Dyeing Day and a New Quilt Start

Shortly after returning from Florida, Dianne and I met for a day of dyeing -- extreme overdyeing which results in 35 colors using 10 dye baths.  It is very labor intensive though but Dianne and I have gotten it down to a fine art and a predictable time schedule.  She always lets me pick the colors and I noticed we hadn't done any reds -- well, I think we overachieved.  There were some strange things happening which I think resulted from old dyes -- red seems to be the most sensitive.

The first set of dyes were Sun Yellow, Golden Yellow, a mix of half Strong Orange and half Rust Orange, Basic Brown and the Neutral Gray.  The overdyes were Mixing Red, Fuchsia, Strongest Red, Fire Red (Dharma),Scarlet (Dharma) and then Deep Navy.  I think the Fuchsia and Scarlet were weak -- the scarlet being the weakest as it dyed orange.  They were all 3% concentrations.  I overdye a couple of those red/oranges that look alike -- maybe with some black, brown or navy.

Just another view of the same fabrics.  I think it shows a little more variation this way.  I do like the effect of the gray, brown and navy.

This is the beginning of another quilt.  I bought a rhombus ruler after seeing a quilt made with it at my local quilt show in Rochester.  I already  have a name for it and a different direction -- it will be called Ode to Albers.  The reason for this can be seen in the chartreuse in the two blocks - they look like two different colors as they are affected by their surroundings -- this is what Albers did a lot of studies on and a principle I often emphasized when teaching a color class.  I have cut up a lot of those center rhombuses from scraps and was doing the same for the strips.  I will be cutting the strips of real yardage so I can do more strip piecing.  There is a lot of trimming with this block.  A rhombus is just a fat diamond.  

 No  blog would be complete without a few birds.  This was an Ibis wandering with a few friends down at Ft. Fisher.

 A large flock of Lesser Scaups has returned to Carolina Beach Lake.  I hadn't seen any last year but they were frequent visitors before.  This is one of the males.  They are diving ducks and they almost seem to dive as a group -- first one and then a bunch more follow.

Here is a group of four of the males.  

There are mostly Gadwalls now at the Aquarium pond.  Here is a male and his female friend.  There were also Buffleheads and Pied-billed Grebes and a beautiful Great Blue Heron.