Dragon Fruit

Have you ever heard of Dragon Fruit? I hadn't. That is, I hadn't until I saw this color of dye. Then, I saw a picture of a fruit salad that included Dragon Fruit. I had to look at pictures because the fruit in the bowl looked nothing like the dye. Here's what I found online:

That "chocolate chip ice cream" look is what was in the fruit bowl.

This is how they grow.

Pretty pink!

I've used this color and LOVE the results. Two of my favorite dyed pieces use this. Here's my favorite batik I've made so far:

"Moss Rose" Batik

I saw a packet of seeds for Moss Roses in pink and yellow in a field of green grass and was inspired to make this piece. It's listed on my Etsy site for sale HERE. 

Then I shaped and dyed a piece without any wax resist. 

Dragon Fruit

I really think this is my favorite ever dyed fabric without the batik. The color is SO rich and didn't fade at all when I washed it. It's listed on Etsy HERE

More fabrics are listed there and I have more to list. Hoping to finish some purses soon to sell, too. The bills come faster than the money, so Mama's gotta earn something!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Washed out

Here are fabrics that have been washed out & boiled out. I'm losing dye somewhere. I rewatched my class on wax resist and dyeing so will try something new next time. I was combining what I learned for that class with what I learned in my class for just dyeing (without any resist). Anyway, here are the results after all the steps.

Faded. Even lighter in person than in the picture. 

Funny story: I couldn't find my jalapeño cookie cutter to make a potato stamp. I thought I had it, but it turned out to be a goldfish. So, I used the goldfish but added some extra leaves on about half of this piece. Then I found the pepper stamp, which made the goldfish peppers look like red carrots. Oh, well! 

Better, but lime green isn't what I was going for. 

Not at all what I wanted for flowers, teacups & teapots. Might overdye this one. 

Cool fall design, but colors are kind of weird. 

I tried using lace as a resist. Not a good thing. This one is really a deeper purple & a cool look after overdyeing it in deep purple. 

This is closer to maroon in real life. Weird. 

Tried using a water based resist & painting in Texas. Where it didn't run past the resist it looks cool. Otherwise, you have Texas with Arkansas, Louisiana, Mexico , New Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico. LOL! 

I will either redye some of these or just use them where I can. Trial & error. 

Dyeing and Waxing

When women mention dyeing and waxing, they are generally referring to hair. Needless to say, when I tossed boiling into the mix on Facebook, my friends were a bit taken aback! I've been trying my hand at dyeing fabric for a couple of years. Recently, I added wax printing (batik) to the process. I'm loving the process, but my results aren't usually how I've imagined them in my head. It's a learning process. I would love to become good enough at this to sell my fabric pieces. In fact, I may even try tossing a few onto my Etsy store soon just to see how it goes.

Here are some pictures of initial attempts at the process.

This was supposed to be the Yellow Rose of Texas. The blue shows up somewhat in this picture, but in person, it was very hard to see the Texas. This piece got more wax, some bleach, some dye, and more wax and dye. Waiting for it to dry now!

Butterflies in pink on peach. Except you can't make out the butterflies. I did more waxing and overdyed it. It's now a maroon funky piece that will have to be used as a filler for something. 

Love this one. It faded when I washed it, though. Still pretty, but a very pale pink. I need to use more dye next time. The "stamp" is a part of a back massager from Walmart! LOL! 

Cheap potato masher & a mini bell pepper provided the stamps. Added some more color & stamps to this. Waiting to see the final result. 

Way too pale a red. I re-dyed it in red for vibrance. I stamped hearts in Texas (as in "deep in the heart of Texas) and added some jalapeños (or red peppers, to be accurate). We'll see how it comes out. 

The part I don't like that I need to find a work around is removing color in between dyes. You can't get some colors next to each other (they'd mix) so you have to remove some of the color. The best way is with bleach and vinegar. NOT together! One, then the other. I want to see if there are any safer ways to do this. The fumes aren't good for any of us. If I do it again I'll try going outside & using dishpans. 

I've also hand "dyed" some fabric with fabric paint. I've used Dye-Na-Flow from Jacquard and have some Lumiere to use, too. I tried just adding Textile Medium to craft acrylic, but the paint is still too stiff when it dries. The Jacquard fabric paints are very soft when they dry, just like dye. 

I'll share pictures of these fabrics finished when they're ready! 

She's a Grand Old Flag

Somewhere between taking care of my husband as he recovers from cancer treatment and trying to get myself well after a hysterectomy followed by sinus infections, not to mention homeschooling, cooking, and so on, I finally managed to get some projects going and a few almost finished! For now, I'll show you the almost finished Tumbler Flag Quilts I've been working on:

 They started like this. I sewed pairs of "tumblers" together, then sewed the pairs to each other and finally made rows. Then the rows got sewn together to come up with this:

As you can see, it needs a good pressing with some steam or spray starch (my favorite is Mary Ellen's Best Press). Then I'll trim the edges even and add borders. Finally I'll quilt them and put binding on the edges to list in my Etsy Shop.

I first saw this idea on Missouri Star Quilt Company's youtube page. You can see the tutorial here if you like to sew:

Did I mention my 14 year old is going to church camp and it took us over 10 stores (and many long hours) of hunting to find a one piece swimsuit that fits her, covers her, and doesn't look like a Grandma suit? Plus we had to find shorts. We found some but then got jeans at Good Will to cut into shorts. We'll add lace to spiffy them up. And I have to alter the swimsuit. She leaves Wednesday morning so my goal is to SEW and let Bethany craft to her heart's content for the time Natalie is gone! Look for updates soon!

I've been Dye-ing to Tell You

Have you ever taken a class at Craftsy? Check out www.craftsy.com and you can see what I'm talking about. These are online classes you take, but you do it on your own time. It's all pre-recorded. The teacher responds to questions as well as other students responding. Some cost money and a few are free. Some are kind of steep in price, but they offer specials frequently.

After Christmas they had a huge sale. I used some gift money to buy a few classes. Two of the classes are about how to dye. I am so glad I'm typing that and not saying it. LOL! One is simply about dyeing fabric and the other is about batik. I don't have the equipment yet for batik and I don't have the official fancy dye for either course (which is actually cheaper than the stuff I have, but the shipping is high & no one sells it locally). I have been playing with the dyes I do have at home. The teacher has shown us how to fold the fabric for different effects. I have no idea which folds I did on these, but thought I'd share a couple of my first attempts.

 As you can see, the first two have vibrant color and cool patterning. The bottom one, well, I'm chalking it up to experience. Or lack thereof. I used a pale blue shade of dye then added a touch of purple to the water. It pretty much did nothing. I think I later redyed it with some other colors. I have other pieces I've done different things with. Bubble wrap makes a really cool almost honeycomb design! Spare pennies wrapped up make, well, dots! LOL!

It's not as if I have nothing to do, but I enjoy this and hopefully can make some pretty enough dyed pieces to sell. Natalie said I should make charm packs out of them (packs of 5" squares). It's an idea!

I have several purses in the middle of construction. I need to get those finished & listed on Etsy!

Hope you have a splendid day!

Is it REALLY October?

Beautiful colored leaves drifting slowly from the trees to piles on the ground. A chill in the air requiring a sweater in the morning. Pumpkins for sale in all the stores.

In San Antonio we have one out of 3! The only "color" in our leaves is brown and a sweater is someone who goes out in the afternoon for a walk. Wait a minute & you'll get that. LOL!

My calendar tells me it's October, though, so I guess it is. I had a goal to be finished with ALL fall themed quilted/sewn items by the end of September to list on Etsy. I didn't make that deadline, so I've set a new one for October 15th. What isn't finished by then will wait til next summer when I will get things finished for the following end of September!

So far I have 2 items completed. Here are sneak peaks of those:

Please ignore any resemblance of a messy house around this table runner. Who knows what glimpses into our lives you might find there!

These pictures were before I added binding to the quilts. Those are completely finished and ready for me to photograph and list for sale.

I'm also working on a few turkey items. Some wall hangings & pillow covers. I decided to turn some of the projects into reusable slip covers for pillows because it seems silly to buy a new pillow for each season. By having changeable covers, you can make your home seasonal year round and save on storage space.

As soon as I hit my deadline OR finish the projects (whichever comes first), I will be working on Christmas items, both seasonal and gift related.

Some of you have asked if I would make some of the duffel bags like the ones I made Natalie:

YES! I have purchased several pieces of fabric to make some for selling on Etsy. I'll get there! : )

We've been told it COULD be getting cooler this weekend, with a high of 66. A friend asked if the numbers were just upside down! LOL! Hopefully it will FEEL like fall is here for a day. Though, I know that in Texas if you stick around long enough, it will be hot again.

Have a GREAT day and thanks for stopping by!

Our Cutie-Patooty 2 year old

My great niece Karis turned 2 last week. She is such a fun little girl. As her grandma said, "I thought Becky (Karis' mom) was intense as a child. Karis has her beat hands down!" She is a 100% kind of kid. She laughs with 100% of her body. She loves with 100% of her tenderness. She gets mad with 100% of her anger. I would say it's all or nothing with her, but it's always ALL! And she SO reminds me of my Natalie at that age. That is exactly how we described her. But Karis is her own person and not Natalie, Becky or anyone else. Every little curl of hair and sparkle in her eye is 100% Karis!

For her birthday I made her a matching dress and baby doll dress. I only got a picture of her dress. My niece-in-law Katie made the cutest tutu with matching wand and headband to look like Abby from Sesame Street. I've never seen Abby, but somehow my 13 year old knows about her. What does that child do when I'm asleep?

 Darling tutu by Katie! I told her to start an Etsy shop! See the bump in Becky's tummy? That's Moriah, my 4th great niece, due in January!

If you look closely, this side is a tiny bit different. There are buttons on the belt! 

Thanks to Becky and Natalie (aka Mini-Becky #1) for holding the dress. Not professional pics, but I think you get the idea of how cute little girl clothes are with these shots!

Happy Birthday Karis! We can't wait to see all the Lord has in store for you!