Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Dyeing "Autumn" Scarves



Last week we went to visit our friends on the Mississippi river, before I left home I picked a large bouquet of bright red maple leaves, grabbed my dye pot, dried flowers, eucalyptus, wool and off we went.



With pre mordanted wool we laid on leaves and flowers.



The more the better. We rolled them up tight and boiled them for a good hour.


Left the scarves in the pot overnight (and what a beautiful night it was).



The next morning the river was covered in fog.



It was time for the revealing,



Oh my gosh, they look just like "Autumn" puked up on them:)
Beautiful!





A bright red gerbera daisy,

 


becomes a magenta flower print.
And red maple leaves become teal leaf prints.



The dried eucalyptus add lots of orange prints around the leaf prints.



We're set for Fall.



My friend gifted me with these beautiful dried gourds that she stained and shellac. They fit perfectly in my iron pot. Thank you Donna, I love them.



Home again, for my Herb Society I made these quilted table mats.



We were having a little sale to make money for the group and I donated two.



Of course this being the October meeting their were a lot of hats at the meeting. I love P J's. She put fresh and dried herbs and plants around the brim,



 a few critters were tucked in.



A few witches hats were also found on the snack table.
What a fun meeting we had.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Golden Rod Sun


Every year when the golden rod comes into bloom I think "I don't need to dye with any this year" but every year it seems another quilting idea pops in my mind and out I go picking and enjoying it again.
This year I thought I would use it for the next Sun block. For the center of the Sun I arranged it in a circle.



For the rays I laid it out in this fashion.



After steaming and washing the wool it's ready to be cut out.
This will be the center of the Sun.



Individual rays will be cut from each flower print.
And that will all be done as soon as I find time to dye some indigo wool for the background.

  • Deb Hardman
  • Allie Aller
  • Jenny Bowker Cairo
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