Dyeing and gardening...

...that's all I've done so far this week.  I spent yesterday up to my elbows in the dye buckets, and produced 24 yards of fabric.  Two yard pieces of pimatex, dyed in three step gradations of blue, raspberry, yellow green and bright yellow.  Unfortunately, the yellow gradation is very subtle.  So I have 6 yards of pretty much evenly dyed bright yellow fabric.   


Guess I'd better start another quilt that features yellow...

Mostly this week I've been working in the garden.  It's just starting to get hot here and the garden is still lush and green.  The early season day lilies are blooming right now.


 And the turtles are having a great time wandering around the garden.  This is Lizzy, the female:

The garden is looking tidy and the fabric is ready to add to my stash.  Time to get back into the studio!

I'm linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall FridayFriday Fabric Frenzy and Confessions of a Fiber Addict.  Go see all the wonderful work there!

Comments

Maybe overdye the extra yellow for more greens or some oranges?
Jaye said…
Yummy fabric! Is the female a new addition?
Nina Marie said…
Wow you have lilies already. Ours will be late due to our long winter. I love how even you got your hand dyes. I tend to go for a molted look.
Snowcatcher said…
What beautiful hand-dyed fabrics! I have had the same problem with attempting graduated tones with yellow... but you have such a beautiful stash, I'm sure something lovely will come of it!
Heather Pregger said…
Great idea, Penny! I'll be dyeing again on Monday, so I'll throw at least half of the yellow in to be over dyed.

Jay, we've always had three turtles. The female is generally shyer and we don't see her as much. She seems much bolder this summer.

Nina Marie, I do go for even dyeing. Lots of scrunching every 15 minutes or so. And we had a cold winter (for Texas) here, too. Everything is a little late -- the day lilies usually start in mid-May.

Snowcatcher, thank you! I think my gradations would have been more pronounced if I had measured my dye stock solution into the buckets. I just dumped. I've done better yellow gradations in the past. Just being lazy!
Regina B Dunn said…
Love the color show (of the fabrics and the flowers). I have a turtle that shows up at our house every few weeks. The other day it was right at the front door. How can I tell if it is male or female? Looks to be the same species as the one in your photo.
Thanks for the lovely eye candy!