For this I used the rest of the dyes I’d mixed for the last batch of snow dyeing. I did not warm the fabric after, and I tried two pieces – one with soda ash added to the fabric beforehand, one with it added after.

The completed first assessment piece for the City & Guilds course. I am very happy with how it turned out. I didn’t need to make any changes or adjustments along the way really, except for switching to free motion quilting on the more muted leaves to make them look more organic.

fuchsia 0.25 tsp powder in 1/3 cup water
turquoise 4 tsp powder in 1 cup water
yellow 5 tsp powder in 2/3 cup water

then from those, made the following mixtures:
3 tsp green 3 tsp yellow
1.5 tsp green 4.5 tsp yellow
4.5 tsp green 1.5 tsp yellow
2 tsp green 2 tsp yellow 2 tsp fuchsia
3 tsp green 3 tsp yellow 1 tsp fuchsia
1 tsp green 3 tsp yellow 2 tsp fuchsia
1 tsp green 3 tsp yellow 1 tsp fuchsia
3 tsp green 1 tsp yellow 2 tsp fuchsia
3 tsp green 1 tsp yellow 1 tsp fuchsia
then added another 1/4 cup water to dilute further

dissolved 6 tbsp soda ash in 4 cups water

soaked 15 15″x15″ pieces of sunshine cotton
soaked 3 yds of 36″ cotton muslin from Joann (not sure all of this got soda ash, but this was cheaper fabric to put under the initial layer of fabric, to catch the remaining dye)

scrunched cheaper cotton muslin on bottom of grate, scrunched pieces of sunshine cotton on top.
covered with a few inches of snow, drizzled dyes on top, left in bathtub

Being on a grate, the fabric dried out after the snow melted through. Overall I had just under 10 tsp dye in just over 4 cups of water, plus snow. Could try more dye for more intensity, or adding urea to keep moisture in, and perhaps soda ash after rather than before.

Soda ash mix:
3 tbsp dissolved in 1 cup warm water

Dye mixes (Turquoise, Fuchsia, Yellow) :
1.5 tsp dye dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Fabric:
Sunshine 100% cotton from Len’s Mill Store, washed & dried. Cut into 15″ square pieces, roughly.

For each piece of fabric:
2 tbsp soda mix
3 tsp dye, total

Each pair of dyes was tested in a range of ratios: 1:5, 2:4, 3:3, 4:2, 5:1.

2 tbsp soda ash in 2 cups water.
Approx. 2 tsp dye in 100 mls.
Soaked 12 15″x15″ squares fabric in soda ash. Layered 2 pieces each in foil pans and disposable Tupperware. Packed snow on top, drizzled dye over snow. Pure turquoise, fuchsia, yellow, and 50/50 mixes of each pairing. Let sit for 24 hours.

No grate, so this was sitting in the melted snow water. Overall, had 12 tsp dye in 2.5 cups water, plus snow. Colours were strong.

Juliet is in grade one. Several weeks ago she came home with an assignment to take a collection of 100 items into her class on the 100th day of school.

We brainstormed a lot of possibilities, including a quilt of 100 squares. Which is the option she chose. As luck would have it, years before, I had an idea for an all-blue I Spy quilt, and therefore had many blue fabrics with pictures.

Juliet chose all the pictures and squares to cut, and helped with the cutting. She drew and painted some of the squares for it. She sewed every seam with me*, handling the presser foot while I helped guide the fabric. And after my sewing machine gets a well-deserved tune-up, she will learn to do the decorative quilting.

Here she is with her creation:

*Except for the second time I sewed the batting and backing on, after I layered it the wrong way first.

The flowers for the pillow were created from the book Folded Flowers, by Kumiko Sudo.

Sample flowers arranged with the final fabric choices. From top to bottom: malaleuca, calypso, sweet pea.