Marbelizing Dye Try...

The other night I was studying one of Karen Kahle's pattern books and trying to figure out if she really changes colors every three or four loops. I think I have figured out that yes, she does change colors quite often but I also read that she almost always uses marbelized wool for her backgrounds. Don't you just love her work? I think the soft colors are so feminine and girly. (I've been accused of being "such a girl") I took it as a compliment although I'm pretty sure it was meant as sarcasm. Anyway back to the topic, Karen said the marbelized recipe she used for this particular light pinkish and greenish background were a camel, a burgandy and a dark forrest green colored wools. With the camel color in the middle of the "sandwich". Well I had all of these colored wools so I set out to duplicate her soft palate. Mine didn't exactly turn out soft...





Here is Karen's rug. From her Primitive Spirit website. See how nice and subtle hers is? This is not the exact background I was trying to accomplish, but you understand what I mean.



I guess maybe I let it "stew" too long or added too much soap or too much Jet Dry? I really don't know. It's the first time I have tried this method. Please, any help would be appreciated. Have you done this type of dyeing before and would you like to help me? LOL



More like scary. Maybe good for some Halloween rugs. Orange, black and this bright purplish reddish pink! Or maybe bright hibiscus flowers or a Hawaiian sunset. Now I'm on the right track for these intense colors.


And I'm always saying I like bright colors more than the drab primitive colors. Actually it's my husband that doesn't like the prim colors. He thinks they're depressing. When I lived in a 100 year old farmhouse it was Very primitive. Chipping peeling paint on everything. That was "BM"- before Mickey. He will only put up with a few chippy things in our house. But hey, the poor guy does sleep in a pink bedroom afterall. That's enough compromise for me!


These are the colors I came out with from just the leftover BLOOD water! That's what I've heard it called anyway. What came out of the fabrics as they were marbelizing. LOTS OF COLOR still left in the water! These were pieces of natural wool.


And my baby is sick.


Tuesday night I fed him some vegetable soup. Well the vegis, not the broth. He has an "upset tummy"-- Coming out both ends to be exact. Sorry to be so gross. He's lost just two ounces short of a whole pound. Anyway this morning I called the vet and they said to bring him in this afternoon. The Dr. examined him and I told him about the soup on Tuesday. (And Mickey feeds him people food every morning-usually some ground beef or macaroni and cheese.) He said Jimmie Dean just has some digestive track upset and inflamation. Just upset is to say the least. We were up at midnight last night cleaning the carpet in our bedroom. He gave him an antibiotic shot and a B12 shot. And five days worth of anti-inflamatory pills. No food for another 24 hours and just a tablespoon of water every hour. Poor baby. I can't hardly stand it. My mom asked me when I told her I gave him vegi soup if it wouldn't give him a stomach ache. Boy, do mothers always know best!

I got two new Pro Chem dye books in the mail today . I'll read them and then give my unqualified opinion of them to you tomorrow.

We're nearing the 100 post mark. I think I'll try to write every day until I hit it. Then the give away. I love to give stuff away. Makes me happy. Makes me smile. My mom would say that's good for me!

Have a great Friday night
Peace,
Sheri

Tornado?

I'm so glad we have a basement. I'm such a chicken when it is stormy. I woke up at about 6:00 Friday morning and the local weather man was saying we were definitely in for it as far as storms go. He said there would be Definite Storm Damage. We always have severe spring storms in the Ozarks, but Never have they said that!!! Needless to say, I loaded up all my important stuff and got the basement ready for the sirens to go off. Around 8:10 they sounded. I don't think Springfield's storm was ever officially called a tornado but the straight line winds were clocked at around 80 mph. They called it a deuresho. sp? Like an inland hurricane. Here's what our patio furniture looked like afterwards.


And this is the school grounds just across the street from our house. This was a huge tree!


Luckily there were no injuries in our city, but three people lost their lives in SW Missouri.

Just earlier in the week (Tuesday) at the school across the street again, we heard a firetruck. I told Mickey it sounded like they were in our living room. He said, "they practically are, they're going into the school parking lot!" Then they kept coming. One, two, three, four Huge fire trucks, an ambulance, rescue people. It scared us to death! We knew something was going on at the school that night. This was about 6:30 in the evening. Come to find out a portion of the ceiling had collapsed!!! There were about 100 people inside including children. They were having a PTA fundraiser BBQ dinner that night. We quickly heard from another neighbor that no one was hurt there either! We are having some good luck in our little city. They said kids had been running back and forth in the hallway that collapsed all evening. Just happens they weren't in the hall when it fell. They held school at a neighboring church for the rest of the week.


On a much lighter note I got in the dye pots this past week also. I have started a new rug for in front of my kitchen sink. It's a Primitive Spirit pattern titled "Chicken in the Garden".



I'm doing it in a no. 9 cut. My first with this large a cut. I'm lovin' it! I dyed antique black, lichens, robin's egg blue, mossy and sea mist blue. Oh, and Pepperberry and bubblegum pink. All Karen Kahle colors.



I love her dye colors. They are such clear colors. They just match my decorating colors in our home perfectly. For the antique blacks I used Emma Lou's recipes. Hook book black, antique black green and antique black.

And here are some spring pictures from my garden. In the spring we have mostly pink, lavendar and whites blooming. I'm going to try to incorporate alot more white in the garden this year. It really glows at twilight. Especially way back in the yard. It just pops out.





Hope you have a wonderful sunny week.
Also, I'm working on stuff for my Etsy shop. Will try to list some tomorrow. Please stop by! www.shabbysheepcrafts.etsy.com

Peace,
Sheri

Dyeing with Tammy

You know it's going to be a good day when the girl who designed and dyed the wool for this raven rug is teaching you!!

I spent most of Saturday at Tammy's house with my own personal dye instructor!!!

I think we dyed six different yards of wool! And in her beautiful new kitchen to boot.

She taught me spot dyeing in a casserole pan and "fantasy wool" dyeing.

Also a technique she didn't name, but we kind of floated the wool on water and added dye in spots on top.

See her blog for this: http://www.skiptomyewe.blogspot.com/. It's the Easter wool. AND all the wool we worked on is FOR SALE on her blog!!!

Doesn't this look like a Van Gogh palette? Scrumptious. If I could order a drink like this, I'll bet it would be great!?!?! Does anyone get what I'm saying? Maybe a tutti fruitti with rum!!! And a little paper umbrella in it!

This is her rug titled, "live the life you've imagined". That is exactly what I was doing yesterday with such a talented teacher working with me!!! I'm not rubbing it in~~~really! OK, maybe a little~~tee hee!!

Yesterday really fired up the creative juices in me-like I need any more help with that! I've got so many projects in my head it makes me dizzy. The visual journaling is going great too. My husband came in the door the other night and I was working on it at the dining table and he said, "this is really good for you, isn't it?" I guess he could tell by my body language I was really enjoying it and expressing myself in another way. I am doing this journal for Me. I'm doing it as a visual with the words Wanda from "The Welcome Mat" is giving us, but also as kind of a healing journal. Adding my own words and thoughts on being sick, and sick and tired of being sick and tired!! I'm trying to really explore my inner thoughts and resentment for living with chronic pain. Someone wrote, I think it was Wanda, that it seems like I'm grieving my "old life". My dear sweet husband Mickey said, we'll just to learn to do stuff with your new life and adapt to that. What a wonderful man.

Here's the cover of my journal. There are my eyes~for the visual part. Some teeth for the career that I used to have, my favorite quote: let the beauty of what you love be what you do, some gardening gloves, wool strips from hooking and of course lots of BLING!

Have a wonderful week.

I go to nature to be soothed and healed,

and to have my senses put in order.

John Burroughs.

Peace,

Sheri