Australia Day - The True Blue...

Happy Australia Day everyone in Australia and around the world. I have a specially extra long weekend - a four day weekend. It's hard to come by when you are working full time so I'm enjoying it to the full. Yesterday we had the first meeting with the architect to start the process for "Seabird", our beach house. Today is Australia Day and I've planned to host an Australian Day tea party in the afternoon. In the morning Jacky and I played with indigo dye. We had such a fun day stitching shibori pieces and dyeing.  

In the above collage from left to right: An Australian flag and ANZAC biscuits I made for the tea party. Next is the table setting with the homemade lamingtons that Lynda kindly made for us. I made cucumber sandwiches and a platter of fresh fruit. The bottom photo is Jacky and Mr NJN enjoying the bubbly before we started our cuppas. 

In this collage from top left photo going clockwise: Jacky was making fringes on her scarf for dyeing. The next photo is the indigo vat I mixed earlier using an indigo kit. In the next photo Jacky had a first dip. She pulled out her scarf from the vat. It was yellow turning green/blue when it hit the atmosphere. The last photo is the scarf turning blue after leaving it to oxidize for a couple of minutes.

This is a piece of the color catcher I shiboried and dyed last week. I will be using it on a tote-bag to cover the logo. 

We rinsed all the dyed pieces and hung them to dry on the fig tree.  Jacky and I are really happy with the result of our dyeing today. I know I'm addicted to dyeing. Summer is the best time for indigo dye and I really need more experience mixing indigo. I'm getting there though; at least I know when I kill the vat!

This is indigofera tinctoria I found on my walk at work. In my search and research I know that in India they use this plant to produce indigo dye. You need lots and lots of them to produce enough dye. It's interesting to find them growing in my university's garden. 

I mentioned in this post that I'm planning to make quilts for "Seabird". I started these trip around the world blocks last year and still need another twenty blocks before I have enough for a quilt.

And here are the first two blocks for another quilt for "Seabird". I decided to make all the quilts in indigo blue. If it's possible I will use the vintage or recycled fabric that I have in my stash. So far I only make a small dent in my stash. I think I will have enough for 4 quilts.

This tote-bag is the result of the dye from my indigo plants that I processed a few weeks ago. The bag was a conference bag and it had the logo printed all over the front of it. It's cotton and perfect for indigo dyeing. I hid the logo by patching over it with indigo fabric from the same dye batch. I'm really happy with it and I will keep it for myself. I have couple of more bags to make for gifts. 

Enjoy the rest of Australia Day weekend if you are in Australia, but if not, enjoy your weekend anyway.

Until next time

Nat