Dye Day Results

These are the 12 yards of fabric from yesterday's double-dye project. The first step was done with turquoise at 5%, and then the over-dye was done with black at 10%. The darkest fabrics are a dark teal color.





The two pieces created by pouring dye over the folded fabric came out with quite a bit of color, even though the dye solutions had been made up a year ago. (The dye was kept refridgerated.) While the fuschia didn't soak all the way through the fabric folds, the blues look good. The grape dye created a purple-tinged gray.











With this piece, too, the blues look very good. The navy dye on the right came out quite muted.

Dyeing Day

As preparations for dyeing begin with the spread of plastic sheeting outdoors on this warm day, Inspector Suki checks to make sure the underside is clear and ready.

She absolutely cannot ignore the sight and sound of plastic bags of any type and always appears from nowhere to become directly involved.







Turquoise, intense blue, and navy blue were poured on the fabric on the left. For the other piece of fabric, fuschia and grape dyes were added to the blues. The fabric was then rolled in the plastic and left to bake in the sun.








Dyeing is hard work and here Marcia massages the fabric in pails of the liquid. It's a double-dye low-water immersion process, and the elbow-length rubber gloves are great protection. The dyed t-shirt is a reminder of the 1970's and probably will have some newly added colors at day's end!










It was in the 60's today and Inspector Suki guards the fabric from the shade. It is not easy being on all-day duty!

Looking at work in progress

A few of us got together today to look at work in various states of completion.

Pat Pauly brought this sample she made for a class being taught at Genesee Valley Quilt Club's quilt show June 5-7 (http://www.geneseequiltfest.com/). Pat designed the pattern, which is also the center of the Club's current raffle quilt. See the web site for information on taking the class. The pattern will also be available at the show.





Bev Kondolf has made a lot of progress on this self portrait and has added a lot of quilting.















Bev also showed us a quilt she made which has a lot of piecing. We like the vertical line work and discussed leaving the edges a bit "wonky" instead of squaring up the piece.






Jeanne Simpson is making this small piece for a friend who is recovering from a mastectomy. Lime green buttons will embellish it.

Suki and friends

Inspector Suki is much happier these days. She spends extended time outdoors and enjoys the developing spring weather, especially with the return of creatures to chase around the backyard. She also challenges any feline visitors with a loud voice and fierce posturing. The cool weather sends her to a warm spot behind the portable computer when she returns indoors!




She enjoys visitors, especially when they bring plastic trays large enough to adopt as a resting place. They are particularly comfortable when a layer of fabric is left as a pillow!






Bill studies Priscilla's latest hard work as she explains the process. She is tracing petroglyph designs onto black fabric and then hand embroidering them, adding Bahar stitching.








Nancy is machine quilting one of her latest pieces. She's using her Featherweight machine, which is a lot more portable and easier to carry than her Bernina.

Jet Trails traveling to 2 shows

Jet Trails #5 and Jet Trails #6 (below) were boxed up and picked up by UPS for their trip to Lancaster, PA for the Quilter's Heritage Celebration show (April 2-5, 2009).

From that show, they will travel on to Paducah, Kentucky, where they've also been selected as semifinalist entries for the 25th anniversary AQS Quilt Show & Contest (April 22-25, 2009). They are among the 388 quilts which were selected from a field of 709 quilts

GVQC monthly meeting

Here's Priscilla Kibbee at her sale table at the monthly meeting of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club. She had wonderful treasures from her travels to many countries.

Her sale table is always very popular, but was even busier than usual with shoppers surrounding the table.

Donna Patrick wore her recently completed jacket for Show and Tell. She started the jacket in one of Priscilla's classes and incorporated some shibori-dyed fabric created by Elin Noble.

This hand-stitched and hand-quilted piece was done by Chris Wickert.

Our program chairperson, Pat Pauly, is watching this month's guest speaker, Terry Austin.

Barb Seils is showing a quilt made by Terry Austin which is an example for her class the following day on creating the illusion of depth with fabric.

Nancy Hicks and Barb show two versions of Terry's quilts depicting piles of rocks.

And, lastly we have three versions of Terry's tea pots.

Shopping.....

Some special purchases:


Our friend, Priscilla, was able to find a few Shaman's Coats while on her trip to Vietnam. She has a connection with an antique dealer who has been successful in scouting down the coats. They are not old old, but definitely vintage. They are made of handwoven fabric and the figures are all hand embroidered.

The back of the Shaman's Coat.

I couldn't decide which of the saris from Priscilla's recent trip I liked best, so I bought three of them.

One of the vendors at the GardenScape show was True Blue TC Collection, selling blue and white cloth art. I bought four yards of their wonderful fabric. They also had several items for sale, such as tablecloths, purses, totebags, and jackets.
And for those interested who missed the show, this vendor will be back in our area for the Lilac Festival and the Park Avenue Festival.
http://www.trueblue-tc.com/

And, also at GardenScape for the 3rd year in a row, I managed to find lots of pottery I liked at the Nica-Art booth which offers handcrafted pottery from the village of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. These are the two pieces I selected this year.

Gardens of Eden - Part IV

The tropical dig display continues with the partial uncovering of a skull -- ape or human? -- only further examination will decide. We bet this display was the favorite of the pre-teen set!!


Here Bill studies the slate and wood fence display which we suspect was his favorite -- although we were all impressed with the professional design work in evidence throughout the show. All of this comes together in three days of furious construction activity.


This is another display for the "kids." The active mottled bunny attemps to rouse his sedentary and resting companion. He got no response!














Another rock with a small circular opening for a dripping water feature highlights the horizontal striations in this sliced rock. This type of careful craftmanship and design permeated the entire show. We were very impressed and suggest you attend -- if not this year, put it on your calendar for next March!

Gardens of Eden - Part III

The same display opens to an interior seating area of rectangular cubes of bound tree limbs and a corner slate seat. The table is also constructed of pieces of slate cut and joined.









Alfred State is represented with a wonderful cactus-based garden in sand and "old west" relics. The red rock slabs in the background add authenticity to the overall scene.

Another clever display featured dinosaur skeletons and digging tools amid rocks and growing tropicals.











A waterfall of a cascading 7-foot drop added variety to this jungle scene. There was real force to the water and the splash at the pool was noisy and kept the water plants well covered and moist.

Gardens of Eden - Part II

The huge white oak trunk yields seats and arm rests in another area of the same display. Circular cut outs from smaller limbs provide stepping "stones" along the path. The tree had died several years ago, but the wood had dried out and was well preserved.








An oriental fountain was nestled amid stone and cypress in the combined Japanese and Chinese garden displays. We have a gift certificate for this company and will make a spring visit soon.














An upright slate slab wall begins the most creative use of mixed materials in the open face of this company's display.










A reclaimed barnwood tongue and groove structure morphs into part of the stone and brick walk through the path into further pleasures.