Of Snow-dyes and Silks

I thought for sure I had sewn myself into a corner--or more appropriately, when you see the final version, a sinkhole. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this wall hanging at this stage because I wasn't sure it would be worth preserving a memory of it. Someday I will learn to take more pictures. . .

I had just finished my goldfinch quilt, which created a design using reverse applique and I wanted to play around with that technique a bit more. I had also come across a snow dye from last year that was a bit wild and I wanted to challenge myself to do something with it. Ultimately, I decided to do a reverse applique where the fabric underneath had some texture to it. The only fabric that even remotely seemed to go with the snow dye was some blue-purple and red-purple silk. So for texture I pleated some squares that were around 10 inches and added some iron-on interfacing on the back to stabilize that silk that is always wanting to return to bits of thread  and to hold the pleats in place. I created a template that was an irregular organic shape that fit each of the pleated pieces, cut the snow-dye in those shapes to reveal the silk, and machine stitched the edges of the opening.   As I was finishing these up, I happened to notice that wonderful heavy thread made out of sari silk that I had bought in NYC and that I had been dying to work with. It was a perfect color and so I machine couched it around each of the silk shapes.

Now I had hanging on my working wall a piece of fabric with three fuzzy-edged blobby shapes on it and I had no idea where to go with it. And so it hung there for a long while. I would occasionally try something on it but nothing worked until one day I tried that sari silk (love the feel of that stuff) in a kind of a scribble shape and left it there over night. The next morning that scribble looked exactly like a tree and so three trees grew in the three pleated silk shapes. But it needed something more.

To be continued. . . .

A Good Purchase for a Good Cause

During my recent excursion into New York City to see the red and white quilts, our bus also took us to the Empire Quilters Guild annual exhibit and its vendors.  I have learned to second guess that whispered "Buy me!" that I hear as I pass by fabric that I haven't seen before or the newest gizmo that promises to bind a queen size quilt with no hand sewing while it is clearing out the dishwasher. But when something shouts "Buy me!" I have to listen and so it was as I passed a booth in the corner of the exhibit.  There on the counter was a basket filled with skeins of yarn beautiful to look at and heavenly to feel.

And I got to feel self-righteously good about buying it as well.  This is silk yarn made from recycled remnants of saris from factory floors in India.  A women's cooperative chops up the remnants and provides paid employment for women who spin them into yarn by hand using a drop spindle. As soon as I saw it I was imagining couching it onto a quilt top.  So for twelve dollars I got to take home a beautiful source of embellishment and to do a good deed.  Leilani Arts is the the group that sells this and other interesting yarns and ribbons.