Some goodies

I decided to work some more on the ugly fabric challenge that I discharged. I cut the fabric in half and overdyed it. I loved the result so I did the same with the other half except I did not add the orange color. I am going to play more with this piece and keep the other. I love those blue greens. I will discharge the orange areas and then over dye again.

This next piece is one that I ice dyed but I was not real happy with the result so I overdyed it. I sort of like it... actually, I like parts of it. I may cut it in half and keep half and sell half. We will see.

 This piece came out well but I am not sure I will keep this one either.

This last piece of ice dye will not be staying.

I did a few scarves.. this one came out lovely. I will probably wind up selling it though as I have more scarves than I will ever use. You can go here to see this and some of my others.

The next 3 photos are sneak views of the projects I am working on.

This next one is one of my favorites. I did shibori on silk charmeuse. I love the way it came out.

And this one is some silk organza I started to paint dye on. I think I will do more to it.

All my goodies are now washed and put away. It is time to get back to more hand stitching.

I am back home..

Got home late Sunday night but had a bit of a scare... my luggage didn't make it. In it were all the lovely fabrics I made and the art quilt I was hand stitching! I was a bit stressed out to say the least. I was finally in a groove to create and was looking forward to getting back to work on Monday. The story does have a happy ending... luggage was located and delivered to me yesterday. I spent the rest of the day unpacking and starting to wash out all the fun stuff I made. More pictures later as I ran out of steam and still have some washouts to do.

I do have some observations though on ice dyeing. The method I used was to toss dye powder over the ice. I am not sure I would do this at home as I don't really have a place (other than outside) that would be safe to toss this stuff around. The results on silk are gorgeous.  The results on cottons not so good. Most of the color seemed to have washed out... these are going to be overdyed. I am wondering if I didn't let them soak long enough in soda ash. I may give one a try outside before I try something else. Anyone have other suggestions?

More later.

More dyeing...

Hubby got two shirts...















This was Monday's Shibori dying and wrapping.... I love this piece!

I did a bunch of ice dyeing...
I think I have a new addiction..

I have been working with some thickened dyes on some other large pieces but I haven't rinsed them out yet. I get so much work done here. Almost time for happy hour. More tomorrow.

Doing some work.. finally

Being down in Florida at Focus on Fiber makes me buckle down and actually do things.. off course I am also having a blast.
I am starting to quilt the Shibori quilt I put together last year.. I had to dye a backing fabric for it.. no pics of that.. sorry.

I played with some silk, learned how to dye using acid dyes on silk, am doing some ice dyeing.. can't wait to see how that ones turns out. I made some T-shirts for hubby, and discharged some ugly fabric for a challenge. Here are some pics.. maybe more tomorrow.

Ugly fabric challenge.. the left side shows the original.

 

 

small piece of silk shibori.

 

 

Silk Habotai and Silk Chiffon.. I was in a yellow mood.

Paris, continued

Friday afternoon tea... I don't have any interest in the dolls they were highlighting for this tea but someone asked me to go for her and paid for it so I went. These were the dolls for this event:

Ellowyn My Feet Hurt

Evangeline Belle Epoche

The rest of the afternoon was spent making new friends and the waiting for the event we really went for.. the Sybarite cocktail party. It was very dramatic. The entertainment was a fencing exhibition...

 

Next came what everyone was waiting for.. the special doll. She was worth the wait! She is called Fidele.

Isn't she gorgeous? The rest of the evening was spent down at the bar and at the hotel restaurant. We didn't get to bed till about 1:00 a.m.

Saturday: I was hoping for a nice day but it was ugly out... also this hotel is not in a very nice area and it is not suggested you walk around alone. Major activity for the day was the Luncheon that showcased the special Mattel Barbie doll. The food was as to be expected but the company was good. Here is the special Barbie doll... I plan to put it up on ebay soon. This is a limited edition of 375 worldwide and it is signed.

We made our fun for the rest of the day. We had an impromptu picnic in the lobby with some locals providing food and wine. The groups of people changed but it was always lively.

Sunday is the traditional sales day. There was supposed to be a limited edition (20) special Sybarite doll and salon outfits along with a traditional doll show... more about that in a bit. There was a mad dash for the Sybarite stuff and it was a real zoo... some people are really vicious. I did not get a doll and I was lucky and got the last outfit.
The rest of the room had an assortment of dolls both vintage and new. Seems like the latest craze in dolls are ones that resemble newborns. I hope I am not insulting anyone but I found them weird... in fact they made my skin crawl. They look so realistic that it was hard to know if they were real babies or dolls. They are very popular here.

My trip is drawing to a close and the only thing left is dinner tonight and packing up for my flight home in the morning.

 

Some Paris posts

I have been out of wifi range for a few days so these posts are not quite as timely as I might have wished. Hope you enjoy anyway.

Wednesday morning:
Arrived in Paris at the crack of dawn (literally) to crap weather... cold and dreary... headed to hotel and was lucky I could check in early. I crashed for 2 hours. This was Dania's first view out our window.

I was drooling as I walked by this store!

I decided to head over to Musee D'Orsy for the afternoon. The Paris Metro is so easy. I like that the museum is small and I love the impressionists.

Dania checking out the main hall.

I enjoyed seeing Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Sissley, Van Gogh, etc. Most of the exhibitions forbid photography.

Quay D'Orsay from the museum

 I am glad this was not my first trip to Paris because the weather was certainly a downer. By the time I got out of the museum in the late afternoon, the skies had opened up.

The flowers look so cheerful in the rain.

I had made a date  to meet some of the women from an online group who were also going to the doll show for dinner. After chatting for quite a bit we went out to eat... how we ended up at an Italian restaurant no one quite understood, but the food was decent if not memorable.

We went back to the hotel where 2 of the women were staying and stayed chatting till about midnight. I was brave and took the Metro back to my hotel. It really is perfectly safe.  Bed called to me!

Thursday:
Another cold day but at least the sun was shinning. I was meeting the ladies for lunch at La Dupree which is a wonderful confectionery/lunch spot. They are famous for their desserts and candies. It was a charming, typical French spot. I was getting good at getting around on the Metro! After lunch I window shopped at some of the rather expensive designer stores. I had no plans for dinner so stopped off at a local grocery store and picked up some stuff. I really hate eating out by myself so this was perfect... and an early night was called for.

Friday:
Of course today was much warmer and sunny... it was the first day of the doll show and I was going to be indoors most of the day!!! The adventure of the day was finding the new hotel. I told the doorman from the Marriott that I needed to go to Novotel Est. He did seem to understand as his English was impeccable.... somehow the cab driver heard Gare de L'est... not quite the same. After a driving tour of the city I arrived only to find out that my room which should have been ready, was not. Oh well. I had a tea to go to that afternoon and I had already dressed for it.

to be continued...

Bored

Dania and I are sitting in the United Club lounge waiting for our flight... only another 2 hours to go. This is the downside to traveling. I hate waiting in airports.....boring.

Will is getting to be a big boy

He is such a sweet natured child. I was very sad to leave this morning, although I tried to poison us all last night. We had leftovers of dinner I made on Saturday night and Robin and I both got sick last night from it. Pepto Bismal worked for her.... I think I lost 2 lbs. Headed to the airport this morning green. One cup of mint tea and a banana and I am heading in the right direction. So where am I going? Paris! To the Paris Fashion Doll Show. The girls insisted I go. ... so using hubby's mileage I am on my way. I am currently sitting in the Dulles airport with a 4+ hour layover before my flight this evening. Poor Dania got short shrift this trip. I decided She and Will would not hit it off so she never saw the light of day. She has 2 days of sightseeing ahead of her in Paris to make up for it.

I am going to try to blog (assuming I have free wifi) so if you want to follow along, I will do my best.

Constant motion!

Time for a new adventure!

Dania is the lucky girl who gets to go this time. First stop is New Jersey to visit Will where we will stay for a few days. Then we hop another plane to...well you will have to check back and find out!