The other day Friend Laurie and I took a class in natural dyeing. This wasn't completely new to me, in past years I did some dyeing and documented here when I tried to book teach myself how to dye with indigo. That was rather intimidating, and I was a little afraid of it but kept everything and stored it in the dye pot in the garage. This class was enough to ignite my curiosity again. I don't need a new hobby but this process can be really simple. One by product of taking this class. I'll see about color fastness and maybe dye for a quilt project. Maybe.
Denice's Day
a little quilting, reading, and an occasional cookie
Thursday, March 20, 2025
To dye for
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Bits and Pieces
The Full Belly Bowl is an older book but I read it every year. The very old man and his cat live a quiet life where they are usually always hungry. One day the very old man goes for a walk and hears a cry for help and finds a very, very small man who he takes home and cares for till better. The little man leaves but in his place gifts the old man with a full belly bowl. It's magic. Whatever is put in the bowl multiplies so as the note left with the bowl says, use with caution but you will never go hungry again. Oh, and when finished turn it upside down. Well, the very old man discovers it works with anything and when he tries a penny in the bowl he gets a little star struck and hurries off to town with a bag full of pennies to exchange for a gold piece. But in his haste for riches he forgets to store the bowl.
The teacher thought this a good writing prompt - "what would YOU put in the bowl?" The kids were all shouting their ideas and all of them were grandiose. I told them, "Be careful what you wish for."
So far on my March temperature tree. It's warming up - we are transforming all of that blue into green and yellow. I'm saving up days so I can do a week or two at a time.I started cutting nine patches - little ones that finish at 3 inches - to use on the Little Women dish towel. I have no idea yet what I'm going to do, how big I will make it or what. But you can always use nine patches anywhere, right? I love them so they won't be lonely for long.
Last night I thought I'd give the peasant ladies a test run. I've cut the pieces and parts for all of them and labelled them by the number I gave each lady, stored in baggies. After awhile looking at it I knew if I started at the top the others would nestle in next to each other. No reason to make this hard.
The nestling seems to be ok and for now I'm just going to do that, fit the bodies together then worry about the faces. It's big and hand appliqueing them means a lot of wad in my left hand thus the crinkle. After a couple more I'll know for sure. When I make things up as I go along I expect a lot of forgiveness of a piece.
Friday, March 14, 2025
Pi Day
Happy Pi Day!
Black raspberry pie from the berries we foraged for most of July. We pick at a friend's house and PH walks along the roadsides with a container. It's hot and prickly and we really do crawl through, over and under but I keep cheering us on with "this will pay off this winter!!" I make one in January and one for Pi day.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Big News and Books
First the BIG news! I FINISHED QUILTING ELIZABETH'S BA QUILT LAST NIGHT!!! Just have to make and apply the binding but the quilting is finished !!!!
But I still can't show it.
March is Reading Month around the U.S. and the school where I read does a fun activity. They list 16 books and every classroom reads all of the books and in an elimination bracket like the basketball tournaments a clear favorite stands out in the end. Usually I have several of the books and have read some of them to the kids.
This year the second of the Knight Owl books was listed and the kids in the class I read to had just heard the second book. They didn't know there was a first book.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
The Story
I've got to stop using scraps. I have to start using my stash. I will never live long enough to use it and have to find a project that makes a start. I'm tempted to not go so much for innovative and artsy and just cut it up and sew it back together in old fashioned squares.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Reading Under a Tree
Here's my Temperature Tree with February finished. I find it very blue with just a couple of peeks of green. February was very cold but it was February and it's supposed to be cold in February in Michigan.
I don't mind the cold but I don't like the snow. When the sun came out this week you could see it in people's faces. Smiles. In these very trying and troubling days we need something to smile about and in Michigan in winter it can be something as simple as seeing the sun.
Still auditioning.
Friday, February 28, 2025
More books and a project
Kids are back in school after mid-winter break long weekend- and this year to hopefully get them healthy after the sicknesses that are ravaging through town. So Tuesday I was back reading to the first graders.
Kids all think the magic of life happens when they are grown up. If they would only relish their little lives now! These two stories are about wanting to be big, grown up, and stubbornly proving it.
I LOVE Bob Graham's books. Oh, my. I remember standing in front of him at an autograph table blubbering through tears because in the book he was autographing, Let's Get a Pup!, he drew the dog that looked exactly like our dog who we had just sent to heaven. I know the poor guy thought I was a crazy lady but I wasn't over what we did to our Polly.or sit on the bottom of the background, next to where a border will be. I kept changing the layout and finally took the photo. Seeing it this way I'm thinking next to the border otherwise they look like they are floating with no anchor. At least that's for this trip around the table.