Wordless Wednesday

Creative Every Day/Blue, Day 10

Why are so many of the things that we love to eat unhealthy or not good for us? You know what I mean....bacon cheeseburgers, chocolate chip cookies, deep fried anything, candy, cheesecake, etc., etc. Of course a little bit once in awhile won't kill you, but it's so rewarding when you find something that you love that is actually good for you. Like blueberries. And I do love blueberries! I eat them just about everyday. In the winter I eat frozen ones on my hot cereal every morning and now that they are in season I sometimes have them for breakfast and lunch. I recently learned that 1 tsp. of cinnamon has as many antioxidants as a cup of blueberries. So now I sprinkle cinnamon on my cereal and mix it in with my fat free yogurt or cottage cheese with my blueberries. Yumm! It tastes like dessert.

I know that I skipped a day, but I keep checking the other people signed up for this Creative Everyday/Blue and it seems that I'm the only one doing it. So maybe I'll give it a rest.

Today I went to buy PVC pipe for my shibori. I wanted 4" diameter. I could buy 2 foot lengths for $6.50, but I wanted several. A ten foot length was about $17. I asked if he could cut it for me and he could. I thought that he would put it on a machine and zip through it, but no, he cut it by hand with a saw. It took forever and I felt so guilty. I don't know if I was supposed to, but I slipped a tip into his apron pocket and thanked him profusely.

Now I'm off to do some pole wrapping. I will post the results of my dyeing, but it may be awhile. I have a very busy week coming up.

Creative Every Day/Blue, Day 8

My Surface Design Challenge Quilt is finished! Whew! I had a lot of trouble deciding how to quilt this. I blogged a few days ago about the machine quilted faux French knots. Here's what I did with the rest.

I quilted "ghost circles" on all the circle areas of the clamp resist Shibori sections. They were fun to do and I liked the results. I used YLI Jeans Stitch thread which is very heavy and went over each little circle two or three times to give it a lot of diminution and texture.

I outline quilted on all these straight lines. These were made with a stamp I made by wrapping rubber bands around a wooden block.

These dots were made by stamping with bubble wrap. I just quilted straight lines between the rows. I tried several different things but this looked the best.

I'm glad that it's finished and can't wait to start experimenting with more Shibori. My two new books from Amazon arrived today and they both look like they are going to be terrific.....lots of new techniques to try.

I still don't have a title. Any suggestions??

Creative Every Day/Blue, Day 7

I put in an order at ProChem on Tuesday and it arrived yesterday, Wednesday. This company is so great to work with and it's where I get all my dyeing supplies. I almost always get next day delivery. As you can see, I've ordered new blues getting myself ready to do some Shibori dyeing. I don't want to work with real indigo and these colors of fiber reactive dyes should give me some good indigo colors.

Creative Every Day/Blue , Day 6

Keeping with the blue theme, here is a scarf I tie dyed. No, no, no, this is nothing like the hippie T-shirt thing from the 6o's. This is actually silk transfer dyeing. You use silk neckties that you cut up, lay on a silk scarf, roll the whole thing tightly, tie securely and simmer in white vinegar and water for about 20 minutes. That's a very brief explanation. The process is very serendipitous since you never know what the final results will look like. I covered the white silk scarf with strips and pieces of very bright blue ties. I was so disappointed when I washed it out and saw that it was mostly pale blue. So I did it again adding more strips of bright blue and dashes of red. It's OK, but I'm not thrilled with it. One member of my quilt group led us in a little workshop. She has done many and all of hers are gorgeous. I did a second one in red, but that one I like even less. I have five more silk scarves to use, so I may try it again at a later date.

Creative Every Day/Blue , Day 5

Smooth Sailing

A fabric postcard I made for a friend's sick husband

Creative Every Day/Blue , Day 4

Hooray for the Red, White and Blue

Happy Independence Day!

Creative Every Day/Blue , Day 3

I was having a terrible time deciding how to quilt my Surface Design quilt on which I am currently working. Two sections have stitched Shibori and Paula suggested that I try French knots. I love French knots and like doing them, but couldn't envision myself doing that many through two layers of fabric and batting. So I decided to do them by machine. I used white YLI Jeans Stitch thread, a favorite of mine. It is 30 weight, which means it is quite heavy. I free motion stitched and went around in tight little circles several times to make the knot. It was really fun to do! Then I painted them with a watered down blue acrylic paint because the white was too stark.

Be sure to click on the picture for a bigger view.

Here's a piece before I did the French knots. Perhaps you don't know what "stitched shibori" is. I started with plain white PFD cotton and made rows of running stitch by hand. Then I drew the threads up tight and put it in blue dye. Wherever I stitched made a resist for the dye. After dyeing I removed the threads and this is what I got. Although the hand stitching is slow going and somewhat tedious, I like the results and want to do a lot more, using different patterns.

Creative Every Day/Blue, Day 2

Although my house is full of blue and white, I seldom wear blue, usually gravitating toward aquas, turquoise, or lime green. This cute little jacket was purchased on my trip to China a few years ago. I like it because it is shibori on indigo. The jacket is well made with charming details like satin piping and knot buttons. It even has vents at the side that are piped with the satin. I paid a ridiculously low price for it. I hate to think of how little the workers were paid.

I have always been interested in shibori. I've done very little by myself and used some recently in a small quilt shown here. I just ordered two books from Amazon and plan to teach myself some of the many techniques.

Creative Every Day/Blue Theme

Leah Piken Kolidos has a blog called Creative Every Day where she challenges other bloggers to do just that. She picks a different theme every month and this month the theme is the color Blue. She also has Create Art Every Day in November, where participants are to create a new piece of art every day and post it on their blog. I did it once and it was challenging, but I did keep up with it, mostly making small pieces or fabric post cards. You can also go to her blog to see what all the other participants are doing.

This theme was almost too easy for me. I love blue in its many shades and most of my house is decorated in some shade of blue and white. You don't have to make something everyday, just be aware of the color blue and post a picture. I know that I will post some pictures of things in my home, but I'll also try to be creative.

These beautiful blue Scaevola are a favorite summer annual. They bloom and bloom all summer long. I have two big pots on my front porch and another on my back deck. I also have them planted in the ground around my mailbox. I know that it's a purple blue, but it's still blue to me. In fact this variety is called Blue Fan. They require very little care, since there is no dead-heading involved. However if they are in a container, they must be watered every day or they will go into a big sulky, droopy pout. I also fertilize weekly with Miracle Grow, as I do with all my annuals.

Come back tomorrow for "something blue".