Indigo, soy wax, solar fast, gelli prints and more

Last week I had a wonderful group of six creatives spend a couple of days in Studio B. The first day they got an overview of all the different techniques and then on the second day they got to play to their hearts content with what ever appealed to them the most. It seemed that each one had their own favorite thing to do. I did manage to take a few pictures, mainly of the indigo hanging on the line to dry.

Before they came I had sent some links to show them how to do some hand stitched resists, Joann did some wonderful stitching and here she is taking out all the stitching after the indigo dip.

These are two of her pieces.

They also did some folds with machine stitched resist and here is one of them.

The whole group busy creating.

As we wrapped up on the first night we did some ice dying and let the ice melt over night. This is how they looked first thing in the morning.

And after washing out.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of everything else they did.

The Weekly Leaf

I picked up a maple leaf on a morning walk and use it on the gelli plate, I had one to stitch and one for another time.

Week#39

Daily Stitching updates

gelli prints #264-270

Shades of orange #191-197

As usual I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching", both have some wonderful blogs to check out.

SAQA Auction and three pieces done

Today is the official start of the annual SAQA auction, you can see all the pieces plus the rules here. My pieces "Indigo and Rust" is in the first group.

The quilts are divided into three sections, a section for each week of the auction. It's a reverse auction, so the price today is $750 and it gets progressively smaller until the end of the week when it's $100. Be sure to check them all out, there is some fabulous artwork available.


I finished all three pieces of my retired print table cover series. I do have to get photographs and get them entered into the show. Here they are crowded onto my eight foot design wall.

They definitely need some space between them!

I've got a busy week ahead of me, a group of creatives are coming here tomorrow thru wednesday to learn indigo, soy wax, gelli printing and solar fast printing. Most of them live in the Garden Valley area of Idaho and were here six years ago to learn to dye and print fabric.

The Weekly Leaf
I used burnt orange SolarFast on a yellow hand dye for this weeks print and I totally forgot to take a picture of the process.

Week #38

Daily Stitching updates

Gelli prints #257-263

Shades of Orange #184-190

As usual I will be linking to "Off the Wall Friday" on Friday and on Sunday to "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Two quilted and one to go.

This past week I got the facings on the first 'voice' piece and the second one quilted. These two were quilted with a variegated thread that has been in my stash at least seven years. I finally found the perfect place for it, and I have most of the cone left.

It really blended well with the wide array of colors on the cloth. I'll be doing something different with the last piece, I'm thinking this may be the one for the lower part of the quilt.

The top third will be quilted with yellow thread. You can see the bit of hand stitching that I've done on this piece. I've used a wonderful hand dyed #3 thread that I won from Laura Wasilowski. Another find in my stash.

My plan is to have all three done by this time next week.


The Weekly Leaf

I bought a new leaf stencil recently, so of course I had to use it.

Week #37

Now that new stencil has been added to my increasingly large leaf stencil collection, many of which I've used only once. I may need some intervention here if I keep collecting.

Daily Stitching updates

Gelli prints #250-256

Shades of Orange #177-183

Later in the week I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Making Progress

So last week I left off with my three pieces of retired print table cover being stenciled and although I really liked the color and transparency of the paintstiks, I wanted more intensity. About eight or nine years ago I had dyed several pieces of silk organza, I dug them out and had the three colors I needed. I think it was meant to be. My organza got a Misty Fuse backing and then I spent a few hours cutting out letters and fusing them down. Now I'm happy! The organza is still transparent enough to show the layers behind it.

The piece with the red lettering has been quilted and is awaiting facings. It was quilted in half inch vertical lines with a variegated yellow, lime and purple thread, again another find in my stash. The other two are getting a bit of hand stitching before I layer and quilt them.

The Weekly Leaf

This weeks leaf was gelli printed.

I'm getting a good size pile of the first print of the leaf shapes, I'm saving them.

Week #36

Here are all 36 weeks. 

Daily Stitching updates



Gelli prints

Every few weeks I print a bunch of squares so that I'm always ready to stitch, this is the group I did this week.

#243-249

Then today I got to sew row number 13 on.

Shades of orange #170-176

 Also added a row on here, #9 almost half way.

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday"