A Day of Dyeing

Well, I spent the whole day outside today!  Mother was dyeing today!  And I had a grand time doing it too!  Technically I am still not done yet, I have the third batch of fabrics in the washing machine right now, and one more still pre-soaking outside waiting to be washed out.  I didn't dye any t-shirts today, just fabrics for my quilt making.  I spent the last few days cutting up a bunch of my hand dyed fabrics and was running low on certain color ranges so I replaced them.  I did take a bunch of pictures of the process, but all my batteries for my camera died so you will have to wait until later for me to download them. 

I ended up with about 4 dozen different colors of fabrics in varying shades of blue, purple, green and pink.  I even over-dyed some of the batik fabrics I started last year, with varying degrees of success. They all look pretty, but some show the pattern better than others.  I really enjoyed making the batik fabrics but I need a better set-up for removing the wax before I do anymore of it.  That was a pain in the ass!  Putting the wax on was fun though.  you know me and tools, well, I bought dozens of little metal stamps and shapes to use with the wax, along with specialty tools and brushes, and a special electric skillet, just for heating the wax.  I will use it all again, someday, but probably not this year.

I plan to use the rest of the summer to produce more handmade products for sale.  I have all these skills and talents, and I have been giving them away all my life. It is about damn time I see if I can make some money at it. Actually I have made money from it in the past, sporadically.  I have sewn professionally, both in a factory, and at home, many times over the years, but that was more about production than creation.  This is about creation.

As I mentioned I have been cutting fabrics for a new series of quilts I am creating.  I went through my boxes of batik fabrics I have collected and found some beautiful blue and purple fabrics this time and i cannot wait to see what they become.  I have been calling these my "Serendipity Quilts", because I have just been cutting the fabrics into different sized rectangles, squares and strips, and then sewing them together.  I have no pattern, no finished design of what they will look like, that's part of the fun for me. I will post some pictures when my camera batteries recharge, so you can see some of the ones I have done so far like this.  I really like them.

I am tired after a long day of dyeing, so no bitching from me tonight.  Hopefully I will have some time to write again tomorrow and I will have more to bitch about then.  But for tonight - I'm out.