Rust Dyeing Kiln

The shower stall where the kiln will be

I chose to live in Madison, Wisconsin. That choice means I can only rust dye from April through October. Rust dyeing works best when it is hot and humid. Because I had a booth in mid October at International Quilt Festival-Houston and will have one at IQF-Chicago on April 16-18, I do not have enough stock for the Chicago show. So I am building a rust dyeing kiln in my basement!!! Hopefully this will allow me to continue rust dyeing throughout the very cold Wisconsin winter. Anyone who has done any rust dyeing will attest that it is messy! This means I am building the kiln as far away as I can get from the laundry room. It will be in the basement shower stall. There is a sink in the bathroom for rinsing out the rust dyed fabric.

Shower stall lined with insulation foam

Tote Tuesday

Tote Tuesday logo was designed by Jeanelle McCall

Tote Tuesday, a Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will open Tuesday, February 2 and continue through March. It’s a fundraiser and a showcase for everything that is fun and creative about the fiber arts. It is being organized by Virginia Spiegel, who ran the amazing Collage Mania, that raised over $190,000 for the ACS in just four years. She has over thirty totes listed with the actual number of sponsored totes in-progress approaching fifty. You can read more about it on Virginia's blog:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/

I am going sponsoring a tote called The Rust-Tex Collection. My tote is scheduled to be up for auction on Feb 2. Here is a picture of what will be in the 100% cotton tote, which you could rust dye after you get it.

Here is the blurb I wrote for Tote Tuesday:
"The Rust-Tex Collection has everything you need to get started in rust dyeing including the Rust-Tex Instructional CD. Rust Dyeing is unpredictable, but Lois Jarvis has figured out 4 techniques that will give you repeatable patterns. Also in the tote, is the Rust-Tex Starter Kit that includes everything needed to create the “Trees” pattern, one of the four techniques on the CD, and 4 steel stars that are guaranteed to rust are just some of the things in the 100% cotton tote that you could be rust dyed after you pop the CD in your computer and learn how to rust dye."

Here is the list of what will be in The Rust-Tex Collection tote:

Rust-Tex Instructional CD
Kit to make "Trees Fabric"
Tannin (enough to make a quart)
1.5oz bottle synthrapol
Tube of iron fillings
4 steel stars (guaranteed to rust)
100% cotton tote for rust dyeing
Fat Quarter of Stormy Skies Fabric
Fat Quarter of Trees Fabric
Fat Quarter of Sunburst Fabric

With a retail value of $96 I am sure you will all want to bid on it. I will post where to do the bidding closer to Feb 2.

My Hexagon Crazy Quilt

I accepted a commission on Halloween 2008 to make 3 crazy quilts for an 83 year old woman, one for each of her 3 daughters. She had sewn all her life, but was not a quiltmaker. She wanted me to use all the fabric she had sewn with as well as suits from her deceased husband. She had taught for Stretch and Sew so her fabric collection included polyester double knits. When I went to her house on Halloween 2008 she had the fabric sorted into these 8 tote boxes. All the fabric in the boxes with a zero on them had to be in all the quilts. After that I was to use fabric in the number one boxes and if I still needed fabric I was to use the one in the boxes marked 2. This woman had given me enough fabric to make 12 quilts!!!

She had carefully taken apart each piece of clothing. I would have cut off the seams. She opened each seam and pressed it flat. I had an entire skirt and all the fabric from each suit!!! I promptly cut three smaller chunks from each of the largest pieces and put a safety pin it it. I cut a chunk from each and every piece in all the boxes. The safety pin was my way to keep track of the fabric that had been in the zero boxes.

I was glad to have a lot of tables in my studio at QSDS because I needed room to spread out all the fabric and sort it by color. There were a large variety of greens which didn't all go together. There were a lot of plaids and some went together beautifully and some clashed. And the double-knits...using a ball point needle for this entire project was my secret defense. Above you can see for yourself some of what I had to deal with.
Here is a picture of the finished quilt. This one was a twin the other two are to be queen size.

Why a hexagon? The last thing she said to me was not to make it in blocks. Could I make it all in one piece? While at the Mancuso Show in Schaumburg, IL, I saw a hexagon crazy quilt and decided that would be a good not-a-block format. As you can see some of the blocks flow into each other. I started to think my client had never seen a crazy quilt. Last fall there was a show of antique crazy quilts in Madison. I sent her to this show. The queen size quilts will be in a block format.

Here is a sampling of some of the hexagons blocks I made.

This one was all plaids. I use a lot of hearts in my work. Luckily she loved hearts as much as I do. She didn't actually give me the red buttons. She was a sewer, so I took artistic license and sewed them on. She like them too.

The red one below is from her husband's silk suit that he had custom made in Hong Kong. On this piece I left the pocket open and surrounded it with other reds. And on this one I used some of the many suit cuffs that had buttons on the cuffs. All in all she was very pleased with this first quilt. It was delivered Aug 1, 2009. The next one is due Feb 1, 2010. So I have to get going on it soon.

More Reasons I Didn't Post Much This Summer

I was at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium for a week. I signed up for a private studio because of a commission I needed to complete. Usually the private studio is a hotel room with the beds removed. But QSDS had an extra classroom that week. QSDS runs for an entire month. The classrooms floors are covered with clear plastic to keep the floors free of paint, dye, threads and whatever else fiber artists use that can damage carpets or cannot be easily vacuumed off carpeting. Because they wanted to keep the classroom set up that extra classroom became my private studio. Below is a picture of a class room full of students. The picture below is of MY studio. It was way cool to have so many tables because I was working on a crazy quilt commission. To learn why I needed all those tables come back tomorrow.

Why I Didn't Post Much this Summer Con't

Another thing I did this summer was go to the Quilt Surface Design Symposium in Columbus, OH. It was just a short hop up from there to the Dairy Barn where Quilt National was hung. I had always wanted to go to see Quilt National. Because we arrived shortly before the QSDS bus arrived and some of the quilt creators were at QSDS and on the bus, we got to hear them talking about their quilts.

It was amazing to hear what inspired their quilt and how they captured it in fiber!!!

Why I Didn't Post Much This Summer

There were many reasons that I didn't do much rust dyeing this summer. I spend a lot of time stripping the paint from the woodwork that had been in the girl's room.

Here is a picture of my studio assistant helping me strip the woodwork. I REALLY didn't have any work for her to do in the studio that day. She is a collage student, who has been working for me since she was in high school. I asked her if she would mind helping me stripping paint from the woodwork. I told her I would pay her the same hourly wage she makes as my studio assistant. She readily agreed.

I had planned to stain the woodwork but I felt the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX was looming on the horizon. I needed to get some rust dyeing done to fill my double booth. I asked a woodworker I know, if he would finish up the job I had started. He agreed and told me I have saved myself about $400 by doing the stripping myself. I was relived to hear that because I prefer rust dyeing to stripping paint!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Rust-Tex Stars

At Quilt Expo in Madison, WI, there is a woman who buys star blocks from me every year since the show began in 2005. At that time she wanted a few stars to add to a jacket she was making, maybe sew one on the pocket. In 2007, I remember she brought the stars she had to get some more to match. This year she bought some more stars. I recognized her and asked if she ever made the jacket and she said, "No, I never did. But now I have enough stars to make a wall hanging."

The bag shown above was made by someone completely different, who actually used her Rust-Tex stars and other Rust-Tex fabric she bought and made this wonderful bag for her friend!!!

I would like a friend like that!!!

Aprons for Sale

Here are a few of the vintage aprons I will have in my booth, #1151, at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX Oct 14-18, 2009. They were hanging in my laundry room to dry. I washed them in the washing machine being careful to rubber band the apron string together so they wouldn't become tangled. My mistake was not making the rubber bands tight enough. I wanted the aprons to get really clean so I didn't put the rubber bands on very tight. After the 45 minute wash cycle the apron strings were all tangled up...sigh...after spending five minutes untangling them I decided to hang them to dry so the strings would not get tangled up in the dryer!!!

Quilts for AAQI

Cat in the Vine Garden # 4418

Here are the three quilts I made for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. These donation quilts are usually sold in a auction that last 10 days. Mine are going to International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX to be sold at a set price.

Wild Cat in the Garden #4420

The above quilt is pieced with Rust-Tex fabric in the tiny .5" squares. Seven other quilts using Rust-Tex fabric will also be sold in Houston. They are from last year's Stay at Home Challenge, to give quilters who can not go to Houston something to do. I donated pieces of Rust-Tex fabric to any one who would make a quilt for AAQI. I also made a donation for everyone finished by a certain date, and that number turned out to be 22!

Two Roses #4419

I will be working the booth for a couple of hours so come on by if you are in Houston. If you are not in Houston you can follow which quilts sold AAQI on Twitter .

Rust-Tex Class Review

This is the fabric that we make in my rust dye class

"Thank you again for such a great class experience. Any of you out there who have the opportunity to take a class from Lois...do so...you will be very pleased."

The above is an unsolicited review of the rust dye class I taught at Quilt Expo. The next time I will be teaching it will be at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX on Wed morning Oct 14, 9am-12pm. Hope you can take it.

If you can't make it to Houston, I will be teaching it for the Illinois Quilters Incorporated on Friday February 5 from 9am-Noon.

Cats

I have not posted in a long time because life gets in the way.

As you know I garage sale every Friday with my DH. One day we found a metal cat that was painted black. Of course I HAD to buy him. Using my DH's Dremmel tool I sanded off the paint to make a striped cat on one side and a calico cat on the other side. The resulting fabrics are shown near the picture of the sanded piece. Of course they print in reverse.

Cool huh???

Quilt Expo is Coming Soon!

You can register for the classes and lectures that will be held at Quilt Expo in Madison, WI, September 11-13 online by clicking on the link below:
http://www.wiquiltexpo.com/
If you want to take my rust dyeing class on Saturday from 1-4, sign up for class # Q09HPA-S, cost is $55.

If you don't want to get your hands dirty sign up for the Power Point Presentation, Thursday September 10, 2009, 10:00 am Class # Q09BH-T or Friday September 11, 2009, 10:00 am class # Q09BH-F, cost is $10.
If you are just not that into rust dyeing there are 144 lectures, 24 hands on workshops and 36 sit and sew classes to choose from. So be sure to check it out and sign up for something that you will enjoy!

The picture of the day is the trees fabric because that is the kind of fabric we make in the class. I also demo 4 other techniques.

Batavia, IL

I will be vending at the Quilt and Textile Show in Batavia, IL this week-end. Actually the show starts Friday at 1pm. I will again bring my quilt, Ground Zero. If you have only seen this quilt on the internet and you live in the Chicagoland area. This is your chance to see it in the cloth.

(Which is soooo much better.) The picture of the day is from 2007 when my quilt, Ground Zero, was first displayed there.

Here is the link to the Batavia Quilt Show, so you can print the $1 off admission coupon:

http://bataviaquiltshow.com/

Sound Bites

Yesterday I was cleaning up the chinchilla cage to move the now vacated cage, to the garage, as I vacuumed the rug I realized I would never hear that noise again. After 15 years of vacuuming up little hard chinchilla poops, I got used to hearing the plinking noise as they ran up the vacuum hose. I will hear it again this winter as it is the same noise made by vacuuming rock salt from the rugs in the winter. It will make me remember the happy times when the girls all lived here and the house was filled with laughter and the call of, "Chinchilla on the floor".

Chinchilla's are great escape artists. And Willy was always trying to make a break for it. It usually took all five of us to catch him!!!

Winter will bring another great chinchilla memory to me. Every year at Christmas time we put them in the Christmas tree before we decorated it. The picture of the day is Gigi 2006 Christmas portrait.

Thursday was a Sad Day

On Thursday we had to have our 15 year old chinchilla put to sleep. We had two chinchillas. They we born in the same year. Gigi came to live with us two years after Willy.

They are immortalized in the center block of "Our Pets" a wool wall hanging that will hang in our dining room, whenever I get it finished. That is Willy on the Left and Gigi on the right.

Another reason I have not had time for rust-dyeing is I have been feeding her for the past three weeks with a syringe, 3-4 times a day 20-30 minutes a time. On Wednesday she was having trouble swallowing. She had a massive growth just below the jaw. The vet said they are finding that many chinchillas in captivity are succumbing to jaw problems. Willy died 4 years ago from an infected abscess in his jaw.

The vet said Gigi and Willy will be together again in the great dust bath in the sky. If you have never seen a chinchilla take a dust bath, you are missing out on one the joys of having a chinchilla. Click here to watch a 25 second one of a chinchilla that looks a lot like Gigi and is the same kind of bath house we had...sigh...

No Rust Dyeing This Week!

Our Middle Daughter will be home for the summer. She said she would like to repaint what we always called the "girl's bedroom". I said, "Great, I will have it drywalled." Since this project started, last Monday, I have not been able to do ANY rust dyeing...sigh...

This shot shows the yucky green color and the cracked plaster the girls lived with since we moved into the house 22 years ago.
Here is that same wall after the plaster was removed. It shows the old electric wiring. The cable on the left is a network cable that comes up from the basement next to the heat vent.

Here is the new electric. DH added 3 outlets and put the network cable and a phone land line in a box. In this picture you can see the network cable is still loose and laying in the heat vent. Here are the two young guys who hung the drywall. They were moving soooo fast I could only catch them as a blur with my camera.

Here is the same wall as the first picture with the dry wall hung and the first coat of mud waiting to dry.

I only wish I could have afforded to do this before our three daughter's left the nest.

Sacred Threads

My quilt, Ground Zero, is currently on display at Sacred Threads, in Reynoldsburg, OH, which is near Columbus, OH, until June 28. I was there for the artist reception last Saturday.

Here is a picture of my quilt hanging in the show.

One Hot Day!!!

On Tuesday my studio assistant (SA)and I donned our gloves so we could do some rust dyeing. On that day the temperature here in Madison, WI reached 94 F. The inside of the rubber gloves became...lets say...uncomfortable. SA said those would have to be her gloves for the rest of the summer. I asked her what she meant by that. She explained that no one else would want to wear gloves full of her sweat. I told her after we turned them inside out and dried them no one would know they had once be full of her sweat, unless they ran a DNA test.

The picture of the day shows the gloves drying on the clothesline.

County Wide Electronics Recycling Event

Today started off too wet for garage saleing. That was good as we had planned to take a carload of unwanted electronics to be recycled. Here in the city of Madison, WI we have to pay a $10 fee to get rid old CPU's, monitors, laptops, or televisions. Today Dane County sponsored a free drop off day. The following two photos show what we took to be recycled. If you carefully count everything you can see we saved $100.

(When I put these three on the back seat I thought of our three daughters who used to ride in those seats.)

It took us about an hour to get to the drop off point even though there were eight lanes of cars!!!

It is estimated that by the time workers got everything packed away in 35 semitrailers the total load will approach 250 tons.

The weather dried out after that, so we garage sailed for 90 minutes, I went to UFO Club, took a tour of a neighborhood garden, attended an auction between my house and the garden tour, (where I did NOT bid on the Featherweight sewing machine), did some rust dyeing, dug some weed trees out of the yard, made diner and folded the laundry. I will sleep soundly tonight!!!