Getting Ready!

This morning was spent getting my studio tidied up so that I can get back to doing 'stuff'! Now the table is 'cluttered' up again. But this time, I was collecting all the supplies I need for a workshop this Friday evening and all day Saturday. More on the workshop later but take a look at what I've gathered together! I will do some weeding tomorrow. Not sure if I'll take any dyed cheesecloth or not.

I've also linked up with The Needle & Thread Network. Please check out all the Canadian links.

Step One - Continued

I managed to get more cheese cloth dyed today as well as a couple of lengths of embroidery floss.
Looking at the bright greens below, I may have to darken some of it at a later date.

I've also included a few links to dyeing and using cheese cloth in fibre arts:

• The Felting and Fiber Studio
• In Good Company
• Dyeing Cheese Cloth on Pinterest
• House to Home Crafts
• What to Make With Cheese Cloth on Pinterest
• Threads on Threads

Have a look.
Enjoy!!

dyed thread
 

Step One!!

Today I got started on dyeing cheese cloth for my next project. Because of interruptions, the only colour I managed to do, was gray. Tomorrow, I will mix up rust, a variety of browns as well as green. Years ago, I discovered that cheese cloth made fantastic texture for rocks and cliffs. I will also dye some floss. The leftover dyes from today's work are saved in case I need more gray dyed fabric.

Check HERE, HERE & HERE for posts talking about dyed cheese cloth and other cottons.

Here's today's accomplishment:

A bolt of cheese cloth

Leftover cheese cloth from a previous project



Today's work!

Brigus

Last Sunday, I took a drive out to Brigus, Conception Bay. There had been a promise of some sun but that didn't happen. However, I did get some nice photos around the community. My concentration was on closeups as I was thinking hand embroidery. I can see using dyed cheese cloth for the rocks with lots of embroidery threads and other embellishments. What do you think? As you can see, that's what I did in this commissioned piece of the red fishing shed. It worked quite well.

Here's some of the photos I took!
Enjoy

 

Quilts and more. . .

Where to begin! It was an interesting weekend at the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar. 320 people were registered for this event. Each of the instructors had some of their books and patterns for sale. Ricky Tims also had lots of his hand dyed fabrics available.

The Pine Needles Sewing Centre, the Bernia Sewing Machines representative, had a variety of machines on display. There were lots of deals for anyone in the market for a new machine. Photos of the shop will be posted soon. What a fabulous place!

Here are some photos from the quilt show with more to follow another day. The first two belong to Alex Anderson. I believe the one with all the applique will be on the Quilt Show web site as a pattern to do in the fall. It's a beautiful piece.

The next two belong to Ricky Tims. You can recognize his caveman technique of cutting without a ruler. I rather like this technique. You should see his method of cutting strips of fabrics!!!

The last three belong to Pam Holland. I was intrigued with her use of cheese cloth in the faces art quilts. I use my hand dyed cheese cloth for mountains and hills as backgrounds in some of my pieces.

Enjoy!

Quidi Vidi - Finished At Last!

I've been working on a commissioned piece for the last month. It has been a bit challenging as I was unsure where I was going with it. The cliffs are dyed cheesecloth over hand dyed cotton. Free motion stitching with a smoke coloured invisible thread was used to give more texture in the background. I used this method for the mountains in my quilted piece, Western Brook Gorge (scroll down). The shed is broadcloth. This fabric isn't as heavy as cotton and very easy to fold without the bulk. The windows are cut out with grey organza over black fabric to give the look of glass. The water is black organza over black cotton. Some black tulle was used for shadows.  If you go HERE you will see a photo of this scene before any renovations were made on the building.

Take a Look

I've been working on another art piece. This one will measure approximately 13 3/4" x 5 1/2" before framing. I have the background partly done. Dyed, stitched cheesecloth is working out well for the rocky cliffs. Ignore the colour of the cheesecloth in the second photo. It should be a darker grey. This piece is causing some frustration at the moment. I just have to put it aside for awhile.

Fabric Dyeing

This afternoon I spent some time dyeing small pieces of cotton, silk and cheesecloth for cliffs. I have lots of grey commercial fabrics but none are working out for my next art piece. I could print out the cliffs from the photo I'm using but I don't want to do that for this project. I have used cheesecloth for mountains before and the textures were just right. Here's the fabrics I'm probably going to use. The first two photos show wet fabric. Usually the colours are lighter when dry.