Dyeing in the Wind
We had a wonderful weekend up at Main Creek, although the weather continued to be a bit difficult as the wind blew all weekend, as you can see it kicked up another nice dust storm and drove us inside to dye.
With dust masks in place, everyone got their dye stocks mixed up ready to begin.
Then we had a break for morning tea. You will notice that I never get any pictures of the fabulous food Marion makes as I am too busy stuffing my face, next time I promise. After indulging in scones, vanilla slice and biscuits, all lovingly hand made, the dye pots come out and all that white fabric is transformed into a myriad of colour.
Here’s the white fabric being ripped ready for the dye pots.
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OK I did get a quick picture of the table set for lunch, but as soon as the food arrived, the camera was forgotten.
After lunch, the rinsing began, we found a relatively sheltered spot and set up the rinsing table. Even the buckets and gloves added to the brightness of the weekend.
And then the fabrics were hung to dry, which took all of about 4 minutes. Amazingly, none came loose to disappear over the paddock, although a few buckets and pots did make an escape and had to be run down.
A few found a nice sunny spot and enjoyed an afternoon champagne,
just to keep the energy levels up you understand.
Day two, and although the wind continued to blow, the dust had gone, leaving a beautiful sunny day.
On the second day, the stamps and shibori poles etc. come out and the fun continues making multi coloured fabrics and over dyeing some of the previous days. As you can see, you can never have enough pots and jugs and general paraphernalia when dyeing.
Here we are at the end of the weekend, very well fed, and with that weary but contented feeling that a lot has been achieved for all your hard work. You can see the piles of fabric stacked ready to take home for their final washing and then to be made into unique and treasured quilts, bags and goodness knows what else.
Last weekend the Patch Happy Quilters came up to Main Creek for their annual retreat. This year they decided to do a Quilt and Dye workshop, with spectacular results!!
The day begins with some folding and scrunching of the fabric squares, which are then put into small containers. Here the ladies are preparing the dye solutions ready to add to the pots.
As you can see, the ladies had been collecting margarine tubs ready for the workshop. Here they are adding the dye to their folded pieces of fabric, after which we had a nice long lunch and let the dyes to their magic.
Then comes the best part of the day, the fabric is now ready to be unrolled and rinsed, there are lots of ooooh and arrrhhs as each piece reveals it’s own unique pattern and colours.
We were lucky with the weather, it was a perfect day for dyeing, sunny, not too hot and no wind. Here you can see the days work pegged out to dry with the late afternoon sun shinning through
The next morning all the squares are gathered up, well all but one, and trimmed ready to be put into the quilt. We dyed up 162 squares, fourteen and a half meters of sashing and four and half meters of binding and from all of this one square completely dissapeared. We all hunted high and low but it never was found. Luckily there are two spare squares for each quilt so it was not a problem, but I think the weekend will be remembered for “the missing square”
Here the sashing and borders are being cut.
The young guinea fowl came for a look to see what all the activity was about.
And then all the pieces are put together to produce a very unique quilt.
The ladies achieved amazing results, this was the first time they had dyed with procions and they all produced beautiful fabrics.
Christmas in July 2008
A few weeks ago the ladies came up to Main Creek for their annual Christmas in July Quilting Weekend. As you can see the weather was crisp and clear, with a lovely morning fog and the hint of a frost.
The resident ducks soon came out to enjoy a bit of morning sunshine.
And the girls were quickly sewing away on their quilting projects.
Some take it more seriously than others !
And here I am in my role as teacher, do you honestly think they listen too me!!
After a hard day of sewing, the girls come up for their Christmas dinner, dressed for the occasion and anticipating the arrival of Santa
Who never fails to arrive, growing slightly larger and this year a bit squarer round the middle.
Everyone is delighted with their gifts, and already planning for next years weekend of eating sewing and complete hilarity.
Sorry but Santa not supplied, you have to bring your own!!
