hand sewing

I am not a lover of hand sewing - it is something I struggle with. I don't have the patience!! When the children were younger I used to machine stitch the name tags into their plimsols, anything rather than get the needle and thread out.
I appreciate that with some textiles it just gives it that finished and cared for feeling. So with the project I started using Sue Doves tutorial on this months Workshop on the Web and Gina from Fan my Flame I got together the fabrics, it is a lovely soft wool, I had been dyeing using Kool Aid and had a play.
I have included the photos as a sort of step by step stage. I am now making it up regarding where to go next.
I wish the Kool Aid did a blue colour way. Maybe they do but I haven't got it in my collection.
This will be a work in progress as I watch the tele, so it may not be finished for a while.

Treasure Boxes

I used the fabric I dyed yesterday to make some more of my treasure boxes. These are so exciting to make. A lovely mix of ribbons, ends of wool, sari ribbon and decorative machine stitching.
I make them in batches of three but each one is different.
I also did more of the Kool Aid dyeing, some lime green, black cherry, strawberry and grape. I am nearly at the stage of running out of dye. Good job one of the children is off to the States at the end of November! When the rest of the family came home yesterday the first question was - what had I been cooking. It led to disappointing faces when I said I had been colouring fabric!

Summer

I have been rather busy these past few weeks, away for the weekend, catching up with children who have returned from working abroad, organising surprise parties - with the help of niece and children and husband- for a sister who deserves some good times.

So although I have been still sewing and knitting they have been repair and alterations rather than new projects. This seems to have been the first day that I have had the house completely to myself.

Anyway, during the holidays my niece went off to America with a shopping list that included Kool Aid. After tracking it down in a grocery store and not the art shop!

I had read about this stuff and Quilting Arts had a feature on it. If you want the info leave a message and I will forward it to you.

It really was the easiest dyeing I have done. When the satchet was opened my mouth started watering!! The fabric absorbed all of the colour with no colour loss on rinsing.

The outcome is rather blotchy in places but once it has been embellished they will disappear.

I wonder what is in the powder? To leave fabric with this deep colour, it looks rather like the orange that the Hare Krishna wear. In the photo I don't seem to be able to capture the depth of colour.