What I Did This Week-End

No rust dyeing for me this week-end. My YD (Youngest Daughter) and two of her art school friends came here to learn something about fiber art from me. I am thrilled that the next generation is interested in fiber art and welcomed them warmly into my studio and by the end of the week-end into my heart. One of the young women was taking embroidery thread, a hoop and fabric to her figure drawing class as her drawing tools. The next two pictures are examples of what she did in class.

Very cool!!!

But hand stitching takes a very long time. I taught her free-motion machine embroidery and here is what she did with it.

She was talking about taking a sewing machine to class!!! They are students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design so I am pretty sure she would be allowed use it.

The picture below is another piece by her that she wanted some advice on. I told her to join the Quiltart List and Studio Art Quilts Associates because I don't think she needs ANY advice on how to make fiber art.

Buttons, Buttons Everywhere!!!

Yesterday my studio assistant helped me finish sorting the loose buttons so I can bag them up to sell in my booth at International Quilt Festival, April 17-19, 2009.They are going into 3" x 3" bags. Here is one all finished up.
Here are 9 all finished up.

That makes 9 down and 9 zillion to go. Wish me luck.

A Gift

The husband, of a friend of mine, made the pen pictured above from an acrylic block. She thought it looked so much like my Rust-Tex fabric that she insisted he give it to me. I am very thankful to have a friend with a good visual memory and a talented husband! This picture shows the sparkles in the depth of the acrylic as the sun was shinning on it when I took it picture.

If you would like my friend's husband to make you a Rust-Tex pen you can contact Mary at this address: nonfiction43 at hotmail dot com

Tell them Lois sent you!

It Is Good To Be Back

I try to post as often as possible during the rust-dyeing season which here in Madison, WI is mid April to mid Oct. I did a rust dyeing activity this week I think you should know about. Through the store at Rust-Tex.Com someone ordered a packet of rust dust. It is used with tannin, rust flakes and a rusty pan to make what I call "Stormy Skies" fabric.

Stormy Skies Fabric

I had rust dust but it was not bagged up and ready for sale so I decided I would bag some up in the indoor Rust-Tex studio in the basement as it was too cold to work in the outdoor Rust-Tex studio on the deck. I put on a dusk mask as I usually do and started to process the rust dust. I noticed it settling on EVERYTHING. My laundry room is the next open space over from the Rust-Tex studio so I quit after I had enough rust dust to make a 1.5oz bag. When I blew my nose I knew it was time to invest in a respirator!!!

I did some research on what kind to buy. I went out that night and bought a particle respirator. I was able to work outside the next day. After fitting the respirator carefully to my face I made 7 bags of rust dust and 12 bags of rust flakes. When I blew my nose after an hour and a half the tissue was perfectly clean. Good investment!!!

A Strange Weather Day

At 11:50 am, I went out to get the mail and bring in the garbage cans, it was starting to snow. You could hear the sound of sleet hitting dry leaves.

Around 12:10, when Eldest Daughter (ED) and SIL arrived for lunch, the big flakes had started to fall.

By 12:30 The boiling water from our pasta lunch had steamed up the kitchen windows, obscuring the view and it looked like a full blown blizzard.

When ED and SIL left close to 12:45 the sun was shinning.

What a strange transition from fall to winter we experienced today.

Stay at Home Challenge

You can see all the quilts that were created for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, including the ones created with the Rust-Tex fabric I sent, by clicking on the link below:

http://dianedidit.com/stayathome.html

...

The Rust-Tex ones are pretty easy to pick out, with the exception of #3324 "Fox in the Flowers". Tobi saw a fox head in the random patterning created by the rust dyeing. She enhanced what she saw with a bit of color pencil and then surrounded the fox head in golden flowers and leaves.

Another one you might not think was made of rust dyed fabric is #3301 "Faded Glory". I sent Diane a piece of Stormy Skies fabric and she made it into big gray flower.

Heather was able to make 4 quilts from the 10" square of Rust-Tex I sent her. Yeah, Heather!!!

Rusted Hearts Still Hold Love Debbie Krueger

I didn't mention, in my post on Nov 4th that shows some of these quilt, that not only did I send out pieces of Rust-Tex fabric to use in making these quilts, but that I would also make a donation to AAQI for each quilt finished by a certain day. The Stay at Home Challenge group completed 22 by the deadline. As the email I sent each person who asked for rust dyed fabric said, "Together, we can make a lot of money for Alzheimer's research."

And I was right!!!

Indoor Studio: Success

The move of the Rust-Tex Dye Studio to the basement has been quite successful.

Yesterday I set up a black dye pot .

Today I rinsed out four silk scarves that will be perfect to include in the new travel scarf kit that I will soon be offering for sale.

These scarves have not been washed, so I saw no point in ironing them just to make the picture look good. My friend, the photo stylist, might disagree with me on that point.

Escape Plan Foiled

My DH nailed a piece of wood over the hole Keekum has chewed in the back of his cage.

Will this simple act begin the magical transformation of my DH into a patchworker? I hope so!

A True Story for Election Day

Ami Simms began the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) because she thinks it is possible to make a difference, one quilt at a time. She asks quilters to make "Priority Quilts", so named by the requirement that these quilts must fit into a cardboard USPS priority mailer without folding. They are small works of art no larger than 9 inches by 12 inches. All the money raised from the sale of these quilts funds Alzheimer's research.

Rusty Leaves Jenny Williams

These small quilts are sometimes sold outright at selected venues across the United States. Ami took 1,000 PQ to the Houston Quilt Show and I am hoping she didn't bring any back with her to Michigan.

Wine & Cheese Under the Stars 2 Beth Hartford

What?

You were not at the Houston Quilt Show so didn't get a chance to buy a PQ in person????

Relax!!!

You can buy one on the auction page of the AAQI and you are in luck because the auction starts tomorrow, Nov 5!!!!

Free Spirit Everlasting Kathryn Kistner

I have been supporting the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, not by actually making quilts to be auctioned off, but by sending pieces of Rust-Tex fabric to members of the quiltart list who accepted the Stay At Home Challenge. (We stayed at home instead of going to the Houston Quilt Show...sigh...)

All the quilts in today's post were made from the 10"-11" square of Rust-Tex fabric I sent out to those who requested it.

Catch A Falling Star Ann E. Ruthsdottir

One member of the SAHC wrote this:

Back in 2002 my siblings and I realized that dementia was seriously affecting both of our parents. My mother had classic Alzheimer's symptoms, but my father's symptoms were not as clear. As part of the process of having them both diagnosed, I took them to see a geriatric psychiatrist. I sat with each of them as the Doctor ran through all the typical questions:

What day is it? Mom had no idea.
What are the names of your children? Dad got 4 out of 5.
Who's the President? They each independently answered this question exactly the same way: "We don't know, but we don't like him."

Faded Glory Diane Petersmarck

And that's why I support the AAQI and Ami's effort to change the world one quilt at a time.

PAQA Vidcast

The picture of the day is in celebration of a beautiful fall day!

Click on the link to see what a meeting of the

Professional Art Quilters Alliance is like:

http://www.bonniemccaffery.com/vidcasts/028.html

...sorta.

Follow this link to see the PAQA website:

http://artquilters.com/

Keekum, Are You Planing To Escape?

We keep our pet rabbit, Keekum, in a cage that we bought used more than 20 years ago for our first pet rabbit. Although it has served three pet rabbits well, the wood is starting to weaken. So when my DH first showed me this hole in the back of the cage, I thought someone had punched a hole through the wood. On closer examination I could see that Keekum has been chewing on this board.

I am not sure if he is trying to ventilate the back room where his litter box is kept or planning an escape. Either way I think we had better get a patch on it soon because I don't think he would know what to do if he met a predator in the night. He knows he is at the bottom of the food chain. When threaten he totally surrenders.

Lasting Impatience

While I was packing up the outdoor studio I moved this impatience near the front door. I thought I could extend its life by bringing it in at night when the temperature was below freezing. So far it has been out every night and seems to be thriving. I even saw some buds on it yesterday.

Just in Time for Halloween

The Rust-Tex Indoor Dye Studio is in the same condition as the last picture I posted. As I have been busy doing other things. Like baking these finger cookies for DH to take to work tomorrow.
It was really his idea and the past two years he made them mostly by himself. This year I shaped all of them. He put the "knuckle" marks and the fingernail on them.

You can find many recipes with lots of variations on the web. Just use "finger cookies" for your search argument. Our personal variation is to put a bread sitck in the cookie. We make the bread stick almost as long as the cookie and leave it hanging out the end like a broken bone. The change in texture from sugar cookie to bread stick adds a terrifying dimension to eating one of our cookies. That texture change makes you think of brittle bones.

wahhhh-hahahahaha

Just in Time!!!

I got the Rust-Tex studio into the garage just in time as the first snow of the season descended upon us.Don't be fooled, this picture is from February 18, 2008

Today it was 40F and the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. Temperatures in the 60sF are predicted for the week-end.

Click here to see how the Rusty Naked Dancing Woman woman is coming along.

Bad News/Good News

The bad news is, no more beautiful summer days for any of us in the Midwest area of the USA. But for me it meant packing up the Rust-Tex dye studio on the deck...sigh...here is a picture of how it looked after the last load was removed to the garage for winter storage. The good new is, I am going to carve out a tiny corner of the basement to create an indoor rust dye studio. Although I will still be in my cold and damp WI basement studio, it won't be all bad. If fact here are a couple of things I am looking forward to:

ONE

I can be as messy as I want to be. I won't have to be careful not to get water on the floor and flakes of rust all over the place. There is a floor drain and I won't be using the laundry room sink

TWO

There is a hook where I can hang up my Rust-Tex lab coat. You know, the one with the Rust-Tex logo over the pocket

Here is a picture of it already hanging there waiting for me put it on when I try to carve out a place for a table from this area of the basement, which is just outside the bathroom.

I know just what you are thinking,

"GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!!"

I will post pictures of how it turns out.

Naked Dancing Woman

Someone ordered the Rust-Tex Instructional CD today through the store on Rust-Tex.Com and this is what she is planning to do:

"Am really excited...have been doing a little rusting on my own as I want to make a piece of a rusty old naked dancing woman to celebrate my 65th birthday...think my joints are getting rusty so rusty fabric seems the way to go to express my joy at making it to age 65."

Good thing she lives in FL where the rust dyeing season never ends.

Here, in WI, the season is drawing to a close...sigh...I am planning to pack up the rest of the Rust-Tex dye studio this week-end. The good news is I am thinking of setting up a Rust-Tex dye studio in a corner of the basement so I can rust dye fabric in the winter. It won't be as much fun as rust dyeing outside on the deck. I won't be able to "be as messy as I want to be". I will have to be careful not to get water on the floor and flakes of rust all over the place.
When your rust dyes studio starts to look like this EVERYDAY you know it is time to pack it up.

Still Another Question

This question arrived by emailed today:

"Does the tannin have a short shelf life, once it's mixed with hot water? I have a silk shawl that is not accepting the tannin. The tannin was mixed with hot water several days ago and has worked well on other cotton and silk pieces, but it is now cool and several days old. Do you think if it is heated again it will dye better—or should I just dump it and mix a fresh batch?"

When tannin is mixed with iron oxide you get black.

It is available at the store at Rust-Tex.Com

I have not noticed tannin going bad in 2 or 3 days!!! I put it in a bottle and let it sit on the deck until it grows moldy. That is a sure sign to toss it. My experience is that it works best, (read as fastest) in hot weather. If you are doing this outside in cold weather it will take longer to work. Try letting it sit longer than overnight.

Prairie Treasures Quilt Show

I will be vending at the Prairie Star Quilters Guild show this week-end. Come and see Rust-Tex fabric in the cloth, because it is so much better then on the internet. Follow this link for more information:

http://www.prairiestar.net/quiltshow.html

I will bring the same rust dyeing supplies that I carry in the store at Rust-Tex.com and MORE!!! If you let me know you are a Rust-Tex.blogspot.com reader, I will give you a free gift.

(There is no picture of the day as my hard drive failed and EVERYTHING has to be reinstalled...sigh...)

Another Question

To answer the comment left on the last post, "Is there something you can do to the tannin effect so that it doesn't wash out if you want to overdye it? I tried soaking my tannined piece and it started to soften around the edges. Any advice?"

Tannin is used in natural dyeing as a premordant so I am surprised that it is washing out. Rust dyeing is sensitive to ph levels. If you are soaking it in soda ash in preparation for procion dyeing that might be what is causing it to "soften around the edges."

More Crystals

It seems I am fated to grow crystals this week in the Rust-Tex Dye Studio. All day yesterday there was a strong dry wind blowing and it was HOT. We finally had our first 90F day of the summer. I was out to the studio (read: deck) every hour to rehydrate fabrics. I was getting frustrated until I remembered there is a way to utilize those weather conditions by making what I call "Copper Hills" fabric. I have not used the copper solution since last fall and it was STRONG!!! These little crystals formed at the top of all the ridges. Most the copper color rinsed out and the fabric was less than spectacular.The best thing to come out of the Rust-Tex studio yesterday was the picture of the crystals.