Progress is being made :-)

Yay! I am finally getting somewhere! I have about 1/4 of the bloom to finish and then the detail starts. So far, so good, I THINK! The Great Reveal will happen - likely tomorrow- when I remove all of the freezer paper. Wish me luck!

Most of the base fabric patches attached . LOTS more detail to come!

I am going to try an experiment! Remember, you heard it first here! I have cut and made my stamens fusible, as you know. I intend to paint them with a variety of yellows, golds and oranges depending on where they are in the picture. But THEN- I want texture ! I have bought a jar of Golden Fibre Paste . It dries to a flexible, textured surface so I HOPE I will fuse then sew the orangey patches down and then apply some of the Fibre Paste,work on the stamen texture , let it dry then paint it. I WILL try a "dry run" before I do it on the quilt, never fear. So, stay tuned and see what happens. This will be my very last procedure with this quilt, after quilting, binding, adding label and sleeve etc. THEN, the Fibre Paste- assuming the trial run works to my satisfaction.

I have been needing a VERY VERY pale pinkish fabric for the real highlights on this piece. Procion dyes are really really potent!!! I cannot describe to you how much water and how very little dye I used to make what I HOPED would be a very very pale pink. I now own some pale pink- quite a bit of pale pink - BUT NOT A LOT OF VERY VERY PALE PINK!!!!! I DO think it will work though. I can always intensify what meets the highlight so there is sufficient contrast.

Once I finish the petal patches, next job- the velvet centre, that starry shape that is blank in the middle. Keep watching! Take care and have a grand weekend. It is Victoria Day! 

The pretty, The practical and the ZOWIE !

A few days ago, I treated myself to a bunch of five little tight budded bright yellow tulips. I have really enjoyed them. I LOVE tulips. I love the sound tulips make- go figure! Have you never noticed that when tulips are moved against each other , as in while they are being arranged in a vase, that they make a lovely little hollow, squeaky, popping sound as they rub against each other? Well, I have - because that is the kind of a strange woman I am! Anyway, these buds opened up and I noticed, to my great delight , that there was a tiny, fine red line around each petal. As the blooms opened, that red bled down into the yellow, eventually turning the yellow tulips coral-y orange. LOVELY As they opened further, I saw that beautiful slatey blue star shape in the base and the stamens were bright orange! LOVE IT! I could help myself no further. I had to take a few pictures to share. Here are a couple ...

 Now, the practical-I am finally finished the Red Iris and have used the wonderful instructions on Elaine Quehl's blog to create a strip facing. This is not a great photo but it DOES illustrate the finished product. The hanging sleeve is in place too as you can see. All it needs now is a good label.

And , finally- the ZOWIE part! I ordered some dyes from Pro Chemical and Dye and they arrived on Friday AM. One of the colours is called Eggplant! LOVE that colour- not so keen on the taste, but I took the dyes down to my subterranean dye shop and wet a piece of paper towelling and then opened one of the little pots of dye powder to try the colour. I dipped a tiny brush into it and just sprinkled the powder over a spot on the wet towel. INSTANTLY , the gorgeous Eggplant purple bloomed- but then-
because it is a mixed colour, and the component parts of mixed colours strike at different rates, began to travel!!!! I was VERY VERY excited, ran upstairs for the camera and here is the result!

Look at THAT! I say Zowie! Cannot WAIT to try it on cotton. That is it for today. Now I am off to adjust the white balance on my camera so I can get more accurate pics of my quilts. Enjoy the rest of the day :-)

As Promised

Here is the Plane Tree Bark- not trimmed, not mounted, but done--- I THINK ! In " real life" , it is better because you can really see the peely layers.This little piece is mainly layers of Dupioni silk, heavily machine stitched with painted Evolon, organza and the odd bit of commercial cotton batik. now it needs finishing !
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AND, NOW- FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT .....

 ...the first dye experiments. Above, what I was aiming for.

To the left, serendipitous rosy magenta as a result of not a tight enough scrunch and too much magenta dye- but OK.








And here- more of what I was aiming for. All in all, for the first dyeing I have done in YEARS, quite pleasing and usable for sure. Now, for the greens- but maybe not till I get the tree up and decorated and some honest to goodness housework done. Might even bake a cookie? Stay tuned :-)

Note re: Procion MX dyes- I LOVE the fact that this stuff is more granular than it used to be. It does not seem to fly everywhere as it once did- mainly straight up my nose! I did wear a mask though  which I never used to : -(

Smoke Tree Leaves so far

Well, I am beginning to see this come together. There have been bits added since this and there will be more before I do the stitching but here is a start. I love the colours! Fun to do but fiddly!

Wow! I ordered a little starter kit of procion MX dyes YESTERDAY from a Markham company, G&S Dyes and UPS delivered it today to our front door. Not an inexpensive service, but very speedy. I used to use Procion dyes years ago doing batik but when I learned how dangerous they are , I stopped. I shall be mixing them OUTDOORS , covered up and wearing a mask. Should be quite a sight. Anyone for tickets??