It doesn't have a name. Everybody on the Yahoo group has just been calling it the "NYE Mystery". I really like it when a secondary pattern pops up, in this case, the 9-patches.
There has been discussion about how good this would look scrappy. Some are saying no way! And I kinda understand - if you don't get a good contrast, you could easily flop it. But... I like challenges. I wanna see if I can get away with going really scrappy. I'm thinking that I'll do 3x3 blocks though, a nice baby size. In blues, greens and purples. It's gonna have to go on the back burner for a little while though, I need to catch up on some other stuff. *cough*christmas gifts*cough* :P
I washed all my hand dyed fabric last night at the in-law's. I seperated them by light, darks and reds. There was plenty of dye floating in the red load, but thankfully it didn't attach itself to the lighter fabrics. I credit the Syntherapol soap. I doubled the dose for the red load. Well, apparently a dark red/wine sneaked into the dark load. It didn't hurt the load itself, but when I folded them slightly damp (time was short) it managed to get next to a bright green piece and there's some transfer. D'oh! I'm willing to bet that it'll come out with lots of hot water, but that's why there's no picture of all the fabric yet. I was gonna do a rainbow of colors. It's so pretty, I'm thinking that I just might switch to using hand dyed fabric only! Gotta bust my stash so I can begin to replace them with hand dyes. :)
Some other things I learned from dyeing:
*I should have bought 2 bolts of muslin. I still have leftover dye!
*I like dyeing squarish pieces best - FQs and 1 yard. Not half a yard.
*I should have grabbed my thread snippers, FQs tangle good in the wash!
*I need a knee pad for bending over the tub, mine are pretty cranky. :)
*I don't need to wear a mask when handling the liquids, just when mixing the powders.
*Gloves are also optional when handling the liquid. I have very interesting nails right now. "Look at my nails honey! Ain't they purdy?" :)
*The excess dye liquid will attach itself to any dirt and scum, seen and unseen. Take off any hand/arm jewelry. I had a huge ring of dye in the bathtub each time I dyed, even though I cleaned the tub before using it. It's hopeless. But surprisingly easy to remove.
*Dyeing is fun! And I wanna teach my mom and sister - maybe this summer. :)
I would be afraid to cut the hand dyes (memories of them selling for $16 a yard...) but I have 9-patch swap that's due Feb 1st, so that'll break me into cutting them. :)
Leah
5 comments:
Your mystery quilt turned out beautifully! I can absolutely see it as a scrappy qult. I'd maybe use yardage for the background, or be really careful about using very light lights there and not using lights elsewhere in the quilt, but I think you could keep enough contrast for it to look fine.
Glad to hear you were able to continue through with the dyeing that you were enjoying. Sounds like a helpful cleaning tool, if the dye adheres to "invisble" scum, but comes off farily easily :-)
congrats on finishing your mystery! I like it! I think it woudl be wonderful scrappy! I'd be anxious to see it!
and I had a fun time reading about your dying! I've never tried it - too afraid of the mess! So I did enjoy reading about your adventure!
I have to add myself to the list who thinks this would make a great scrappy quilt. Not that yours didn't turn out nice like it is. I just much prefer scrappy. :-)
Stunning. I love the colors of your quilt. Maybe you could use your hand dyed fabric to do another? I love to dye fabric too. When the weather warms up I think I'll be back outside making a mess and dyeing my heart out.
Once again your have created another wonderful quilt.
I am starting to use my hand dyed fabrics and love the way they look in my quilts.
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