More Mandalas -- Like Marbling in the Past, I Can't Stop!!

This was how I ultimately decided to finish this wall hanging.  It is now about 42 x 42 inches.  I wanted the mandala fabric to stand out.  The final border is one of the "drop" cloths I used in the dyeing and it certainly matches perfectly.

I couldn't help myself with making mandalas and this batch was the biggest surprise of all!!  I didn't use any drop cloths underneath and I literally did not know the fiber content of any of the fabric -- I knew they were 100% cotton but some were pfd, some were pfd mercerised (the best for color) and some were just plain old cotton.  I literally scrunched them randomly on three grates, piling them willy-nilly.  Altogether, there were 21 twenty-two inch squares and 3 eleven inch squares (to see if that would work).  I also did 2 plus size t-shirts.  I worked with the greens, sun yellow, intense blue and grape as well as some strong orange for a change of pace.  I won't even attempt to label all the mandalas I have pictured here.  If you look carefully, you can see the differences in fabrics by how much paler and fuzzier the designs are -- these were the muslin pieces I had.

These are the three smaller pieces which I grouped together.  I will definitely be doing more of these!!  This was pfd fabric that was not mercerised.

September RAFA Meeting

 There weren't many quilts that I could take pictures of as many were being shown  in a new display called Whence We Came -- there were some spectacular quilts in that category -- wish I could have taken their pictures!!  

This was a small wall quilt by Sue D that she had given to her college kid.  It was put on the door of whoever had a birthday.  I thought it was really cute and clever!

Elaine showed this beautiful quilt of an orchid.  the image as well as the quilting were wonderful.

 This was one of several quilts done by a new member Marie.  It was started at QBL in a class with Rosalie Dace.

This is a closeup of the previous quilt with the third panel opened up to show the sunset.

 Sarah showed this and the following scrap quilt.  I thought they were both wonderful and will save them in Pinterest in my Scrap Quilts folder.  I certainly have enough scraps!!

This was another quilt done by Marie!

Well, I started auditioning fabrics to go with my reject mandala.

Here I decided to make a skinny green and then light blue border.  Now what to fill in the side triangles with.  Here I am auditioning some of the "drop" cloths that had been underneath the mandalas.

I rejected the former one and went with this arrangement.  What you probably can see is that the triangles are just white fabric which I plan to quilt like crazy!

Yearly Visit to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

It was a gorgeous day for heading down south of here to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could see some migrating shorebirds.

This is a cute picture of two Tree Swallows.  Mama (the one on the right) is feeding junior a dragonfly she had caught.  I didn't see the dragonfly until I blew the picture up -- had thought it was a stick!

The first bird I spotted in  pond next to a large drainage ditch was this Greater Yellowlegs which I see here often.

I believe this is a Long-billed Dowitcher, another one I see often here.  He had dark legs.

There were several Kildeers -- I don't usually see them in the water!

 These birds were far away as were the above birds.  They are some sort of Sandpiper -- either stilt, lesser or Western.  

I always see Caspian Terns here.  These were all in that same shallow pond.  I think shallow ponds are the best for shore birds up here!!

Just as I was thinking I would like to see a Common Morehen among all the American Coots that were swimming in the drainage areas, I spotted several -- all heading away from me as fast as they could!

Did spot this Pied-billed Grebe among the Coots as well!

I didn't see any eagles this time although there are evidently several resident in the area.  I spotted Cormorants and egrets off in the distance.

I was there right at noon which is probably not the best time.  Altogether I counted around 15 species of birds that I could identify from my car -- not my best count there!

I did score some of my favorite dyeing fabric (Hoffman 1377) at  good price at the local Mennonite quilt shop.  Have already started using it.  More posts to follow!!

Some More Experiments on the Mandalas!

Whew, wanted to try again a color combination I have tried in the past but not as successfully as I would have liked!  I finally think I got it in  a couple of the pieces I did yesterday.  I should add that all the fabrics that I have been using were fabrics that were just laying about, obviously cut up for some reason but repurposed to do these mandalas.  I wasn't even sure if they were pfd or not!  The color palette that I have been trying to get in the mandalas is the orange/green/purple trio that I am most fond of and thought would lend itself well to mandalas.  I tried something a little different this time -- I sprinkled on the strong orange but sprinkled a lot of sun yellow on top of it.  I am super pleased with how this turned out and may try some other variations.  I just ordered 12 plastic shakers from Amazon as I like using these to sprinkle the dye -- seems to be more efficient and I don't use quite as much dye.  

I am still stacking them two deep and have been smushing them  bit now as well.  I also have been putting a large piece of smushed fabric underneath to catch even more dye.  the last couple of days I have been using some 60 in wide cotton single knit I got from Dharma years ago.

This is a piece of the knit which was underneath one of the sets of pieces.  the color is really bright and amazingly, the dye has already passed through 8 layers of Kona cotton which is a pretty heavy weight cotton!  I originally started dyeing these one yard lengths to make some nightgowns but am thinking I might do t-shirts instead or some other type of top to be determined.  

This is probably my favorite for the day.  It really looks like it was planned!  This was the underneath piece and the one below was the one on top.  I am beginning to think I should put a smushed fabric on top and see what happens.

These following pieces were mostly blue and purple but instead of putting them one on top of another with the center facing in the same direction, I decided to reverse one of the pieces and of course you get two pieces that only share the color palette but not the pattern even though one is on top of the other!

I know this one was on top by the patterning.

This was another one on top.

I think this drop cloth was under the first two fabrics and the one above was under the blue purple ones.

I did one of the larger t-shirts using the alternate patterning (and am wearing it right now!).  I kind of like the symmetrical patterning on one side (including the sleeve) and the random coloring on the other shoulder -- almost like two different fabrics.  I also did another t-shirt and a tank top for my younger daughter in this batch.  

The above are collages showing the differences between on top and on bottom fabrics.  

I also finished two more purses.  Because the faux suede is shiny, it doesn't photograph true to color.  It is a lot more subtle in person as there is quite a bit of taupe in the batik.  I have finished quite an assortment of bags and am working on the last of the bunch right now.  Haven't found any great short cuts though!