Once Madame La Poste gave me detailed instructions on how to dye your
own laces for decorating crazy quilts and so forth. This weekend I decided it was time to have a
try and of course I couldn’t immediately lay my hands on the papers she had
carefully hand written and given to me which meticulously set out all the processes which
needed to be followed. Feeling the need
to strike while the iron was hot I forged ahead regardless (probably doing the
whole thing in a completely wrong way) and was quite pleased with the
result. If you are going to dye your own
laces you need to use the shiny looking rayon ones and not nylon lace (which
won’t take the dye and which isn’t anywhere near as nice anyway). The fumes can be a bit overpowering so it is best
to make sure you have good ventilation when you get out your dye pots, my eyes
were streaming by the time I finished. It
is interesting experimenting with the colours, I obtained lots of different
shades by just starting off with a red, blue and yellow dye and mixing them in
small plastic containers to achieve different colours. Wet the laces first and
then squeeze them to remove excess water so that they are just moist, and away
you go. The colours bleed into each
other where they meet but this just adds to the effect and if you use very fine
brushes to apply the dyes you can be reasonably accurate in placement – except
when a big blob of the wrong colour drops into the middle of an otherwise
perfect area of painted lace, of course!
After the laces had air dried I soaked them in water to prevent the
likelihood of future colour run disasters and then hung them out to dry. I was very pleased with the effect and can’t
wait to have another try, this time increasing the number of shades used.
Not wanting to be wasteful I used the remains of the dye to colour some wool scraps and now have a lovely soft mauve shade for wool appliqué projects. Hopefully next week I can make a start, and instead of being too ambitious and setting about making a full sized quilt struck upon the idea of making a needle book or two to hone my skills.
We had a good time in
the garden this weekend. Mr Shoestring
was burying the cable for the “fountain” and I heard him use some very
colourful language while he tried to sort that out. Fortunately I was inside playing with my lace
painting so a safe distance away.
Finally it was all buried (must remember not to be enthusiastic with my
trowel and spade in that part of the garden in future), and he planted his box
plants around the edge of the fountain to soften the effect. It is going to look grand, how pleased with
the result he is. I put in this
spectacular euphorbia – note how it has a red “eye”.
Euphorbias are very rewarding, they thrive in
hot dry conditions and once they are established most will send seed around the
nearby garden and give you lots of babies.
In the back garden where I wanted to start a white garden I put in a
lovely white azalea. It is supposed to
be scented and I remember once reading a book where the author described an
overpowering scent from azaleas. Scent
is such a personal thing, I can never detect much perfume in azaleas which are
described as being scented and sometimes suspect a fair bit of exaggeration
when describing scented plants, in order to make them sound more
desirable. The lilies are coming ahead
by leaps and bounds and I put in basil and lettuce seedlings also this
weekend. I was quite surprised to see
people buying tomato plants also, this was traditionally a Labour weekend job
so they are getting in early and I hope the warm weather holds so they can
enjoy an early crop.
A few of last year's tulips gave a repeat performance this season, though it isn't really cool enough for them in our conditions
A few months ago I
picked up this lovely old picture of a World War II land girl from a market and
have been pondering what to do with it.
I particularly like the fact that this winsome creature manages to look
so fetching in her jodhpurs and thick knitted sweater, to be honest I can’t
think of many ladies who could carry off this look successfully!
I have also come by these two posters and now
am on the hunt for some old picture frames so they can all hang in the sewing
room and inspire me as I toil away there with the recalcitrant overlocker and more
even tempered sewing machine, putting together some dresses for summer.
Embarrassingly the
hexagon fever I have experienced of late has showed no signs of abating. After working away diligently on the one with
a garden theme I couldn’t resist the urge to fussy cut some pretty teacups with
flowers with them and some hexies to go round them. You can still see the tacking stitches holding the papers in place, they will be eventually removed but not until the quilt nears completion - a very long time in the future I predict. A very pink/blue colour palette and not my
usual style at all, but very enjoyable as a break from quilting the never
ending tumbling blocks quilt (which I suspect is unquilting itself while my
back is turned as progress is glacial now).
All too soon the
weekend was over and it was time to get back to work, very mystifying how the
clock seems to speed up on Friday nights through to Monday morning! Luckily this working week the week was broken up
because Lord and Lady Raglan came to town to celebrate Lord Raglan’s
birthday. We took ourselves out and had
a slap up feast and a good chin wag.
Thank you Lord Raglan for your treating us, and many happy returns.
