Blank on Thursday

Its been a busy week.  Just not much sewing.  A Bricks and Stepping Stones project has been worked on but no pictures.  

Volunteering has started, this is where I am most the time--

Sitting at the front desk.  A comfy chair, my laptop, and a phone to the left.  When I walk to the Visitor Center this is my view to the west--

Releasing a little extra water due to snow melt in the Rockies.  Most the time all the water comes through the power plant to produce electricity.

Dyeing fabric is fun!  Liz is adventurous and often does "dye art".  Here is a backing she made--

Liz shared how she did her project.

Liz-
 

I started with 5 yards of light beige TOT quilting cotton.

Washed it.

Soaked in soda ash.

Since I had Forest Green and Lemon Yellow as my Procion dyes, that is what I used.

Twice as much yellow to the green was the ratio used.

Fan folded, loosely, the fabric lengthwise and put it into a cramped container.

Poured the mixed dye slowly over the fabric.

After soaking the desired time, squeezed, let it batch for a few days.

Machine washed and dried.

Decided that the undyed areas of beige were too prominent.

Used Pebeo paint extremely watered down with a sponge brush to apply the pale blue to the undyed areas, sloppily.

Because I did not want to change the hand of the fabric, the paint needed to be the viscosity of water.

Let it sit for about a week, heat set with a hot iron, machine wash and dry.

Relish in your efforts and admire the outcome  VBG

Liz's backing turned out so pretty!  I am going to have to try this! 

I'll busy through Saturday so probably not much sewing.

~Lori in Nebraska~

Back Again

Its been a busy month of May.  At the end of April we helped move my inlaws into a smaller home, one with lawn care and snow removal.  Then began the process of sorting out what was left in the old house.  My FIL had been in frail health (Alzheimers) and had become too weak to walk and been falling.  More than my MIL at 84yo could cope with.  So Ken and his sister helped move him into local nursing home.  That was late Thursday afternoon and on Friday he suddened passed away.  The funeral was on Tuesday, he was 89yo.  We all miss him dearly.  

Ken, Marvin, Laura Beth and Boys

Marvin was a gifted storyteller.  I remember this story started with "when I was a little boy I lived on a farm and had a dog..."  The boys had never seen anyone draw and tell a story like that before.

During this we moved the camper to Nebraska.

Mostly set up and the lilacs are blooming.  Sure makes me feel good to smell them.  

In all this I still managed a little quilting.  

All the tops that I've quilted have bindings sewn to them, I can work on them in the camper.

I'll post more when I have some time.

~Lori1R in Nebraska~