Skipton and the Dales

On Fridays my other half 'Mr Photographer' doesn't go to work so today we took advantage of the good weather and headed off early for Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales. There's a market in Skipton 4 days a week, including Friday, so it's a popular place but we went down to the canal and found it quiet and peaceful in the sunshine. We had a lovely walk stopping to take lots of pictures of the castle and the canal barges.

Then we had to go for Mr Photographer's treat - breakfast at The Devonshire pub (Wetherspoons!) - delicious! After that a bit of retail therapy was needed in the market and the Fent Shop. Mr Photographer positively encouraged me to buy fabric! The Fent Shop sells remnants of beautiful furnishing fabrics for £5 per metre, dress fabrics, a small selection of quilting cottons and knitting wool. Today I bought some 'John Lewis' fabric in a lovely turquoise to make a footstool and a cushion to sit on top of a storage box in our living room. Uh oh! My to do list has grown again!

Next we drove on to Embsay to visit Embsay Crafts and a enjoyed a coffee break before taking the scenic route to Bolton Abbey over the hills. Driving along we spotted a Red Kite circling on the thermals and stopped to watch. Red Kites are becoming a pretty common sight now around here since they were re-introduced at Harewood several years ago. The are beautiful and very big close up. Today this one was just too far away to photograph.

Altogether a lovely day out. Here are a few photos :

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Tag and Skewed Blocks

I didn't do as much sewing as I intended today but I did make this luggage tag. I got the idea from my quilty friend Jean at our Tuesday Quilters meeting. She was stitching one she had made in her favourite colour (cerise pink) and it looked fab-u-lous!
I didn't have a pattern but it wasn't hard to figure out as it's just 3 quick flying geese blocks layered with wadding and backing, sewn round the edge and turned through.
Jean told me that she and our friend Sue had made 50 of these to take for everyone on their quilting tour of New England last year - what a great idea. They are very clever and generous friends!
Sue commented recently on my Fibonacci quilt and suggested using the sequence to skew quilt blocks. I had a (long!) play today with doing just that in EQ6. Here are a couple of quilts I designed using my skewed blocks.




I really like these. I think they look very Art Deco and really want to make them up so they are now on my to do list!

More Dyeing Links

I am a fan of Patsy Thompson and have a couple of her DVDs on free motion quilting which I find really helpful. I recently discovered a post on her blog about dyeing. This looks great but I'll have to wait for some sunshine to try it out......
I also have a book by Robbi Joy Eklow called 'Free Expression: The Art and Confessions of a Contemporary Quilter' in which she describes her method of dyeing large pieces of fabric. Again I need a fine day to try this as I will need to hang the fabric over a washing line and pour dye onto it.
.... So according to the weather forecast tomorrow is not going to be good for dyeing. Instead I'm looking forward to a day with my Bernina and the dogs will keep me company stretched out on the bed in my sewing room!

Dyeing Day

Yesterday I had fun dyeing samples to show my quilt group on Tuesday ready for my workshop in September. I will be showing them several ways of dyeing including dyeing in plastic cups which is a great way to get a rainbow of fabrics quickly and easily.

Here's what I do:

I use measuring spoons for making up the dyes and solutions because it's easier than weighing. Equipment is cheap and cheerful from the supermarket. For spooning the dye into the cups and mixing I use disposable picnic teaspoons.

I use white cotton fabric e.g. sheeting and tear each metre into 9 pieces just over 12" square.

Wearing a dust mask and rubber gloves mix one level teaspoon of dye with 100ml warm water. I used 3 colours of procion dye - Royal Blue, Scarlett Red and Golden Yellow from Fibrecrafts. Once the dyes are mixed you can take off the mask.

Mix 90ml of table salt with 1 litre of hot water and 45 ml soda ash to 1 litre warm water then mix these together in a 2 litre plastic jug.



I use disposable plastic cups (7oz) in a cat litter tray. I add soda and salt solution to half fill each of 12 cups. Then add 4 disposable teaspoonsfull of dye to each cup and add the fabric. I use these combinations:

4Red, 3Red+1Yellow, 2R+2Y, 1R+3Y
4Yellow, 3Y+1Blue, 2Y+2B, 1Y+3B
4Blue, 3B+1R, 2B+2R, 1B+3R

So here is everything in the cups:



I just leave these to sit for 2-3 hours then rinse the fabric in cold water and put into the washing machine for a 40 degree wash, dry and iron. This gives marbled fabrics which I love. If you like less marbling use more liquid and stir the fabric for a few minutes before leaving to stand. Easy isn't it!





Note: I adapted this dyeing method from a several sources. Here's one site with more dye recipes:
http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/
Helen Deighan's book 'Dyeing in Plastic Bags' is my dyeing bible!

A Present in the Post

Does everyone love getting packages in the post? There I was sitting with a cup of tea watching James Martin on Saturday Kitchen when the postman arrived with a padded envelope for me. I have to say it was something I'd ordered the other day so not a complete surprise but look what was inside the envelope:

How cool is that? It made it much more exciting to open! The website has some beautiful patterns and fabrics so I may become a regular customer.
Inside were a book I'd spotted on the Melly and Me blog and ordered from Buttonberry on Thursday with a cute quilted slipper pattern.

The slippers look perfect for me - I need something on my feet in the house but have trouble finding slippers which are not fur lined or look too frumpy. They are seem incredibly easy to make and the instructions explain how to make them in any size.

The book is absolutely gorgeous. It has 12 projects: a baby quilt, 5 toys, a stitchery picture, 2 childrens backpacks, a handbag, messenger bag and an argyle patterned quilt. It makes me I wish I had young children to sew for! I bought it with the intention of making some easy toys for a Christmas Fair stall in the Autumn so now I need to set aside some time for that.......!

Fibonacci

I've always enjoyed patterns and maths which I think is why I was drawn to quilting but wasn't going to bother with a Fibonacci sample for C&G. I thought there was too much emphasis on the Fibonacci sequence but now I've finished this little sample I'm really quite please with it!



This morning I went to Harrogate to buy cotton sheeting for dyeing from the Remnant House. I called into a newsagent around the corner and found a quilt magazine which I haven't seen before - Irish Quilting. I was very impressed so bought a copy. It's a thick glossy magazine, very different from the British magazines, with some lovely quilts and very clear instructions. It costs £5.20 and published every 2 months so I think I'll be looking out for it in future.

Tessellation

I've finished another small quilt today based on a tessellating design from Lynne Edwards' book 'Stashbuster Quilts'. It was fun to do some classic piecing and because it's only 12" square it was quick to make. I plan to do more small quilts of this size or perhaps A4 to try different techniques from my large collection of patchwork and quilting books.

When I downloaded the photo I found photos on the memory card from a cruise holiday we took a few years ago. We spent a day in Lisbon where we went on a tram tour through the narrow streets of the old town. Many of the buildings are covered in amazing tiles and some also have wonderful wrought iron balconies which would be fantastic adapted to quilting designs. Here are a few of the pictures:

Star Quilt

Here's a larger photo of my favourite quilt ' Peter's Stars' which I made for my brother. Peter had Down's Syndrome and sadly developed Demnentia (Alzheimers) in his early 40's which led to a rapid decline and early death. Peter was a much loved gentle person with a wonderful smile. He loved the quilt and it is now one of my most treasured posessions. The picture below shows the label I printed onto fabric and sewed to the back of the quilt.

Supplies

I've been checking out where to buy the ink pens we used on the workshop on saturday as Claire doesn't have them in stock at the moment. I found them on 'Stamping Mad' at a very resonable £1.71 each compared to Creative Grids Price of £14.92 for 6. I may have to treat myself sometime but at the moment I need to stock up on dyes and fabric for the 'Dyeing made Easy' workshop I'm teaching in September for Tuesday Quilters.

Peony

Yesterday I went to a workshop with Claire Tinsley of Hannah's Room at Tuesday Quilters. We spent the day bonding a flower picture and adding detail with inks before stitching. It was amazing how spending a little time 'colouring in' with the felt tip pens transformed the fabric. I was so enthused I carried on stitching when I got home and finished the wall hanging today. I'd love to do more like this. Now I just have to draw my own flowers.....