What I'm Reading Wednesday

I have recently read two books that I would very much like to recommend. One has been out for a couple of years and the other is newer. Both are stories of immigrant experiences, and both expanded my consciousness. I grew up in a small town in the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula. Because of the nearby airbase, we had folks from all over the country in our midst, but they were seen as "other." Moving to a college town in southeastern Michigan exposed me to people from all over the world and from many cultures in this country. Over the years, I have tried to consciously seek out experiences and books that would help me to see the world in these ways that are different than my own experience. These books are good continuing education.

First up is Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, stories of Bengali-Americans dealing with issues of modern life. As with most immigrant groups, there is a tension between the culture of origin and the culture around them. The story that I liked best, "Hell-Heaven" was, happily, done as a featured piece on Selected Shorts - a podcast that features contemporary short stories read by actors before a live studio audience. (I listen to a variety of podcasts ranging from "Sticks and String" to the geekfest "Tech Stuff / How Stuff Works" and including the "New Yorker Fiction" podcasts.) Back to the book: The stories are intense, tightly written, and the characters are fully fleshed out. I can't say that "this is a joy to read," because there are some pretty sobering tales here. I will say that by the time I was done, I felt as though I'd been admitted entrance into some very special lives.

Next is the book I practically bullied my book club into reading. A Country Called Amreeka tells the story of the last century of American history through the eyes of Arab-Americans. We see the civil rights movement, the Six-Days' War in 1967, the gay rights movement, the 2000 presidential campaign, and so much else through the lived experiences of real people who were witnesses to or part of the events. The book is well written and reminiscent of Studs Terkel's books. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Drop what you're doing and go get it. Read it. Trust me. You'll start grabbing random friends and shoving this book at them, just I've been doing for the past two weeks.

Finally, just to demonstrate what a dilettante I am, I had a half hour to myself in downtown Ann Arbor yesterday, so I stopped in Busy Hands, with a gift certificate I'd gotten for my birthday. I wandered around, petting yarns, until I got stopped by this little beauty:

50% silk, 50% merino, sock-weight, yummy bright pink - need I say more? Ooohhh!! la la!!

Tomorrow, Thursday, I'm driving to Columbus, Ohio, with a couple of friends, and we're going to the National Quilting Association show. I promise I'll take pictures!

Dyeing Fun, Part 4 - and Giveaway!

Okay, so my first experience with flour paste resist was a complete bummer. All that anticipation, and I hate the fabrics that came out at the end. That's the price of experimentation.

I think the flour paste was too thick, and the dye/alginate mix was too thin. I didn't crack the crust enough, etc. etc. etc. Maybe I'll try this again, maybe I won't, but at least I gave it a good try.

On the other hand, several of the pieces for which I had high hopes on Saturday came out very well:

Look at that GREAT blue on the bottom! It's variegated and interesting, and it's going to be a great background for my next big quilt. I am SO pleased with it.

Next, check out these greens:

The one on the bottom is a cotton/bamboo mix, and I'm looking forward to turning it into a summer dress. Similarly, I'm looking forward to making a dress from the bottom pink (the one on the far left) in this picture as well:

The purples were basically an accident; I had some blue, some red, and some black left over at the end of the day, and I threw it together and dumped it over a bunch of random fabrics.

Finally, I think this shade of orange is annoying, and I have about four or five yards of it (the bottom piece); I have no idea what I'll ever do with it, but I'm sure I can come up with something fun - maybe as the background for a fall-themed quilt? The second fabric from the bottom is an orangy-red color - not as pink as it looks.

The title of this post includes the word "giveaway." Next Saturday, June 19, I will do a random drawing from all of the commenters on this post. The winner will get to select up to a half yard of any of the fabrics posted here other than the bottom pieces in the blue, green, and pink piles. I will contact you privately and put the fabric in the mail to you.

Dyeing Fun, Part 3

We had FABulous weather for dyeing. The weather was warm, the skies ranged from a little cloudy to overcast most of the day, and we had no rain.

Before we left the house, I soaked my fabrics in soda ash water and spun them in the washer:

After we gathered and got the third tent put up (my friend and her husband had put up the two awnings a couple of us had delivered earlier in the week), I took my board of flour-pasted fabric and started cracking the crust:

Then, I applied a thickened black dye over the assemblage:

I can hardly wait to see how this turns out!

Then, I laid out a painter's drop cloth and set out a four-yard length of fabric, letting it crinkle and scrunch a little in places, but mostly being flat. I mixed up three different shades of blue, each in a different jar. Then, I took each of the jars over to the fabric and, with a paint brush, flicked and dribbled dye all over the fabric, walking around and around it. A couple of the spatters ended up on my face, causing my friends to hand me some scrubbing lotion and send me into the house to clean up! Here's what the fabric looked like right after my ministrations:

I then went on to set out other large yardages with smaller pieces of plastic underneath, necessitating more scrunching, and some manipulation of fabric after I had applied the dye so as to get the dye evenly distributed. I also took some of the smaller pieces of fabric I had (fat quarter size and smaller) and tucked them into folds and under the larger piece. Here's a beauty shot for you:

Those pieces are large enough to possibly become dresses! One of my pals didn't want to dye today, so she had brought a sewing project; however, she had a couple of items she wanted to get dyed. I told her to pick out any color she liked. This is the color she picked:

Isn't that luscious? I SO wanted an orange Creamsicle after this! By the end of the day, we noticed that the blue dye in the large piece had done some migrating, and the tones didn't seem quite as starkly different. I hope you can see that in this long view.

The friend who wanted the orange fabric asked what she could do in return, and I told her to take my picture. The apron was a Christmas present from two of three greatest nieces in the world. Isn't it great?

At last, I got home, and spread out the fabrics in the condo's courtyard to dry in the sun. I have found this gets stronger, richer colors.

I'll do the washout either Sunday or Monday and post pictures after that.

Dyeing Fun, Part 2

Just a quick note to show off the washed fabrics from the other evening. When last we saw the fabrics, they were sitting in little tubs with red splashed on them. Now, here they are, washed out:

Then, the next evening, I mixed up a flour and water paste and glopped it all over them:

I have PLANS for these, heh, heh, heh!

If you are interested in dyeing fabrics, yarns, etc. I just discovered this wonderful site this week, filled with FAQs, advice columns, etc. I know I'll be consulting it over time.

I have been doing a lot of reading lately, and I'm hoping to get a book post up soon. 

Dyeing Fun, Part 1

I LOVE to dye fabrics. I took my first workshop nearly seven years ago; and several friends (some who'd taken the workshop, others who wished they had) got together, and we've been dyeing together and separately ever since. I wish I sewed fast enough to keep up with my output, but I give away a lot of what I dye.

Here are some initial pix of my supplies:

The white plastic bag has soda ash and urea in it. (I am of two minds regarding urea. My fave, Melody Johnson, says she doesn't use it; and sometimes I use it and sometimes I don't.) I want to play with salt this weekend because it produces interesting effects on newly dyed fabric, so I have two kinds of salts. The plastic trays are dental trays that were being discarded at work. They are good portable workspaces.

These are the totally glamorous buckets in which I store my bowls, jars, gloves, measuring utensils, etc. We no longer buy our kitty litter in buckets, but I'm glad I've got these.

Here is a shot of the fabric I dyed on Sunday while soaking:

Then washed out (that's cotton chenille yarn):

Then, this morning,  I splashed some red dye on the fabric:

 This is going somewhere, I promise.

Finally, as I was typing this, I had a buddy, the baby brat cat.

Could YOU resist that face?

Sewing Room and Dyeing

There is a quilting group at the large institution at which I work that includes people who work in many different buildings - sort of a one person runs into another and invites her sort of group. Anyway, an e-mail went out on Friday morning that someone was having a moving sale and had sewing room furniture to sell. I contacted the seller and here are pictures of my sewing table before (my mother's old sewing machine cabinet - please notice slanting sides, etc.):

and after (please notice the large surface on which I can put the acrylic extension and not have items flopping around when I'm trying to sew on them):

She was also selling those large plastic bins, so I'll be able to stash WIPs under the table, close at hand, and not on top of the cutting table where I have to cover them with a blanket to keep away the cat hair.

Here is the view out of my sewing room (it was a rainy Sunday afternoon when I took this picture).

My dyeing group is getting together this coming Saturday, and I'm getting a jump with some preparatory steps, including gathering the fabrics I'm going to take:

Yes, three boxes' worth. I think I'm nuts.

When I was organizing the dyeing supplies, I came across this note, and I'll leave this blog for now and try to post later today with pictures of actual colored fabric, etc.

Spinning - At Last!

I have wanted to spin yarn since I was about 10 or 11. It's one of those things that has been in the back of my mind all of these years, but I never actually saw a working spinning wheel in someone's home until I was 30. That was a situation where it wasn't appropriate to ask personal questions, so I held back. When I started stumbling across knitting blogs a few years ago, I realized that spinning was modern! Wow! A year ago in February, three of us went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and there was a booth for the Williamsburg Spinners and Weavers Guild. They were giving lessons to all comers. I was hooked. I went to a booth that was selling roving and purchased a bag containing a silk and wool blend, got home, and got busy with other stuff. In May of last year, I separated the roving and started predrafting, basically, pulling the fibers to their longest and skinniest. The book Spin to Knit was very helpful.

In June, I went to a meeting of the Spinners' Flock - about a 45-minute drive away. There I got another lesson and finally got the idea of the "waterfall" and the "triangle." I was diligent for a couple of weeks, and, combined with a "sewing day" at a friend's house in November, produced all of this:

On Memorial Day, after going to the parade and the wreath laying at the local cemetery, I came home and spun:

Each time I do this, the yarn gets better, and I get more confident. I still have half the roving to spin that I bought over a year ago:

In order to spin, though, I have to disturb the "cat's bed" behind a chair in the living room:

I am looking forward to actually creating something with the yarn I'm spinning. Did I mention that I went to a fiber festival in October and bought another bag of roving? I'm also getting on Etsy and lusting after spinning wheels. Hubby Dearest and I were talking about the books in our queue, and lamenting that we each probably have longer reading and project lists than we're likely to accomplish, but it's not about the product, it's about the process, right?