of these photos are clickable so you can see larger photos.

The last time he trimmed one of our trees it made me nervous to watch. This time I almost enjoyed it and also enjoyed watching how they handled each branch as the 2 men on the ground guided it down.


When he would get in places like this it did make me a little nervous.



This position made me nervous too.



I had plans to meet a friend for lunch so off I went leaving "the boss" in charge. When I got home after our 4 hour lunch this was all that remained of the tree.



They were back early this morning to finish taking down the trunk. I caught this photo of the crotch of the tree falling as I took the photo. This was an extremely large piece.



These are some of the pieces of the trunk before they disposed of them.


It is all cleaned up now. Tomorrow they will be back to take down one more tree. It is not even 1/4 the size of this one, but it does have to go.

I really hate to see a tree come down. These trees were in danger of blowing over if we had a bad storm and would have blown over onto the house and shed.

Most of the time when you take a tree down you feel there is an empty space. The rest of our trees are so big and there are so many that you won't miss these. We still will not have sun in the yard for more than a few hours a day in a few very small areas.

Racine Washington Park High School Class of '57 Reunion

Last week I was fortunate to be able to get together with 4 other "girls" from our high school graduating class.


I had not seen any of these "girls" since we graduated 53 years ago. What a lovely groups of ladies.
I recognized each of them immediately. Look at those happy smiles!

What fun to catch up on our lives over the intervening years.
Children, grandchildren, jobs, spouses, friends - we could have talked for many more hours.

'Til me meet again next year!

We met at a lovely restaurant on the lake in Cudahy, WI - The Sheridan Inn. The food was great too. Although the company was the star of the show.

Where Do I Begin

My life is continuing to be busy. I am enjoying every day and every minute.

Guests, family, Ladies Who Lunch, selling on eBay, organizing and getting rid of things, enjoying our perfect weather - can it get any better than this?



This was another one of the things in the boxes of my "vintage" clothes from my attic. Jessica loved this and it fit her perfectly. It matched the new sandals she bought that day. The ones she modeled this time were NOT polyester double knit. I can't remember exactly when I made and wore this but it was many years ago! This was one of 3 that went home with her.



I found this shirt I had embroidered for my husband and Blake loved it. It went home with him and he plans to wear it at college.

I am very flattered that my grandchildren love these things and will be wearing them.

I'll try hard to be back with posts more often.

Jumping Good Times

When my family was here this weekend I enjoyed seeing a photo of my oldest grandson Blake and 3 of his friends JUMPING while he was in Spain studying this summer.
I didn't realize you could catch a photo like this so easily.



When I was taking the departure photos I decided to see if I could take a JUMPING photo and it worked. I had to work fast as they were in a hurry to leave and the mosquitoes were eating them alive.
Fortunately the cooler weather (and a Bounce Dryer sheet in my pocket) have helped drive away the mosquitoes.



My youngest grandson was her for a while yesterday. I showed him the jumping photos and he wanted me to take his picture JUMPING.
Here it is. He really worked hard to do a good jump as you can see.


Until next time I hope you have a JUMPING good time!

I'm back!

It's been a busy time in my life. I have been very busy organizing and getting rid of things. I've had a very busy week on eBay.

This weekend was a wonderful fun and family filled time.

My son Greg, his wife Julie and their 4 children were here for the weekend. I always enjoy spending time with them.

Greg spent a great deal of time working on my computer and other devices. This is my first post from my new computer.


On Sunday morning my sister Karen and her husband Clay joined us for brunch. Karen brought her fabulous berry muffins. I am not sure whether the recipe came to our family through Karen or my sister Connie. I have to mention both of them so I don't get in trouble. If you have sisters you may understand!

I have other family photos to share with you soon.

If you look closely you will see one of my quilts in the background.

It's Only Just Begun - Week 4 on eBay

I'm still busy with finding treasures in my closets and auctioning them on eBay.
Sunday evening I listed 26 more pieces.

This week they are ALL BLUE FISH clothing.
Even after I get done selling off a large part of my collection I will still have enough to keep me in style for years to come.


I am parting with some fantastic pieces this week. If I haven't worn it it is time to share it with someone else out there.



This is one of those rare pieces that no one wants to give up. I decided it is time for someone else to enjoy it since I never even wore it. And you are probably asking how could I have enjoyed this if I never wore it?
Well, I enjoy just looking at these special pieces and studying the details and colors.



Another lovely outfit, with each piece for sale separately.

I've tried to do a color or theme story each week. You can see "the rest of the story" for this week at:
http://shop.ebay.com/bluefishquilter/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

I have heard from some of you who had never heard of BLUE FISH clothing.
There is nothing else like it.

I have also received so many thank yous from happy buyers who appreciate the fact that I am offering these things at very affordable prices. So many sellers have the prices so high buyers can't really afford them.

Although the company is still in business in Taos, New Mexico the prices are quite high. But - the clothing is worth it. I like to think of "Cost Per Wearing" when I buy something.

It outlasts any other clothing I have worn. That is why I have so much to part with - it still looks great and is in great condition for the most part. They use organic cotton. They are very environmentally conscious, using each and every scrap and making it into something.


I hope you are enjoying these posts that have nothing to do with quilting but everything to do with color!

Week 3 ends tonight

Tonight concludes the third week of selling things on eBay.
I should be seeing results in my closets by now, but I still have a long way to go!


This week most of the things I am offering are either FLAX or BLUE FISH clothing.



Some of my favorite casual things from BLUE FISH


More BLUE FISH in one of my favorite colors.



A more sophisticated business like FLAX outfit.

I have spent a great deal of time washing and ironing the things, taking photos and writing the auctions.

They will all end between 7 and 9 p.m. PST this evening (Sunday).

If any of you want to see the auctions you can go to:

http://shop.ebay.com/bluefishquilter/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

I have also spent a lot of time this past week getting new auctions ready that will start between 7 and 9 pm. PST this week and end next Sunday, August 15th.
Thee are almost all BLUE FISH clothing, a highly collectible line.

I'm treating this like a job - a job that will help me clear some space.

Sun Spots?

This is another work in progress that I created at least 10 years ago.
When I made it I was not so sure I liked it.



10 years later it looks a lot better to me! I dye painted a piece of fabric making use of the fact that the dyes will spread slightly. I designed this attic windows quilt to effectively use the piece of fabric I created.

Although I am still keeping busy posting my eBay things, I have found a few moments today to get a few quilts out to layer and get ready for quilting.
Once I have them layered I can work on the quilting in stolen moments now and then.

LOST

How many of you think of the TV show when you hear the word lost?



LOST is the working title of this quilt. I had made some other pieces to go in the center of this and I cannot find them.
I am guessing I might have thought they were scraps and thrown them out.

I often tell people if they make something and they don't like it that they should put it away for 6 months and when they take it out see if they like it then.
That was the case with this quilt. I made the sections but did not put them together.

I put them on the design wall, took a photo and printed it. When I looked at the photo I really liked it. Not six months later, but over 6 years later.
Today I took it out and fused the sections to a piece of batting.
I am going to have to resolve the center issue. This was done with a lot of scrap fabrics so I do not have many of those fabrics available to remake the center. Maybe if I wait a few days the LOST sections will turn up!
And maybe I will decide I like the center just the way it is!

Dream Along With Me - A Perfectly Neat Organized Home

I've had a hard time finding time to write a blog post recently.

Why, you ask?

I have been conscientiously working on getting things straightened out, organized and disposed of in my studio.

I have spent a lot of time the last two weeks listing things on eBay. I realized that one source of clutter in my studio was things I meant to list on eBay - so I decided there was no time like the present and last night I posted 20 items to close next Sunday evening. It takes a lot of time to take a decent photo, edit it, measure the garments, write the descriptions and fill out the form for the auction. Then after it sells there is the packaging and shipping to be done.

Last night and this morning I packed the items I sold last night, printed the labels and had them shipped. I have 4 more to ship and I will be able to start thinking about what I am going to list next week. I am starting the prices very low and so far everything has sold.



This may look like a jumbled mess to you, but it is really all carefully washed, ironed and stacked in piles of things in related categories.

I have bulging closets of like new collectible clothing: Blue Fish, Flax, Oh My Gauze, Eileen Fisher, Nothing Matches, etc and I am listing lots of it on eBay so I'll have a little more room in my closets. Would you believe I was running out of hangers. That was the breaking point!

I will be also listing other things that are not clothing in the next few auctions.

As I am writing this post I am thinking maybe I should list some of the sewing/quilting related items I have to sell at a fixed reasonable price on my blog and they will be available to anyone of you who might be interested. What do you think?

I think it is time to get back to work. See you again soon!