New Look

January 31, 2010

Now What Do I Do?

My friend Diane came by this weekend.  We played with the dye pots and did a little felting.  We had a delightful time.  I ground up some cochineal and we let it soak all night and came up a bright fushia dye pot.  And we also renewed the idigo vat.
  A Little of this was done:
 
(Can you tell we've not used these shiny implements in the dye pot before? They were well initiated by the time we were done.)  Then into the pots they went.
I just love this piece by Diane....but

 
when you look closer:


This little monkey is revealed.  
Then I got this windowpane that had too much white so I overdyed it.
  
And I got this:

 
Which I really like....but I have no idea what to do with it.  I think I'm addicted to dyeing.  
However, I did do a little felting.  I actually got two more squares done. 
First, the nodding onion.

 
I really like the way this turned out.

 
Then, because Diane egged me on....I did another.  The elusive Calypso.
So, after Diane left I measured the king side bed and counted up the squares.....I think I have enough. 
So, now what do I do?  
True confession...I've not done a quilt before.  I really don't have much of an idea of what I do next.  So from here on, I'll be winging it.  LOL.
So while I sit back and contemplate what the next move will be...or how to join all these pieces together...check out my friend, Jane's blog.  She makes lovely felt.






7 comments:

Red (aka Puddleduck!) said...

Hi Joei! That overdye on the window pane piece looks great - Is it silk? ... and I love the green of your last 2 squares. I was just thinking that you must have a lot of them done now...

Diane said...

Yea! Joei...no more flowers. Admit it though you will miss it. Did you also figure out if you have enough of the dark green silk. Maybe you NEED to dye more:)
You may have to change the name of this to Art That's Felt...and Dyed.
Diane

Jasmine said...

Oh, so gorgeous. I will have to find some clamps like that. Have you read India Flints book on eco dye? She likes to throw metals into the mixes to change the chemistry and colour...

Off to see your friends blog.

Joei Rhode Island said...

Thanks Sandi...yes it is silk. I mostly dye silk...I mostly nuno with silk...I mostly *love* silk.
Diane...You Are A Devil =-)
Jasmine...yes! I have a copy...the onion in a jar came from the book. Diane and I are lucky enough to be in her class this June...YIPEE!

Jasmine said...

Hi Joei, The vicuna is amazing, so soft its difficult to describe. On the piece of Yvette's that i tried to nuno felt, it felted fine to itself but did not work with the nuno so fell away from the edges of the silk. That silk is a lot thicker than the nuno gauze i buy from my supplier so i factored that into the equation. The second piece, i lay out vicuna in the shape of oak leaves and then spead the thinnest layer of white merino over the top to act as a net to hold it in, i also used my regular nuno gauze which is very thin. it worked great. I'm not sure that it would be suitable for needle felting.

I had wondered how it ould work, as if related to the alpaca may not have scales on the fibres like sheeps wool does.

Tammie Lee said...

This post looks like you had a great deal of fun. I love your calypso orchid, it really looks like one! Lovely.

Karen said...

just go for it Joei. Start tacking them together, it will all become clear!