May Package - indigo

This project is so fun.  I get things in the mail that make me smile, miss my friend, and inspire.  I am so so lucky.

May's package was opened after I finished April.  I actually opened it right before bed, though I should know better.  I wound up staying awake for several hours with a smile thinking about what I can do with this treasure.

 Inside I found - white fabric, blue fabric dye, a mini hammer, and a book about flower pounding to dye fabric.

SCORE!

So from a quick read flower pounding is exactly what it sounds like.  You take the petals, stems and/or leaves of a plant, and using tape or another removable adhesive affix it to the right side of your prepared fabric.  set on a hard surface that will stand up to abuse - and hammer away.  The pounding squishes the flora which will give you a kind of relief image of your flower on the fabric as a dye.  Let it all dry and treat for permanency, and voila!

I can't WAIT to do this!  I am sure all my chores of Saturday may get swept aside just to play with fabric and flowers, and pound my stress away!

Below is an example of some of the flora I have in my backyard to potentially dye fabric.  I may also see of our local store has a summer bouquet on sale for some added colors and flora.

April Finished - indigo

Ok, ok, I know its not April but its April's blocks.  We might be time-challenged.

This package came with 3 lovely blue fabrics (some of which I already have, blue being the color I reach for most!) and a package of roving.  Along with it is a snort note with 'inspiration' words.  Simply "April showers".

Being the literal sort I immediately thought water.  Specifically rain.  So, I thought I would try out some applique rain drops.  I have been wanting to play with this shape in applique for a while.

So I made 3 sizes of an elongated drop of water.  I traced them on the backs of the blue fabrics and added in a wild blue and red batik on my desk.

Once I got them prepped with folded under edges, I tried several layouts.  I thought the neutral tones of the batik I would give it a soft watery look.

However, after trying several layouts I discovered the one I wanted looked more like a flower.  Hmm, well ok, lets roll with it.

Next I went with a machine stitched blanket stitch.  I then, since it was looking like a flower, decided to add contrast colored threads.  It is a bright pink thread on the blue fabrics and a dark teal on the red/blue batik.

Back of April Block

Then I had a thought.  I wasn't sure I liked the muted neutral background.  Hmmm, what If i do a pieced background for interest... and I grabbed the music fabric in white and grey and another wild batik in shades of pink to yellow.  Used a form of a disappearing 4 patch to create a simple block with lots of movement.  However, once I auditioned that for the background - I didn't like it.  Now back to the nuetral shows of the all over batik.  I elected to use my citric colored pieced block for the back of this block.

Front of April Block

I elected to do an all over grid of quilting in a wavey line available on my Bernina.  Then I appliqued wach raindrop with my pink and teal threads in a blanket stitch.  I was thinking I would use the roving in handmade beads as a center.  But the more I look at the result the more I think less is more.

Now it reminds me of the movement of water after it hits a surface, like a splash.

All that being said, this is how your 'vision' of a block can and does change on the fly.  The more I look at the result, the more I love it!

Time to open and use May's goodies!

First quarter and April inspiration- Molly

Looking at my completed blocks for the first three months makes me really happy.  I like how they fit together and sort of flow. I'm excited to see what comes for the next months and how the story changes with the addition of the block through the rest of the year.

My April package arrived awhile ago. When I opened it, I immediately had ideas of what to do. Beautiful water blues and greens. Gorgeous skeleton leaves and a pile of buttons reminding me of stones....now that I have completed March I am ready to wade in and get started. 

The birdie is a bonus present for me. I think he needs to come to work with me.

Time Marches On- Molly completes March's block

March is complete! And I like it. I wasn't too sure at first. The colors were not quite what I envisioned when I first got the package. If I were more familiar with dye and how to get the hue I want I'm sure it would have been closer to my vision. But as I put the finishing touches on it I have decided that I do indeed like the thing. 

I used the dark blue and the green from the tie dye kit, hoping the lime green would be more like a lime, Using that inspiration picture of the cut citrus. In the end I got much darker color than I anticipated. I also had blue hands...

The block itself came from a pattern I drew up myself several months ago for a different idea. I'm thinking it may have worked better paper pieced, I used templates. After piecing them I wanted some sort of embellishment, including the beads that Indigo had sent. The block is quilteed with embroidery thread, with some of the beads added with the blue. I used a running stitch with the blue thread and a crazy quilt inspired stitch with the green. I had known I wanted to frame it with the crazy red print, it made me think of a picnic table cloth. Once I started playing with the shape and size I felt it should all be a little off kilter. 

So here you go, March!

April Inspiration

We are BACK!  After a fairly brief hiatus due to life happenings M and I are getting back on track.

I got this amazing box of packages in the mail - 4 packages in one.  I feel like a kid opening at Christmas, only I am only allowed 1 per day!  I figure I will open 1, do that months, then go to the next.  By mid July I should be all caught up.

 For April I opened the very neat package - and found blue fabrics and off white roving.

My first thought - what is roving?

So I looked it up.  It is most often used in hand felting to add dimension, new colors, or texture to a felting project.

Well how interesting.  Hand felting is something I have wanted to learn.  However, i don't think I want to actually FELT for this project.  But, i am looking around and finding some seriously interesting textural possibilities.  And apparently roving takes various dyes like a champ.  I am already wondering about sharpies and alcohol.

It came rolled into a ball, but when I unrolled it I find it peels apart like string cheese.  I also have some Ritt Dye around, this could get interesting...

Slacker I am

I shouldn't really say that. It's not that I purposefully ignored this project. It's just that life kinda happened. But now things are returning to a more balanced disequilibrium. Friday I mailed a package to Indigo. It contains supplies and inspiration for April, May, June and July (yes, I sent even for a month ahead). 

Currently I am working on my March block. Hope to have it done early this week. I have the supplies for April and will conquer/blog that next.