The dye results and food

I think May became a slow-poke blogging month for me. I'll get back on track in June. :)

Anyhow... the dyeing results. We did some things differently this year, the biggest being we put them out in the sun after we put the soda ash fixer in.

They spent at least 4 hours in the sun, and I tried to turn them over half way through. The colors are so much more intense this time!!

But there might be another factor - we used higher quality materials this time. Kona White and P&B Dyer's Fabric. This is mercerized, so that does help. At $2.50/yard (by the bolt), it produces quilt-shop worthy dyed fabrics. I even did a test with the Kona and the P&B fabrics. Used exactly 3 tablespoons of green dye in each container, same amount of sun time and the P&B was much more attractive. Kona makes it look a little more muted and dull.

So next time, at least 3 bolts of P&B! Dyeing is starting to get expensive. ;) But we're both loving it and I'll get to have fun through the year with my dyed fabrics.

The night before I left, my mom and I slapped together a quick bargello quilt. I wanted her to understand the basic method of HOW it's made.

Looks yummy! And the top left corner fabric is not one of our dyes, but a piece that I bought for her birthday last year.

The dyeing all in all took us 3 days - there were some distractions. :) On the last day, my aunt joined us. I showed her the basics of dyeing the fabric and she left with about 10 colorful yards. Perhaps she'll post them on her blog soon, she had to leave in a hurry and we didn't even get time to iron them out. :P

I ended up with over 30 yards of fabric and one BIG 108"x5.5yards piece, for backings of course. :)

It's hard to see, but this batch is much more "alive" than my previous two! Oh, and one important tip I want to share, don't get black dye. We thought it'd make the dyes darker, but no, it just created "muddy" spots on our fabrics that we didn't really enjoy. So, no more black. :)

They're fun to pet! We have lots of greens because this year I bought red, blue, yellow and green dye. Why waste blue and yellow for green when we can get it straight up? Plus, I love green, I'm not gonna complain! :)

My favorite piece is this blue and yellow one. I had a rectangle plastic box and I dyed the ends yellow and the middle blue. They blended in some areas and created the green.

And I'm thinking about making a drunkard's path with all my dyes. Let's just say by the end of that quilt, curves shouldn't scare me at all! ;)

Summer is around the corner... and while I dislike the heat, I love the yummy fruits that go on sale! :)

And yes, I used my favorite dyed piece as a backdrop.

It's nice to be back home and into the routine of things. I made some bread earlier this week with my new stoneware bread pan. I misjudged the dough size and it overflowed after half an hour of rising.

I frantically pinched off balls of the overflowing dough and made "rolls". Perfectly edible, and best of all, it got eaten up. :)


And this post should get me all caught up, and hopefully I'll be back to a daily posting with the normal stuff going on. :)

Leah