Thursday 26 April 2012

More fabric Landscapes

Yesterday I found a matt and frame for my landscape picture:
Island Bay Beach, Wellington, New Zealand
These are photos printed onto fabric then machine embroidered
.
Today I started on another one - also a scene from New Zealand:
Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand (original pic)

I have started embroidering the snow and am now working on the tussocks in the front of the picture.
 (Check out that BEAUTIFUL BLUE Sky!!!!)

More photos of progress later

I have been looking for something more "Singapore" but its hard to find a picture that doesn't have buildings.  Maybe a nice orchid??

Oh and here are the two traditional  blocks I made for a friends birthday and a friend leaving:
Alisons Birthday Block
(made with my hand dyed fabrics)
Mels Block
Yesterday I also cut up one of my hand dyed fabrics and had a "play".

Not sure if I like this yet........



Happy Quilting!


Tuesday 24 April 2012

Landscapes

I have been taking a break from dyeing fabrics (ended up with dermatitis and had to explain to my bewildered doctor why my fingers were a strange shade of purple! ) and have been making some (gasp!) traditional blocks for friends that are having birthdays or leaving.  Don't get me wrong I like traditional blocks and I admire those that make them - I just don't make them well....I will post the pics tomorrow.....

Yesterday I decided to play around with landscapes and here is the picture so far....
This photo is of Island Bay in Wellington, New Zealand which I took in 2009.

I have been busy machine embroidering all the details in.  Just need to do the sea and the sky.  I think I will frame this and hang it on the wall at home.  Speaking of walls....my walls at home have been very bare over the last two months with my quilts hanging in the exhibition at Chinatown.  The quilts will be coming down shortly so if you still want to have a look they are at:

The Loft Cafe
1st Floor
cnr Smith St and South Bridge Road


Happy Quilting




Thursday 12 April 2012

Tie Dyeing Results

Here are the results for the tie dyeing that I did yesterday:

















And something a little easier on the eyes!

Today I also went to the Schmetz distributor in Singapore and met with General Manager  Rajan Jain.  He was fabulous and helped me out with  a retailer of Schmetz Sewing Machine needles here in Singapore.  Thanks Mr Jain and it was nice meeting you!  Now I can catch up on the free motion quilting challenge without having to worry about  sewing machine needles that break all the time.  What a difference good tools can make!

Also it is the last couple of weeks that my quilts will be on display at "The Loft" Cafe in Chinatown.
The address is:

"The Loft Cafe"
1st floor
cnr Smith St and South Bridge Road


They do great coffees and waffles too!

Today I also managed to get the flickr slideshow working again on my blog.  Yippee

Yes it was a great day today!!!

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Another Dyeing day

The last couple of days I haven't done much dyeing as I was finishing a friends quilt.  I really enjoyed finishing this other than I had a lot of trouble with my thread constantly breaking and breaking of sewing machine needles.  Spotlight didn't have my regular needles (schmetz) so I bought the Birch ones.  Boy did I ever regret that!

8 broken needles in  two weeks time!   Tomorrows job will be to find some proper needles!

Today I did another dyeing day seeing most of the tie dye from last week has already sold and it was a chance to test out the soda ash I bought.  I ripped up 15 yards of fabric and off I went.  Some of it is still washing and some will get washed later.

Tomorrow I will post the results......

Thursday 5 April 2012

Finally got the Soda Ash!

Yes Folks! I finally managed to get my hands on some Soda Ash here in Singapore......all 25kgs of it!

So....I have a little more than I need.

I have repacked them and have the following quantities for sale:

3 KGS S$10.00
2 KGS $8.00
1 KGS $4.00
Just drop me an email at mareb@clear.net.nz

Also know as Sodium Carbonate ,washing soda and dense soda ash.

 and what is it used for........

Adding to your washing to make it sparkly white
Ingredient in making your own washing powder
Neutralising the PH in your swimming pool/jacuzzi
Helps set Procion MX Fabric Dyes

and also something with gold manufacturing....

Now all I need is the two bolts of fabric that are on back order so I can do more dyeing....

Happy Quilting!