Try and Try until you DYE

I tried. I had an afternoon free so I decided to play. We have a limited selection of powder dye here in the Philippines. The brand I have is VENUS. And I ran out of pink. So... with what I have: Black, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Violet and Yellow Green... I decided to have a go at DYEing.

For the sake of this blog post, I'll put names on them, just so it's easy to point them out or comment on them. I have no idea yet what patterns to use on them or if I'll ever end up using them but it's a good enough try for now.

Shagadellic

Yellow Giraffe

Field of Sunflowers

Peaceful Meadow

Bubbleyum

Dementor

Wannabe Marquis

I think I just saved myself a couple of dollars by coloring these myself. What do you think?

DYEd Laughing

I tried my hand at dyeing today. I now have BLUE, GREEN and PURPLE fingers.
Yes, I had disposable gloves. And I used up 3 pairs. BUT! I hate not being able to feel what I'm doing so every so often I'd rip them off and so.....I now have alien-colored fingers on my right hand.

I plan on stitching up some pixies for Nora Corbett's collection. This particular fabbie I'm coloring is for BLUEBELL.

Materials used for this particular project:
1. Aida fabric in 16ct. (I'm still avoiding linen for now).
2. Thread (that I used to grid the borders of the fairy pattern).
3.Needle (that I used to sew the thread with---duh).
4. Crepe Paper (yup! Not DYE. Just plain ol' school project type crepe paper).
5. A bowl of water.
6. A rug/newspaper/board/plastic (whatever you want to protect your table--in my case, my bed---as always).

First, I gridded my fabric so I know exactly where the fairy will be WITH THREAD. Then..with my washable marker, I marked where her waist and head would be... that was going to be my "highlight".
Then, after protecting my surface, I placed my fabric on top of it and got my bowl of water ready.

I cut parts of the crepe paper, dipped it into the bowl and sponge-applied it to my fabric. Yellow as my center...branching out in shades of pink, then purple then blue.

Can you imagine bluebell here? I can.
Good luck to me when I can finish it though.
Here are some pics that may help inspire you folks who have never dyed before (uhhh... all of us? we're still alive....)  or are scared to DYE.

Grid your border  with thread. Though I marked places with my washable marker (too lazy). I needed to know where the waist and torso would be.

Crumpled newly wet crepe paper.

Sponging the color on.

Additional color.

More color...

Darker color on the bottom to mimic the ground (purple coz it's a magical land).

End result after it got rinsed.

Tada! All ready for BLUEBELL.

My Stitchy Haul

Two binders full of original Mirabilia, HAEDs and other patterns bought from EBAY USA. Bid and won them last year and they finally arrived via my uncle!!! Woohoo!! I struck GOLD!! There are at least 4 original lavender&lace patterns and some HAEDs in here! I wonder why they sold it? It was for a charity thing.

Magnifiers. One clamp type for watching my stitching and one "bar" type to enlarge my patterns. I plan on putting magnets under it to 'stick' to the board on my floor stand (which I'll stick magnets to too).

9 pre-cut aida cloths, 4 aida ribbon bands, 2 spools nylon thread, 1 modern look stork scissor, 1 washable pencil for dark fabbies, 1 magnetic needle case, 1 sliding ruler, and 2 pattern kits (the Lord's prayer and The Lord is my shepherd).

1 fabric scissors, 1 pin cushion with wooden base (that I intend to stick to my floor stand board).

Trimming for my future xmas ornaments. It already has a sparkly bead attached to it!!

Christmas text cloths for the backing of my future ornaments. :)

I spent the past 4 days in singapore hunting down and going on a treasure hunt. And these were my finds. :)

I just thank God I have an understanding boyfriend who patiently brings me to the hole-in-the-wall places and waits as I go berserk amongst the shelves, diving into baskets and digging into bolts of cloth.

(** Thank you lovey for my magnifier bar **).

Ok, I think this is enough stitchy-shopping and collecting for now... I must buckle down and do some stitching.  :)