Indigo

A while ago I purchased another Jacquard Indigo Dye Kit and yesterday I finally found the time to do some dyeing. I did this large piece of fabric and several small one. It wasn't until I was finished that I discovered my glove had a hole in it...



I'm thinking of making some surfing quilts... Since we have the caravan I am quilte obsessed with the beach. On Etsy I purchased this gorgeous piece of felt and these beautiful buttons made of shells, sea stone and sea glass:



This might become a small piece of textile art to hang in our caravan... I have also signed up for Dijanne Cevaal's Travellers' Blanket Class and plan to make a beach blanket :-).

Some serious screen printing

Today my darling hubby took the boys to the park, so I had a couple of hours to do some serious screen printing. I had managed to dye some fabrics yesterday and was ready to try out my new big screen. I decided to print some large divers:

The first print wasn't too sharp...

But the next ones got better and better. This is the third print; the fourth was even better but I am not showing you that one yet ;-).

I found that I don't like the big sqeegee and decided to use the old one, even if it is a bit small for the big screen.

With my old screen (which felt very small and nicely familiar after the big one) I made some ice skater prints for a new quilt:

I printed some Dutch Houses on fabric scraps to make postcards - they are a big hit in my MadeIt shop.

A while ago I found this smallish Poinciana seed pod (usually they are much bigger) and kept it to use for stamping on fabric:

It turned out beautifully!

I had a lovely day and can't wait to start sewing lots of new projects!

Gold and rust

My gymnast son won a gold medal on parallel bars yesterday! (click on photo to enlarge) His first gold medal - he was very happy and I am very very proud!

Unfortunately his brother fell ill yesterday and I was up with him most of the night :-(. So no creative activities for me yesterday and probably not today either... I'll just show you this piece of fabric - I read a lot about rust dyeing on various blogs and last week thought I'd give it a go.



It looks... interesting. Not sure what I'll use it for, but I'm sure it will prove useful some day.

Postcards, cards cases and tie-dyed shirts

I have received my first birthday card from the Dutch Fibermail group, from Hannie. Isn't it gorgeous? I can't wait for the other 18 (!!) cards to arrive!



I made this card for the current swap - the theme is Mother and Child. The image I used is the International Breastfeeding Symbol, designed by Matt Daigle. (I was a volunteer breastfeeding counselor in the Netherlands before we moved to Australia, so this is a subject close to my heart)
The card was made in reverse applique, and I used the cut-out piece to make another card, which is now for sale in my MadeIt shop. A nice gift for a new mum!



Also for sale are these business card cases (you may remember I made one before, see here):



and this tie-dyed shirt (size 6) and onesie (size 0):



Of course I made shirts for my boys as well:



They love them!

Yes, I have been busy. I have an idea for a new quilt (maybe for the SAQA New Frontiers: Beyond Comfort exhibit) but am procrastinating, doing all this small stuff... Or maybe I am just letting my idea ripen... ;-)

Indigo and interview

Here are the FQs I dyed on Sunday - I especially like the first one!
I hope to do some more dyeing tomorrow. I have bought some plain white shirts for the boys, they have asked for tie-dyed t-shirts! I may make a few more to add to my MadeIt store, Blue Jacaranda.

Speaking of which, the MadeIt blog had an interview with me, as a new seller, yesterday. You can read it here. I was very flattered to be asked!

I have added some new items to the shop; more fabric postcards (they are quite popular!) and a Chalk and Oil Cloth Bunting:



The great thing about this bunting is of course that you can make it to suit every occasion - instead of Happy Birthday it can say Welcome Home or Garage Sale or whatever! I like it so much that I am making another one for us, using the Delft Blue oilcloth I bought in the Netherlands last year. It has to be finished on September 19th; that's when Robbie and I are celebrating our birthdays!

I have set up a Facebook page for Blue Jacaranda - if you like Blue Jacaranda and are on Facebook, you may want to 'like' it and be kept up to date with everything that is happening. Thank you!

Indigo dyeing

A while ago I purchased a Jacquard Indigo Dye Kit and this weekend I finally found time to play with it. I had a ball!



I made an indigo dye vat and yesterday dyed a lot of fabric, some yarn, a few shirts and a pair of socks:



Hugo loves his socks!



He made this picture of me in my hippie shirt:



Today I dyed another batch of fabric, more shirts and more socks:



And the vat is still there, so I will do some more dyeing soon!

Busy

I haven't done any sewing in the last week, as I have been (and still am) very busy turning our emigration blog into a book, using this website. It's a lot of work but it will be great to have the whole story of going to and living in Brissy in a book!

I did some fabric dyeing today though: two series of FQs in five gradations (yellow and purple) and two half metre pieces (purple and green).

Mandala and more dyeing

The theme for the next Art Quilts Around the World challenge is mandala. I used this photo from our holiday in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to make a freezer paper stencil and made the print with discharge paste. Do you like it? I'm not sure if I will use it for the quilt or try something else (I have a few more ideas).

The blue fabric is a handdyed one - I did some more dyeing yesterday.

Dyeing again

I signed up for another dyeing class with Marjie McWilliams at Quilt University, Quilters Palette. The first lesson was about dyeing fabrics for landscape quilts - water, sky, mountains, rocks, forest etc. I am very happy with the way my fabrics turned out!