Some New Colors Added to the Palette for Mandalas

I finally finished quilting the Reject Mandala quilt.  I didn't use the flash for this picture so the color is  bit off but you can see the quilting in the white area.  There is some quilting in the mandala pieces but you can't see it.  I didn't do any quilting in the border and I have now added a darker green binding and will sew that on tonight.

In addition to the 12 mandalas I did, I did five t-shirts for my granddaughter using her favorite color -- turquoise!  I wasn't sure whether it would work even with the step I take of nuking it at the end.  Obviously it did!  All the t-shirts have two shades of blue and grape so hopefully she will like them!!  She is 7 and not yet as picky as some of the older kids.  The t-shirts did confirm my belief that the Kmart t-shirts dye the best.  These were okay but not as bright as those I do with the Kmart Basic Editions shirts.  These were from a dye house and were Hanes heavy but very reasonably priced.

 The Following six pieces were done adding Strongest Red (Prochem name for a non-pure red) that was probably six or seven years old.  I was worried that it would leave spots on the fabric so I put a drop cloth on top of some old stained 200 thread count muslin that was stored near my dye area.  I also used turquoise on some of these although not so much on this bunch.  I was thrilled with the results.  I did add a little Strong Orange and Sun Yellow as well.  They were scrunched six to a cookie rack stacked at least two deep.

 These next six were done using the Intense Blue, the greens and Turquoise.  I was very pleased with the results.  I was afraid this whole bunch of 12 wouldn't turn out because I was experimenting with new colors and was using my best pfd fabric (Hoffman 1377).  I was overwhelmed with the results.

 These were two of the drop cloths I used.  I believe the first one was the one I covered the fabric with and the second was underneath the more colorful mandalas. The fabric is definitely not mercerised but the color was nice and it covered up all the spots that I had splashed on this fabric and was a good use of it!

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!!