A Study in Scarlet... and Bordeaux... and Whatever...

The autumn is officially here and I have a new wall hanging to create the seasonal mood.

This very simple piece (a study rather than a proper picture)))) started with three pieces of ice-dyed fabrics from the IPS Eastern branch workshop I took part in. They looked like they came from an autumn landscape all along, but they spent quite some time on my design wall before I saw what exactly was in them - leaves of a bush that I think is called "burning bush" (not that the exact species really matters)))

This is the only in-process photo I have. Wonder if anyone else can see the bush? (tip: it's actually marked with a blue marker here) I wanted the fabrics to star in this show, so I quilted the branches and some "focus" leaves in a black topstitch thread and then added some very simple "organic" quilting with beautiful variegated YLI threads I got from Wendy of Fabric Matters. The branches and "main" leaves were then touched up with fabric crayons to bring them out more.

Love the little patch of "sunshine" in the top )))

I'm still not sure about that quilting - probably I should have done something more interesting. I chose a really beautiful batik for the side panels (so beautiful in fact, I fear it steals the show) and quilted them with a simple free-hand leaf motif (that is only visible with a side lighting).

Here is a full view with sidelong sunlight for texture.

On the whole, this piece took longer to plan than to make (hiding the ends of the topstitch thread was the longest production stage))), but it's all about the mood I think.

Linking up to Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie
Free Motion Mavericks at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
Finished or not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
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Fabric Dyeing Workshop

I spent a lovely day on Saturday at the IPS Eastern Branch workshop with Moira Byrne and Lorna Lafferty. Everybody was nice and helpful and there were tons of interesting information and enticing new possibilities))) Although I had played with some tie-dye before using silk paints that I had at hand, there was a lot to learn and to try out for me on Saturday.

First thing in the morning we got to do some ice dyeing, so that it could melt by the end of the day. Although the ice didn't quite melt by 4 p.m., I rinsed my pieces and was delighted with the result:

Here they are the way the were in the container, one on top of another, and I can already see them made into an autumn landscape with little or no cutting. Some bits are really amazing, the way the colors flow is like no other method of dyeing.

I already have two quilt ideas in my head based entirely on ice dyeing))) The best bit is it doesn't require a chemical lab, any hard-to-come-by ingredients, equipment or skills, can literally be done in the kitchen or in the back garden.

Next were various shibori-style tying, folding, scrunching and stitching techniques. Here are some of my samples:

Looks almost like a quilt already with white sashing, doesn't it? I didn't get a lot white in the samples, I think I didn't tie and press them hard enough, but I think they are still lovely. 

We also did gradation dyeing, but I somehow didn't take photos of my pieces. I made a gradation of greens, because I know I always need lots of all kinds of greens, and finding just the right one can be tricky.

The last thing we did was space dyeing, which means scrunching a piece of fabric really tightly in a jam jar and pouring various dyes over it to achieve unpredictable results)) I did this with a piece of white cotton I had bought at Guiney's and I'm happy to report that it took the dye quite well. 

I intended them to go together with this hydrangea panel and I think I got it more or less right (which is almost miraculous when I think of myself just pouring some yellow dye from a jar, then mixing it with with some blue and pouring, adding more blue and pouring...)

I haven't yet decided on the quilt design for these fabrics, so while I'm thinking I might as well make myself a piece of purple as soon as I buy the dyes. Thankfully, the process is also really easy.

By the way, the pieces with magenta in them were the hardest to rinse out, it really seemed to come out endlessly)))

In the meantime the magnolias have finally taken shape on my design wall, and they are quite large - about 1 by 1.5 meters. I've cut all the pieces, the only thing that is left is to start and to finish as they say in Russian)))

I'll be linking this post up to Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

New To Me in 2016 at Celtic Thistle Stitches

and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River