INSPIRATION....Kaffe Fassett

I'm dreading the next two days of work, so I'm soothing myself by sewing up some great bags. Tomorrow taxes (property) are due so we will be swamped. And since they will be late on Wednesday, and I have to tell them they now owe 10+% penalty and interest AND have to go to the County to pay it (they have had their bills for 5+ months!), I never know quite what their response will be...tears....anger...outright hostility....acceptance....excuses...etc.....it makes for quite a stressful day. So I sew :)



The quilting is my least favorite thing to do so it is somewhat generic...but it works for the bag.

I love these two Kaffe Fassett fabrics (dot is Michael Miller)...the colors are even richer than on my screen. And the pattern is now a favorite. It is the same pattern of the previous two I showed.

INSPIRATION....Heather Bailey

I had been sewing together some random pieces of Heather Bailey's new "Nicey Jane" fabric that I had bought at the Quilt Shop in Danbury last month. So when I had the urge to make a new bag last night I had some of the work already done....love when that happens!



I did alot of machine quilting on the outside and the lining...all of which has pellon fusible fleece ironed to the fabric to give nice loft. And it has lots of roomy pockets inside.





This bag is for the auction held at our beach on Labor Day weekend....we need more playground equipment!

Carol Taylor Class

A few weeks ago I took a fabulous 5-day class from Carol Taylor up in the Hudson Valley (great place to take a class)...and the piece above is my finished wall-hanging.



We learned myriad techniques and made many samples to be incorporated into a piece. Some students did as many as 4 pieces.

We started with a focus fabric and built from there. Carol is a great teacher....intense and fun.

My focus fabric is the piece bottom left....it is one of the drop-cloth fabrics from my Jane Dunnewold class.

Kaffe Column Quilt!

My latest Kaffe quilt just arrived from the quilter...Eileen at Designing Quilts...another great job Eileen.



This quilt caught my eye immediately in the Kaffe Museum Quilts book...had to make it.

Now I need to bind it and lay it over my couch....yum!

Speed round!

Between the iffy weather and the fact that Terry was going to be working in the yard after golf, I had to quickly get a bunch of fabric done. The pile on the right is what was done yesterday.

I laid more of them out straight to speed up the drying...that worked well.

I also wanted to try and fold a bunch into a small square...I folded them first then laid them in the tray and pressed on them...turned them over and did the same...checked the inside that they were getting saturated...then set them on the table and hoped they dried. But the sun disappeared after a short while. They still came out great.

This is four of the folded pieces...nice! Now...what to do with all this new dyed fabric....hmmm.

Adding a little black dye to the mix!

So, after dyeing with straight colors on Friday, I decided to tray-dye again but with some black dye added to the tray in different amounts as I saw fit (all a guess!) And this is the finished fabric.






I set up another table and laid these pleated-up pieces out straight so they would dry faster in the hot sun.

When I ran out of room I just used the containers again

The pile on the left is Friday's work with the straight colors....on the right with the black added. I may add even more black to the next ones...or dilute the colors for a lighter bunch. Let's see if the sun comes out today....for tomorrow is stormy.

More Dyeing

These lovelies were dyed in a tray that I used to use for marbling, made by my brother who was a sheet metal worker. Thanks John!

I put some sun yellow dye in the tray...

And then some fire red...you can swish it around, tip the tray to mix or just leave it alone. Then I lay a piece of fabric (this is a fat-quarter tray) over the dye and move it, pat it, whatever I need to do to totally soak the piece.

Then I accordion it up and twist it so it will fit in my containers....

They sit out in the sun for a few hours and then I throw them all into a cold wash with synthrapol and then 3 or 4 hot washes...till the water runs clear. The result is the fabric in the first picture.

I put at least a few colors in each time, so there is nice color-play in the finished pieces. Mushing it up accordion-style makes for nice striations with the colors.

This is the finished (maybe) piece of stamped fabric that I showed in the last post.

I screened gold metallic over the larger designs...what a difference! I love it like this but I'm thinking it needs at least one more touch. Hmmm.

Dyeing and Stamping!

Today I was determined to do some dyeing. It's still not warm enough to do my outside over-the-rack dyeing, so I chose to do a 12-step gradation with some different colors....mustard, black and boysenberry. I set up my buckets, which have the measurements and directions written on them, since I can never find my directions easily :)


Below are buckets #1, 2 & 3 with the mustard and black mixtures at different strengths of each.



These are boysenberry/black mixes.

After they were washed out.

I don't love the colors on their own...but I have plans for them....stay tuned.

Don't you love stacks of fabric!!!!

Then I switched to stamping. I had this nice piece of silk broadcloth that I had dyed last year. And I knew stamping it would make it even better.

So I chose this rubber stamp that I had carved in a Jane Dunnewold class and I did some sample paint colors to see which would be best...I went with the rust.

I have to turn the stamp each time to get this pattern...it's fairly easy to do....but I do have to pay attention!

I had made a thermofax screen from the same stamp design, but blown up to a larger size. So I decided to insert a few of these on the piece.

I love the fabric now!!!! I only finished half so far...will complete it tomorrow. Then I need to set the paint by ironing it on the reverse.

The picture below is just to show the difference the stamping makes in the fabric. Now I'm searching through all my fabric to see what else I can stamp!

Small Stuff

I finished a couple journal covers last night while watching DWTS. I enjoyed free-motion quilting on the lighter one....I need lots more practice at it....but I like the results.

Sewing Again!!!

I had a headache yesterday but I couldn't stop sewing....it made me feel better :) I wanted to try this pattern from Quilts Illustrated (Weekender Tote)....I made a couple changes, but all-in-all it's a great pattern.


First I "made" some patchwork fabric by sewing strips together, cutting them up and sewing back together again. Then I quilted the body of the bag...that was the fun part.

There are lots of pockets inside so it would also make a great diaper bag. This one will be in the auction to support our beach playground in September.

Quilted and Bound!

My Kaffe quilt is back from Eileen at Designing Quilts...once again she did a great job. I'm having a real love-fest with Kaffe Fasset's fabrics...the colors and patterns are so stunning....I'll be working with them for a long time.

I love the quilting pattern I chose....

These are all the hot pads I made for the holiday (picture taken before they were quilted)....I plan to make many more of these too! And this year I will start even earlier....the holidays creep up so fast. I'm taking the last of my decorations down today....I just love looking at them, but January 18th is a little late even for me....blame it on a busy schedule and procrastination!

High on Kaffe!

As I've been sorting and cataloging my Kaffe Fassett fabrics I had a desire to make a quick quilt, so I used a tumbler kit (fabric was all pre-cut...including cropped corners for easy matching to piece) I had from the Quilt Shop in Danbury CT . Their merchandising is so much fun and very tempting (obviously!) http://www.thequiltshoponline.com/products.html

I just LOVE Kaffe's fabrics...I cut 2" strips from every one I have while I was cataloging. I will make many items from these in the future.