Worth it!

I still haven't finished my quilt top.  But for a good reason!  We ran a test indigo dye class with friends.

 

We have dyed on our own but really want to share the fun with more people so we experimented on some of our friends

 

Don't we look organized?  

We happen to have amazing, creative and fabulous friends so it was bound to be fun even if we did everything wrong.

  

We set up a Shibori (tie dye) station.

When collecting scissors, marbles and other fun stuff starts to feel like work, I'll let you know.

To me it just looks like treasure.

Why else would I take a picture of rubber bands?

We had some Shibori half way put together to share some techniques.

There were samples to show and, because I just have to be me, library books for reference.  

The library is an amazing resource,.yo.

 

Then we were ready to get serious. 

This is about the time that Miranda (of Miranda Beyer Photography) started taking pictures.  You can tell which ones are hers because they are beautiful.  She specializes in newborn baby pictures but every picture she takes looks awesome, she has a great eye. 

I make my own Kombucha but I happened to have a bunch of Nessalla Kombucha for some guests.  I decided to forgo getting my bottle deposit back so we could use their growlers to tie fabric around. 

When I see what folks made using the bottles...

...all I can think...

 

...is...

  

Worth it!

We tied.

We dyed.

We untied.

We revealed and then...

...we smiled.

 

Check out these socks.

We were all in it together.  Here three people are undoing the shibori stuff because we can't wait to see...

This!

This yarn is ombre dyed and knotted so that it achieves a kettle dyed look.  None of us quite knew how to do it but Tanya was willing and excited to experiment.

And it worked really well.

Here are three pieces made by a woman who said she wan't a crafty person.

 

...seriously...

What was she thinking?  Her work is awesome and creative.

Another woman who said the same thing.

I'll never believe them again!

Everyone felt really comfortable trying out new techniques.

Indigo is a great medium to play with.

A great and messy day was had by all.  We plan on offering an indigo dyeing class this fall in Madison WI.  You can follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter to get an announcement closer to the date if you're interested.

Now get out there and make a creative mess.  I will too.  I'm gonna finish that quilt top, dang it!

Busy

Some of the things that have been keeping me busy lately. 

Dying with rust.  That will get it's own post soon.  It's totally fun.

A name tag challenge via my Modern Quilting Guild.  I used some of the linen that we dyed with indigo and was inspired by denim badges of the seventies.  Funny how even when I don't use denim, I use denim...sort of.

And my parents have been visiting.  During which time, my husband and father put up a shed and we (Well, mostly they and a little bit I) built a coop and run for the chickens.  It's not quite done yet but it's incredible sturdy and I'm thrilled with it.  

Jennifer Napkins

I decided to sew napkins yesterday.  

I figured they needed the largest bit of uninterrupted fabric.  Everything else that I'm itching to make (quilts, bags, journal covers) can be put together with scraps.  I guess napkins could too but they I think the fewer seams they have the better. 

They were already folded up in the napkin basket when I took these pictures.  That's why they're all wrinkly

I made five napkins.  Once I settled on what to make, it went pretty fast.

Top half was a shirt - see the darts?  I unstitched them  after dying.  I think they look pretty cool.  The bottom half was a skirt panel with embroidery.  I french seamed the two together.

I should tell you that we are big cloth napkin users.  We don't even own paper napkins.  I grew up using paper towels but only if needed - like with ribs.  Usually, we just used our sleeves.  

My husband grew up with paper napkins. He used several per meal.  It took us some time to find the middle ground of cloth napkins.  They are very handy and you can take them anywhere.  These are our first linen napkins and we feel pretty fancy.   

Small napkins work well too.  

We really like using cloth napkins now.  We keep them in a basket near the table so we can grab them as needed.  Our napkin basket is a real hodgepodge.  We actually still have some napkins from out wedding (20 years this summer).  There are lots and lots of napkins that I've sewn over the years and none of them really match.  

Since this had been a shirt, it wasn't quite big enough to cut out so I just left out a corner.  Everything I dyed had been thrifted, that's how we ended up with these big blotches when we dyed them.  I don't know what they were dirty with, some kind of oil probably, and the wax didn't take there.  All part of the adventure.

I'm a huge fan of the random and find things that are too consistent looking to be annoying.  I can accept that about myself as part of my aesthetic now, instead of a weird quirk.  It's just who I am.  So, with that in mind, the napkins I sewed yesterday are pretty random, in size, shape and patterns.  

They are Jennifer napkins.

I left the the curve of the hem of the skirt intact.  :)

At First Blush

I had a little too much fun writing this Etsy post.  I just thought I'd post it here too because it really made me giggle.  I think I want to write more things like this.

It was the last photo they took before he broke into tears and ran out of the room yelling, "I hate you, I hate you all!" Her face hurt for a full week. 

At first blush, you might want to place the blame on the photographer. He was unrelenting in his pursuit of the biggest possible smiles. He cajoled, yelled, laughed manically all while taunting their, at least to his eye, dour expressions. 

The day had started off on a pleasant note. Surely, this couldn't take more than an hour or two. They were consummate professionals. This was not their first ride on the record cover photo shoot pony. Hell, they'd been cranking out records to the tune of two a year since joining Decca. 

But this time was different. The photographer had received news that if the smiles of the dancing couple weren't the biggest smiles on any record cover to date, he would lose his job. Even that wouldn't normally be enough to shake him, after all, the record cover photography business has always been cut throat. But on this day, the photographer had just incurred a huge gambling debt to Billy "The Knee Splitter" Johnson. Also his home wife has found out about his away wife. 

Actually, you could totally put the blame on the photographer. He was a real tool. There can be no surprise then that the photo session ended in tears and in two divorces and a hospital bill that would make anyone weep. It's surprising that it didn't have a worse end.

You can enjoy this record, if you really want to, by turning the volume down. It's pretty boring and no one explained to me why a record of happy songs has "You Always Hurt The One You Love" on it, but has no skips that I heard. It's got a great picture and ridiculous title. If you need more reason than that to buy a vintage record off of the internet, how about the fun copy on the back that explains why the "growth in suburban living" has caused the rise of "happy music" or the great little pictures of other related re

Didn't Know An Eyelet From A Hole In The Grommet

And to think, an hour ago I didn't know an eyelet from a hole in the grommet.  

Yesterday I took a pile of canvas bags that I bought at the thrift shop...

Chopped them up and (though you can't tell and it felt sort of pointless) ironed the bejeebers out of them.

I used the pattern from this book as a general guide

and made an apron.

Here are some extraneous close ups

Because I like extraneous close ups.

I got stuck for a bit at the ties because I knew what I wanted but I had never successfully made eyelets before.  My business partner and I have spent a fair amount of time figuring the ins and outs of good apron ties.  They can't just go around your neck - that pulls and is uncomfortable- they need to cross in back.  

Eyelets are not hard, it turns out.  They are hard if you just grab some and start hammering them without knowing what you're doing.  That's the technique I've been using for years.  

Today I checked youtube and learned that there's an actual technique and that I already owned all the right tools.  How did we ever know things before the internet?

So...BOOM...apron.  I think next time I'd round the edges at the bottom.  I do plan on making more.  This is just a practice apron.  I have some other apron ideas:  I'd like to try a patchwork of canvas bags and also of denim and then make one out of linen ...

I've spared you the NINE shots of just my butt as tried to guess the right photo taking angle.  

I really only wanted to get a picture of the ties.  

Also, I found this when I was out shopping and put it right up on the Etsy shop.  How cute it that?

It's totally cute but I think someone else should use it to make stuff or to watch or for some other purpose.  I've got a pretty good eye for finding tidbits, though.  Just not an idea of what to do with every kind of tidbit I find.  They do tend to pile up sometimes.