Autumn Colour Naturally

I must have shown you the photo of my ornamental grape every autumn. It's such a gorgeous colour from the beginning to the end. It takes about a month before the leaves drop completely. Because I have got into natural dyeing lately I thought I would try all the autumn leaves I can find. In our garden we have a grapevine, fig tree, apricot tree and an olive tree and I can use their leaves to dye with. I'm not restricted to only the leaves in my garden. I also gathered some oak leaves and acorns from Canberra on our recent trip as well. 

I thought I would have a break from dyeing due to the cold weather, but how can I with all these beautiful autumn leaves all around me? Actually it's not as bad as I thought. After I gather the leaves I just soak them in rain water for a couple of days. 

After soaking the leaves for 24 hours the natural colour starts to appear. Next, I boil it up slowly for an hour. I usually let the leaves sit in the pot until the next day due to my limited time.

 

Next, I strained off the leaves and added hand spun yarn (not by me) that I mordant with alum. I bring the liquid and yarn up to the boil slowly and keep the temperature at around 80'C for an hour. I leave the yarn in the dye overnight before I take it out. You can see the colour in the above photo.  

I added some cotton into the mix and they did pick up some colour, but not as strong as wool. It's good to have various shades of coloured threads handy for stitch projects.

I dyed this yarn last year using onion skins. I think I only used a small amount of onion skins to get this delicious yellow colour. As simple as it is, onion skin and the strong colour it gives is often overlooked. Try it if you haven't done so....

This golden mustard colour I achieved from autumn fig leaves. The colour is much more beautiful in reality. I'm so happy with it that I put two more skeins of yarn in the same pot. It also dyed silk fabric beautifully too. 

Having lot of autumn leaves from the fig tree I thought I would do some eco dyeing with them. I have used green fig leaves a few times already, but this is the first time with autumn leaves. I haven't opened them yet. Let's hope they will turn out just as good as the green leaves.

I packed in quite a lot of leaves in this bundle. I mordant the kimono silk with alum before I dyed. I steamed the bundles for just over an hour. I don't really keep track of the time so precisely. I like to let nature takes it course and surprise me with the result! 

These vivid grape leaves are just beautiful. In a week as we enter winter, they will all be gone. I'm glad I captured them in this bundle. After the bundles have been steamed. I left them to cool overnight. The next day I put them in the dye liquid bucket leftover from the natural dye I mentioned above. I accidentally did this when I went to Bangkok and didn't want the bundles to dry out.  The result from this method is much richer than leaving the bundles to sit outside. 

The Japanese paper (washi) coil basket I posted here is now finished.I ran out of paper so I had to stop. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's 8" wide by 2.5" high. I'm thinking of using it as an ornament for our beach cottage "Seabird". 

This week the weather is wet and cold. It's very unusual for this time of year, but we did get gorgeous weather last week so I can't complain.

Until next time.

Nat

Every Bit of BLUE!

I haven't posted much about what I'm making lately. Why? Because I really really like to share with you the finished project, but there aren't many finished projects to share lately, so I thought I will share with you the work in progress and a couple of great books instead.

I've mentioned in my previous posts that I'm making quilts for our beach cottage "Seabird". I started one here and here. I need two double-size quilts and two-single size quilts for the cottage. At the moment I'm working on the two single size quilts. The latest quilt came about when I met Quiltsalad aka Sally Cutting (no blog) on Instagram. Sally kindly offered me some Japanese fabric. Japanese fabric, yes please! What wonderful and generous people you meet online. Sally is a terrific quilter. She doesn't keep a blog, but you can see all her quilts on Pinterest. Hop over and have a look at Sally's quilts. 

Sally posted me a large box full of Japanese fabric both in blue and in prints. Most of the pieces are big enough for 6.5" x 6.5" square. I want to showcase the prints on the fabric so I came up with the setting in the above photo. To make it more interesting, I add sashings from off cuts and use the red prints for corner stones. I'm very pleased with the overall look of this quilt. I might crazy piece the border, either from the red prints fabric, or the blue fabric, if I have enough of them. 

There are a few strips of South African indigo fabric in the box too. The strips were too small for the sashing so I joined the pieces together to complete the piece. Waste not want not, that's me!  

Here is a piece of South African indigo fabric. This is the back of the fabric with the company logo. I like the look of it so I'm using it for the front. I already have some of this fabric in my stash so I'm using it as well. 

What a treat to the eye when I opened the box, and this is what I see. The indigo blue fabric, the darker blue quilting cotton and the colourful Japanese prints. Thanks Sally for your generosity in sharing your fabric with me. They have come to the right place. A good home! 

After cutting and slicing the 6.5" squares I need for the quilt I was left with smaller pieces that I could not use for the quilt. They are perfect for a wrapped/coil basket. 

Here is the finished wrapped/coil basket using off-cut fabric from the quilts I'm making for "Seabird". It's quite a large basket, but for some reason it wasn't easy to photograph. 

I'm on a roll and started a second wrapped/coil basket from scraps Washi (Japanese papers) given to me by my Japanese friend before she returned to Japan. This is going to be a little tray for nick knacks.   

This is a book 'Indigo, The Color that Changed the World' by Catherine Legrand that my library purchased. It's the latest book on indigo. It covers indigo dyeing from Europe, India, Laos, Japan, Africa and China. It's not a how-to dye book. It's a great coffee table book full of beautiful images. I can't wait to get my own copy. Below are some photos from the book. You have to see this book to appreciate it!

A journal in my library is the latest issue of Kateigaho International Edition. It's a journal that we subscribe to four times a year. This issue is a Spring 2013 issue. 

I received this book before I went to Bangkok and didn't get a chance to share it with you. No, it's not blue or Japanese. It's the 'Civil War Sampler' compiled by Barbara Brackman. The year 2011 was the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. To commemorate this anniversary, Barbara kindly shared a weekly pattern on her blog for anyone who would like to make a quilt. I made about 20 blocks along with the others. I got the book hoping that I will get back to make the rest of the blocks one day. This is my way of supporting Barbara for her generosity in sharing the patterns with us. Barbara also brought out the fabric line called Metropolitan Fair that is perfect for the Civil War quilts. Do you feel  that there is so much more you would like to do with so little time to do it? 

Until next time

Nat

ANZAC Day Vacation and Indigo Dyeing with Family

It was ANZAC Day last week. ANZAC Day is a national holiday here in Australia. It was a good chance for us to take a mini vacation, so we took an extra long weekend to visit DS and his family. Even though it takes over 8 hours to get there I don't mind the road trip. I usually take something to do when I'm not driving. This trip I took my quilt Rags to Riches that I finished except for the binding some time ago. Because it was ANZAC Day we stopped to see the memorial services in some small towns we drove past. 

Apart from visiting DS we also visited our block of land on the south coast of Australia. The empty block of land looks the same as the last time we saw it, but this trip we met up with a local building designer to discuss the building process in 2014. I took many photos on the trip so I've grouped them together for easy viewing. Double click on the photos to enlarge. Enjoy and thanks for visiting...

We took a couple of stops on our drive. I always take a Thermos of tea and coffee with us, but we have been told that at Holbrook, a town about half way between Melbourne and Canberra there is a bakery that has the best Aussie pies. So we thought we would give it a try. We weren't disappointed. The pies were the best we have had for a long time. Being ANZAC Day, the bakery made special cherry pies with heart shaped cutouts so we tried them too. It was all so yummy! 

Here is the quilt I took with me to stitch down the binding. This quilt is a memory quilt I posted about  here in case you are interested to know more about it. It is a large double sized quilt. Needless to say, I didn't get all the binding done on the trip. 

Cute murals are painted on the side of buildings along the way. A strange looking submarine in the middle of nowhere. There is a real submarine in Holbrook as a tourist attraction, but this was the first time I spotted the mural. The Billy Tea is a famous brand of Australian tea since 1888. I love this mural and must have taken photos of it several times. 

I saw all sort of things on the road, sometimes I let them pass by, but most of the time I snapped them with my iPhone camera which is always handy in my bag. In the above photos, I found a boat named Indigo Moon! I also saw a patchwork car, an Australian mountain parrot, and an old church in Braidwood. 

The highlight of our trip was at the beach. We all had a lovely swim. We took a walk along Long Beach. We got to know the beach that one day would be our local swimming place. Our block of land is just above this beach. We collected driftwood. Our DGD was looking for starfish, but unfortunately she didn't find one that day.  

On the last morning DS took us to the National Arboretum in Canberra. There is a great range of bonsais at the Arboretum, and I enjoyed looking at them all. There were two miniature Eucalyptus trees that I just loved. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to the family and head back on the road again, but it's not the end of the post yet. I did indigo dyeing with my daughter in law, grand daughter and a friend while I was there. 

It was the first indigo dyeing for my daughter in law. She was looking forward to the day. My grand daughter who is four has been a natural dyer since she was a baby! I prepared some threads before I got there. I showed everyone the basic folds, clamps and stitching then we were ready to play!

DGD was most impressed with the result, but she did say the indigo vat was smelly! DDIL pulled all sorts of clothes she wanted to dye for her cycling trip to Hokkaido in July. She over dyed her red t-shirt with a moon shape. It turned out great that I called it the rising sun. Bron's friend Cherese did Itajime design with chopsticks. She enjoyed the oxidizing process best, I think!  

The backyard indigo workshop was very successful. Everyone was happy with the result even DS dyed the white socks I brought back for him from Bangkok. I'm slowly running out of indigo kits. It's time to put in another order to stock up for more dyeing. The seeds on my indigo plants are plentiful. I hope they will be ready soon. I'm not sure if I will grow them again next year. It needs a lot of TLC for my liking. We couldn't leave them unattended for too long without water. I had to get the neighbors to water them for me twice this year. I feel bad having to ask them too many times. I definitely will have lot of seeds to share around when they are ready. 

Until next time

Nat 

Natural and Eco Dyeing

I decided that I love dyeing most of all. Dyeing using natural materials is very satisfying. It challenges me to search for dyable plants while out walking in the bush. It challenges me when I travel to other countries and look for local vegetation that I can dye with. It must have been 3 years ago since I started eco-dyeing. I have been enjoying it and think that I've achieved what I wanted in eco-dye. Most of all I have got lots of dyed fabric that I don't know what to do with. At the beginning of this year I came across Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed and Maura Grace Ambrose of Folk Fibers on natural dye and fell in love with all the solid colour they are dyeing. Rebecca mainly dyes yarns. I remembered years ago when I first dyeing with Eucalyptus leaves I dyed fleece for spinning into yarn. That was when I learned how to spin. Today though I have both eco  and natural dyed samples to share with you. Enjoy...

On my recent trip to Bangkok I took some pre-mordant silk with me knowing that mango dyes beautifully. You can use both the leaves and the fruit of mango to dye with. I remember that my sister has a mango tree in her yard so in the first few days of my visit with her I picked some leaves from the tree. 

I wrapped up three bundles using the silk I took with me. I used mango leaves for two bundles and the fruit for the third one. I had no way of steaming the bundles as I would do at home. The temperature in Bangkok was 35-40C outside the hotel room so I thought I would make good use of the heat to set the dye. I put the bundles in a zip-lock bag, sealed it tightly and hung the bag outside of the hotel window. I checked it each day to see if anything changed. The day before we left I had to unwrap it to bring the silk home. The result was surprisingly beautiful. I took this photo when the silk was still wet. It dried a bit paler yellow than this.

Before I left for Bangkok I steamed a few bundles using Eucalyptus, Fig and Prunus leaves. I immersed 5 bundles in an oak solution tub and left some out. I was excited to open them when I got back. All the bundles from the oak solution were rich with the imprint from the leaves. I'm so happy with the results. At the same time, the bundles I left out dried and were dull with faint imprints from the leaves. I'm going to use this soaking method again from now on. 

This is a sample of the piece from the oak solution. In this bundle I used Prunus and Eucalyptus leaves. I just love that beautiful blend of purple from Prunus leaves and some yellow from Eucalyptus. Oh yes, sometimes I get good result from experimenting!

Here they are drying along the rail on the back deck. I dry them out first and then press them before I wash them. Now you know why I wreck my steam iron so frequently!!!

In the photo above is a batch I did since I returned from Bangkok. The two dark pieces were steamed in a cast-iron pot and left sitting in the dark rusty liquid for a week. The other coloured bundles were steamed and immersed in oak solution. The results are quite pleasing. These were dry when I took the photo. 

Now on to natural dye. After getting some inspiration from the blogs I mentioned above. My first attempt was with onion skins. Cotton threads are always my preference for dyeing because I use them a lot in my stitching. I added a piece of pre-mordant cotton fabric in there as well. Onion skin dyes beautifully yellow and it's something you can bank on giving you colour!

My DD Kitiya Palaskas asked me if I would dye some threads for her.  So I did. She is doing a project to sell with 10% of each sale going to KIVA, which is a micro-finance organisation I support.

I joined the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria when I did the weaving workshop last year. It's a lovely group of people full of energy and generosity. I never have time to get there because of work, but I'm still a member and get the newsletter every month. There is a natural dye group that meets once a month. I happened to be in the city so I dropped by when the natural dye group was meeting and having fun dyeing with madder. Robin Heywood the group leader was showing how to dye with madder roots. Afterward there was show and tell of the dyed yarns they did the month before. In the photo from the top left clockwise: a) Robin was showing everyone how to tie Ikat, b) the madder roots that Robin kindly shared with the group, c) some yarns naturally dyed from show and tell; and, d) the young madder plant that another lady brought in to show us. I was so inspired and thrilled to be there that day. Robin wrote an article on Indigofera Australis for Turkey Red Journal, it's very interesting to read if you like indigo.

I took some threads and cotton fabric to the workshop. Robin showed us the Ikat tie technique. It was my first Ikat tie and I did shibori on the fabric. There were two pots going at the same time. One with madder root and the other with madder powder. I mainly did mine in the root because of the strong colour. I brought my pieces home and stored them in a jar for a few days. When I opened them I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. I'm looking forward to dyeing more with the madder root that I got from the guild. 

People ask me what I do with the fabric I dye. My answer is always, I don't know! I just love the dyeing part of the process. One day if I come across projects that I can use my dyed fabric. I do have a few cloths/quilts I pieced with dyed fabric, but I haven't got time to stitch them yet. In the meantime I will just keep dyeing...

Thanks for visiting.

Nat

Shopping in Bangkok

Bangkok is a shopper's heaven if you know where to go. I still remember some good retail and wholesale outlets since I lived in Bangkok over 30 years ago. Of course there are new shopping malls popping up every time I go back. The area I know well is Sampeng Lane in China Town. Every time I visit Bangkok I go there. I don't really know how to get there, but every taxi knows where to take you. It was comforting because when you are ready to leave you can jump on a taxi and get out of there. Because DDIL was with me on this trip I thought I would let her experience Sampeng Lane with me. Sampeng Lane market is very large. I found some YouTube videos here and here in case you are interested to see the place. Sampeng Lane is as interesting now as it was 30 years earlier. You can stroll along looking at everything and anything; there is no pressure for you to buy. You would feel the heat at this time of year, but you can make stops at well air-conditioned shops along the way. You can also get refreshment from the many vendors pushing their carts along every few minutes. Please come along to a mini tour of Sampeng Lane in Bangkok with me...

There are drawbacks to shopping in Bangkok, especially in Sampeng Lane. There is so much choice that it is difficult to pick something to buy. You tend to postpone making decisions so that you can  think about it before you buy, but the trouble is, later when you decide, you can never find what you saw before! It happened to us many times. You can see in the above photo of handbags that the choice is amazing. And no, we did not buy one!

You see what I mean about too many choices! I love these string of beads. I only want just one string, but which one do I choose? I came away with half a dozen of them, I think!

I think these are amazonite stone. They come in all shapes and sizes. I thought these were interesting but they must he heavy to wear around your neck!!! I really wanted to bring one home, but I would have had a problem with the weight. 

These hand held mini sewing machines actually work. I thought afterward that it would work well with small pieces on the go. Sadly I didn't get one because I'm trying to downsize not to collect more...!

The lady showed us how this little machine works. You can also use it as a bobbin winder. I should have got one now, dang!!! 

One fifth of Thai community are Chinese from mainland China. They moved south during the famine years. My Grandfather was also from China so I'm quarter Chinese. What would my children be then? Too complicated! Why did I talk about Chinese? Oh, I just wanted to say that the Chinese also brought in the tradition of tea drinking to Thailand. Thais generally drink coffee, the traditional antique-style coffee. I will tell you about that later. Above are the many wonderful tea cups and also tea pots you can get at Sampeng Lane market. I did bring the selection of these home with me.

Out of all those wonderful choices here is my little pile of purchases. Though I did get them in multiple items. They are great for gifts. Inside the woven tote bag is 3 meters of indigo dyed fabric from North-eastern Thailand. Those little strawberry shaped felted purses and some with folk designs on them are so adorable. The blue cords made from recycled paper and the roll of antique trim with cross stitched design is a treasure and some leather broaches. The woven tote bag gives me fond memories every time I use it. I got it from an elderly lady sitting at the bottom of the steps at a Skytrain station. She had many of them for sale, but I chose this one with red stripes on it. I'm glad I got it when I did because on our way back she was no longer there! 

DDIL and her treasured leather hand bag. We walked far and wide in search of the bag she was looking for. Once we found them, there was so many to choose from. After many "yes no, yes no" later she found the one she liked. The brown woven leather handbag to die for...

I spent too much time in Bangkok among the glitzy and glamourous. I bought myself a new iPhone case cover with Swarovsky diamond studs. It's unlike me to carry a phone full of diamonds, but I thought it is now or never!!!

Here are more like it. I also bought some plain covers. Couldn't decide which one I like better so I bought all five of them! At the moment I'm using the Maneki-neko (lucky cat) cover and I am just thrilled with it.  

We were hot and tired by 1:00pm. It was time to get out of there. When we arrived at the end of one section of the market we stopped for a drink and we were ready to go back to our hotel. We tried to hail down some taxis, but none of them would take us where we wanted to go because the traffic was so heavy. Mid afternoon is also the time when taxis change shifts. After half a dozen or so one stopped and he must have felt sorry for us sweating away in the heat. He offered to take us to the nearest Skytrain so we could return to our hotel. That was a fun and adventurous shopping trip we had in Bangkok! 

If any of you happen to venture to South-east Asia, I highly recommend Bangkok as a stopover. Drop me an email if you need any travel tips to Bangkok. 

See you again soon.

Nat