So you dyed an ugly piece of fabric...

what do you do now?

Because dyeing results are the product of so many variables: dilution, type of fabric, temperature, manipulation of fabric, age of dye etc, there is always a bit of serendipity.  Plus, if you are constantly experimenting to see if you can get new and interesting patterns, you are sometimes going to get ugly.

It's a shame I can't find a picture of this piece of fabric before I added the blue.  But I probably didn't take one because it was such an uninspiring, insipid yellow.

It's a half metre piece, so I folded it in half and then formed some sort of circle shape that I fastened with rubber bands (I can still see the rubber band marks) and over dyed it with navy blue.

Hmmmm.  Still pretty uninspiring.  The contrast was pretty wild, I couldn't ever see myself finding a use for it in my studio, so I stuffed it back into the 'one day I'll overdye it' bag.

One day I did overdye it.  This time with an orange.  I think I made it even worse....

Woe is me!  I couldn't even bear the thought of putting it on the back of a quilt.  So in a last ditch effort, I cut it into two fat quarters.  One I dyed black and one I dyed brown:

Well, the brown one still has quite a defined pattern, but the contrast is taken down a peg or two and it almost looks like a wood grain/end of log pattern.  I could imagine finding a use for it now.

But the black!  The black I call success!  There is a subtle richness to it with hints of lots of different colours throughout.  You can almost see the original blue pattern but only just.  There is nothing flat or dull about this dark colour (you might have to see it up close and personal to really appreciate the fullness of colour - you know what they say about photographs and doing justice and all that).

So.  Did you dye an ugly piece of fabric?  Well, just keep dyeing it until you get something you like.  If all else fails - go black!

(And if even that fails, well, we all need a new clean up rag now and then don't we?)

Edited to add:  As my lovely commenters have pointed out, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what I deem as ugly might be lovely to someone else!  So there is another choice if you've dyed an 'ugly' fabric - see if someone else loves it and wants to give it a home...

The thrill of starting a new project...

So a while back I said I had to finish two projects before I could start another.  It was an attempt to whittle my WIP pile down a little (so it fitted on shelves at the least!).

Well, I finished my tree of life quilt (now called Life Encircling) and my Tui at Dawn quilt, both for entry into the Taupo Symposium so I can't show them here.  So I did a little happy dance and started pulling fabric.  I think mucking round with fabric combos is better than eating chocolate...

It's going to be a log cabin quilt for a very special someone.  I don't think that someone reads my blog very often, and I'm extra sure they won't know what a barn raising setting, log cabin means so I think I'm safe showing a few snippets.

Meanwhile I tackled another project in my WIP pile.  I think I've made the world's ugliest grocery tote!  But it was sitting in my WIP pile and it was a quick project to finish up and hey, the vegetables and packets of pasta ain't gonna care what their bag looks like.  (Sometimes I think I almost like the fabric combination, then other times I catch a glimpse and have to shield my eyes.)

Then I proceeded to break my own rule and started another four projects - that is, another four tote bags (seeing as they are all tote bags, can I pretend it's just one project?).  I rationalised it because production line assembly is the fastest way to get stuff done and I'd already started one bag, right?  Plus I need to make a couple of belated birthday pressies.

Ah well, I could keep trying to convince myself  or I could go finish them up.....Happy Saturday!

Memories

The thing about a blog is that you can pretend.  You can make your life seem as perfect as you want.  Your house can be clean, your children cherubic.  But in reality, we all have our fugly bits.

But I'm happy to announce that in the week just been, one of Windyhill Farm's fuglier bits got towed away to become someone else's treasure.

 

The caravan served us well.  First as a shelter and cup-of-tea making place when we first owned the land.  Later it became a storage shed when we moved out here.  But now (finally) it has been emptied and all that's left is a mark on the ground.  Next spring there won't even be that.

In that caravan was a whole pile of junk, lots of stuff that has already been shipped off to the op shop and a few boxes of memories.  I've spent the weekend periodically immersing myself in my teenage years.  The above picture was my sixth form ball photo.  Taken in about 1995.  Can you guess which one is me?

I've burnt the scary love letters, thrown out all the really terrible photos and the birthday cards from people I can't even remember anymore, but there is still more to sift through.  So much of it makes me cringe - as a teenager I was boy crazy, incredibly self-centered and terribly superior.  I really wonder how my parents put up with me.

On TV recently there has been an advert for a program about parenting teenagers.  The psychologist says,"Teenagers - they're not right in the head!  And judging by my diaries and letters, I'd have to agree.

Consequently, I've also been spending a bit of time this weekend watching my kids and imagining them as teenagers.  If karma has anything to do with it, then in a few years I'm in for a rough ride.  I'm guessing that there will be plenty of fugly moments.  Wish me luck!