April 29, 2010

Colours of Autumn: Dyeing Day

Last weekend was a long weekend and I took an extra day off to spend with DS and his family. I'm having a great time enjoying DGD. She is 15 months old and walking and talking all day. What a delightful little girl she is! On Monday I decided to have a dyeing day and show DIL how to dye too. We both wanted to dye some felted wool and threads. We had a fun day and ended up with lots of wonderful coloured wool.
These are the wool pieces after being pressed. Now that I have plenty of felted wool I have to get back into doing the Crazy Wool quilt I started a couple months ago.

I have been collecting woolen fabric for the last few months and DIL got herself a woolen blanket to cut up. Here is our Autumn coloured wool hanging to dry.

We threw in some lace and threads too. The weather hasn't been good for drying  so we brought the rack into a heated room in the house last night and they were perfectly dry by next morning.

These are some pieces of muslin. I was experimenting with with them. I'm not so happy with the result but everything can be over dyed so not all is lost.

You can see some balls of pearl thread on the top of the photo. They take longer to dry. I can't rewind them until they are completely dry. I will have another show and tell with them later.

Here we were with aprons and gloves ready for dyeing action. Buckets of soda ash solution, ice cream tubs with mixed dye etc. In the photo are Bron, Nat (me) and Lynda. We have yet to see how Lynda's threads turned out after she washed them. 

DIL and three of her friends just started a group blog called Honey and Lemon. They are very new to blogging so I hope you will all welcoming them to blogland.


26 comments:

Anne-Lise at Rag, Tag, Bobtail said...

Beautiful colours! Looks like fun.

Lurline said...

Looks wonderful, Natima - I would love to know how you stitch? the wool!
Hugs - Lurline♥

QuiltSue said...

You ended up with some gorgeous coloured wools. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the quilt you make with them.

Béa said...

Wonderful colours ! I dyed cotton , never wool: where do you find wool to dye and what dye use you, please ? hugs

Nedra said...

I used to dye wool all the time, and seeing your post made me miss the excitement of seeing how each piece turned out. I love your drying rack. I always used to throw mine in the dryer with a towel to get the wool felted down and to set the dye.
Love your colors all together!

Sue-Anne said...

Look at all that wonderful wool in the beautiful colours. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

antique quilter said...

beautiful colors, looks like your all having fun too
this is something I would love to try
wool is so expensive I think this is the way to go to get that nice collection
Kathie

Unknown said...

The entire process of dying wool and fabric is s0 exciting!! From the mixing of colors to the dipping and then looking at the glorious colors hanging together....You even have pretty colored clothespins!!
beautiful~thanks for sharing~
♥ E.

Janet said...

What a fun day you've had, the colours look very luscious. I'd be very interested to see the perle cotton.

Karen said...

Beautiful wool colors! You have a good set-up for doing something like that.

kaiteM said...

what a lovely range of colours, you certainly got a lot done, how fabulous. what dye did you use?

Little Lady Patchwork said...

What a great way to spend the day!

The colors are beautiful, like a rainbow.

Enjoy using your creation.

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Hi Nat...what fun and what gorgeous happy colours...I love them...good job girls!!! Going over to visit Honey and Lemon now...Dzintra♥x

Terry said...

Oh so yummy. Your great colors will give a zing to your quilt. Very Natima.
Looks like Bron has caught the bug too. Looking forward to updates.
Enjoy the quilt show.
Terry

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

The wool looks amazing Nat! I wish I could have watched and taken a lesson! I would love to have those wonderful colors of wool.

Mescrap said...

I dyed paper last weekend. BUt I did not manage to take any photos as my hand was full of colours.
I love the process so do I believe you too.

Teresa Rawson said...

That looks like fun...and your colors are so beautiful! How nice that you can share that with your family.

Anonymous said...

Natima,

You are one lady of multi talents!!! I didn't know you dye too... my goodness! You are lucky we don't live close by, or I would just threaten to move in with you! :)

Hugs.

Unknown said...

Welcome back, sweetie! You were sure missed, but I know you had one fabulous time.

And, look at all that dye ... that could color a lot of Easter eggs!

Have a great weekend.
TTFN ~ Hugs of love, Marydon

Karen said...

Beautiful autumn colours Nat. Looks like fun was had by all.

Brenda said...

How fun! Can't wait to see them in your Wol Crazy Quilt! B=)

Astrid said...

Lovely autumn colors! Reminds me of home! No doubt you had a wonderful day off.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

What fun--glorious colors

ria vogelzang said...

That sounds like great fun! And look how lovely the colours look!!
That is going to be a gorgious quilt!
Love to hear you had great days with your family!!
Have a nice weekend!
Love, Ria.

Anonymous said...

Natima, what wonderful colors. I just love them. You are such an enabler, I too purchased my very own wool crazy book. Like I need another project, giggle. I do look forward to your quilt. Maybe, I will pull mine out tonight for a few stitches.

Hugs,
Bobbie Ashley

Laurie said...

what kind if dyes did you use...they turned out wonderful

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