Dyed Fabric and Paper Towels

 These are pictures of my hand dyed fabric and paper towels that were done at the fiber art day at Deanie Jone's workshop. Below is a pic of paper towels that we used to clean up and blot spills etc. Everyone generously handed me their paper towels when they were finished with them. I salvaged some from the trash. My mind was spinning from ideas of how I would use these. I think they will be great to include when I make handmade paper cloth. I could get hooked on dyeing fabric, but then when would I sew?

This pic is of a linen fabric I had found in my stash. The dye colors came out great.

 These fabrics below are white Kona cottons and PFD fabric I used for dyeing.

Fiber Art Group Fun Day

 Recently our fiber art group met at the home of Deanie Jones for a day of dyeing fabric. Below left is Mary Lee Tennant and Deanie Jones on the right. Deanie graciously hosted the group in her fabulous workshop near Boerne, TX. Deanie supplied the dyes and generous instructions and helpful hints. Each person supplied their own fabrics, cottons, linens and silks.

Below, taking a break from the dye processing is, S.J. Derby and Terry Drake. I wish I had taken a picture of Deanie's workshop. It is a fiber artist's dream. I will publish some pictures of my finished dyed fabric in the next post.

Another Punch of Color

Continuing on my redecorating adventure, I made this pillow cover from a print I have had for a at least five years. Yes, I really do have fabric / stuff in my stash that old. It is a beautiful print on fabric by Judy Buswell which I sewed to a blue/teal fabric.

Now, I will buy or make a new art piece for above my fireplace. A new lamp and shade should just about complete my redecorating project. Unless......? I have a friend who recently moved to Guatamala and has told me about the beautiful textiles she found there. So...., maybe the next redecorating will be the vivid colors of Guatamala and Mexico.

A Punch of Color

The pillow cover in the background was cut and sewn from towels I found that matched my color scheme. I also made bench cushion covers with them. I wanted to add a punch of color because I realized I would soon tire of looking at just two main colors. The pillow cover in the front was made from commercial fabric that has been discharged with a bleach pen. I placed a sketch I found beneath Plexiglas then following the outline of the sketch I traced on top of the Plexiglas with a bleach pen. The squiggles on the side are made free hand with the bleach pen. I let that set a couple of minutes then placed the fabric over the traced sketch and gently patted it down a little. When the colors appeared I liked I removed the fabric, washed it out, let it dry and stitched around the design. Can you tell its a nude? This piece was put away for a while until I decided to pull it out for this pillow cover.

Redecorating From My Stash

I have been wanting to change some of the colors in my living room for some time. It was okay but I was getting tired of the dark colors, mostly browns, golds and greens. I wanted something brighter and decided to go with a blue/teal color with chocolate colored accents in a geometric pattern for these two pillows.

These pillow covers are simply made from cotton fabric in my stash. I decided to make covers for the existing pillows in case I wanted to return to the previous design someday. The old throw pillows fit into the envelope covers. I didn't have to find a place to store the former pillows and they remain available for the future.

I also bought ready made draperies in the blue/teal color and sewed a band of chocolate brown trim across the top to coordinate with the pillows.

Winter Shirts

This is a photo I took of a marble statue in our garden. Keeping with the winter idea, below is a poem I wrote a few years ago. It isn't autobiographical,well, maybe a little. But I have never been to Minnesota. The poem came from my memory of living in West Texas where winters can be harsh. Many days I pulled frozen diapers from the clothes line and hung them all over the house to thaw. It was a great day when we finally bought a clothes dryer.

Winter Shirts

My mother took care of my father's shirts,
the ones that froze on the line during Minnesota's blue Winters.
The ones that smelled of sweat and cigarettes
she washed by hand when electrical lines froze and snapped.

The grey and black with red piping,
light blue oxford cloth with extra starch,
Saturday night polyester,
white linen with button down collar,
quilted plaid flannel ones.

The same ones she laid over chair backs in front of the stove
to thaw, and ironed every Wednesday night since they married.
The shirts she hung carefully in his closet
according to color and sleeve length.
It was the shirts she watched him remove from the hangers
and throw on the floor that made her realize
her life had become a series of unappreciated repetitive tasks.

It was those shirts she took from his closet,
folded neatly in a pile behind the house,
set ablaze, and burned to a cinder.
As she watched twenty years of her life
rise in white clouds of smoke
against the icy Minnesota morning,
it occurred to her she had not felt that warm in years.

Winter Scenes

It is hot and dry in Texas. The thermometer hit 105 degrees two days ago. So I thought I would post some pictures of the last time it snowed in the Texas Hill Country where I live. What year was that? No matter. Just looking at the snow makes me feel refreshed.  The top photo is one I took of a angel statue in the courtyard of our yoga studio.Then tropical birds in Texas snow? They look like they are enjoying themselves. They are a little "plastic"!