Snow Dyeing but dubious results!

We had snow, so I thought Id use up my very old fabric dyes to see if what snow dyeing was all about... but mine are not like the stunning ones Id stumbled online in others blogs!

I can tell you that very old marbling paint does not a thing to snow covered fabric ... but it does however, totally clart the patio when youve upended the container at the end of afew hours.....lol

Now, the diluted sparkly gold fabric paint........Tulip I think it was, left a cream glistening hue on a piece of cotton sheeting but it hasnt photographed at all well, so isnt here!

The dragon fly like blueish splodge was diluted Deka silk paints that must be 20 years old and I daftly folded the cotton, didnt scrunch it up, and only this creased area seems to have taken.

Its abit other wordly! It reminds me of the film with Kevin Costner, where his wife dies and she loved dragon flies? It may even have been called Dragon Fly..........will have think what to do with that one......its still speaking to me!

All be they not the stunning space dyed effects that others have achieved, I liked the white velvet pieces, the red one and the one below it, shades of pink and blue then the blue/green one, which I have added some splodgy bits on to with bubble wrap, at the bottom.

The top right piece is a bamboo cotton duster which I bought a pack of, for not alot, somewhere.....and if I could remember where, Id go get some more......to NOT dust with!

They are beautifully soft, maybe 18" square and great to stitch on!

I simply laid several of them flat, on top of the blue/green bottom one to soak up both water and fabric paint. As they soaked up the colour, each sheet of bamboo cloth, had a slightly different paint uptake, and will make a good base to further play with.

So now I can start to look for new fabric dyes, since all I have left are several bottles of Tulip that at 50p each in a sale I couldnt not buy.... and some dimensional tubs I bought off Ebay..........

Ink blots! Thats what the dragon fly looks like doesn it lol would be interesting to know what others see in it too!

:)

A picture of my Grandson at his Mums house taken after Christmas where I was sitting with him, whilst she caught up on some sleep upstairs.
I was glad of the warmth besides the opportunity to be with Jack. 10 days of no central heating over Christmas and New year has even now left its mark on me lol always feeling cold and now catargh and an ulcerated mouth. Id never have managed in Cranford, even with my home made felted jumpers, fingerless gloves lol

So if you have flour, eggs and butter..........make a cake, right?
So since there was snow, in abundance, I did some snow dyeing of fabric but good job we dont get it that often in England, because I have no natural talent for it!
I will put in some pics next time, but apart from a resounding success with white velvet......(which was a sheer fluke)...........my finished fabrics dont look like the many wonderful 'space dyed' effect, fabrics Ive seen online, done by others. So I will accept that my skills lay elsewhere............... and keep looking for them ....
Mind you I do not have wonderful procion dyes, I must be the only one not to have bought any - so used what fabric dyes I had left and many were years and years old, and mostly solidified-ish now. But Im using up what Ive got before I buy more you see, its my recycling and 'using stuff up' thing....

This cold weather and the period without heating has made my joints complain. My right hip and right ankle were always abit more stiff but the shoulders have kicked in, the backs a bother and my fingers hurt a great deal now. Arthritus I suppose creeping in, well, trundling in!
So knowing that Ive piled on the weight since all the building repairs began and during the 3 years and 2 ops on my foot.........exercise Ive reasoned is what I need.

But not for me jogging, since it would seriously injure my chin and knees to jog with my monolithic chest bouncing around and besides the knee and ankle wouldnt stand up to it.... even IF I could manage to breathe whilst doing it.

The gym? Did that 5 years ago and yes lost a great deal, felt much better, but felt embarrassingly intimidated every time I went, by those that were slimmer, thinner, younger. It took so much courage to go each time and I spent the time there, desperately trying not to be noticed in anyway, shape or form. I have lost that courage now. I might go if I could wear a full length kaftan, but it would be considered too dangerous to wear on the equipment and theyd never let me wear it in the pool. (Besides abit overdressed to swim a width which is all I can do anyway..)

I could buy cds to exercise to couldnt I? Well, the videos never worked, so cds wont be much better, you need to be disciplined enough to DO them. Owning everso many, never lost me an inch...

Pole dancing classes are all the range now arent they? But I'd have trouble getting my leg over a bike let alone above my head, hanging upside down off a pole... and where would I find a ceiling that could take my weight attached to any pole! The already svelte around me, going to improve their bedroom appeal, as much as their fitness and suppleness, would be appalled if I trolled up to learn the craft too. lol No, you have to consider other people don't you! I would hate to think anyone was traumatised by the sight of me enveloped, upside down or otherwise, in my own rolls of spare tyre...

Regular walking then? And I have 2 dogs so that serves another purpose if I go with them. BUT ... even though I go to the loo beforehand, 10 minutes into the walk I need a pee or worse, and the right ankle swells before Im half way and I end up limping home with pain from the arthritic ankle and the twisting toes... foiled again.. Besides the smaller of the two barks incessantly at any other dog he sees, so its a stressful activity all round!

I have tried trolling up and down the stairs as my own twist on step aerobics. Now this might have worked, had the ankle not complained bitterly and given out on me so often, that I very nearly broke my neck coming back down ....

So now, Ive decided to try and dance to fitness, in the kitchen, to the music of the radio or to John Denver, this morning as it happens.
I LIKE JOHN DENVER, OKAY!
The only time I ever had a waist was when I was training in both the Police Force and the RAF, so I will be swinging my arms as in marching and manouvering round the stool and ironing board, doing my own choreography of line dancing.
Star jumps and jogging on the spot are OUT, reasons as discussed previously. Windmill arm motions in time to the music, are IN.
Marching on the spot featured this morning and may become a regular spot, with gesticulations trying to simulate gentle movements, to remind the joints they are SUPPOSED to be able to move all ways round, like they once did.
Like 'Use it, or Lose it'.........though I may be too late really....

I blame that new programme on tv last night..........the new dance programme, what is it? 'So you think you can Dance'? I think its called.
I will NEVER be able to sit on a park bench again now...................without feeling the need to body pop or hip hop on my arse and will forEver now feel unfulfilled, since I am too infirm to bum swizzle, on the spot and hike my legs up and over the back of the bench like they did...............
But with my new, concerted home fitness regime, I may yet be able to go to Scarborough and well, lets face it, thats a start isnt it?

Okay off for a coffee and some Ibuprofen.......

ooh, AH, OW! limp....limp....limp.....

Vixen and dog fox are well fed again tonight

Though this is a naff photo, I like this tree the way it has turned out. The fabric was a crinkled and industrially creased ladies top and theres a smidgen of crochet flower at the bottom......mitt cat too. Must make afew cats awake and scratching at the trunks come to think of it.

I today took loads of food out into the school field to feed the vixen and dog fox that live out back there.

They were out at midday before Xmas, so obv hungry and I realised she had lost the lower portion of one of her front legs and whilst she could take flight well enough, she now uses the stump to walk on poor lass. Since foxes pounce on prey it must affect her food kills of fresh meat I thought, so the rescue bit kicked in and Ive become obsessed with leaving them food to get through the cold snap. lol

So Ive been butcher shopping for them. Theyve had cow lungs, liver, kidneys, steak pies, cooked chickens, eggs, apples, today was more steak pies and sausage rolls and tomorrow will be chicken legs and thighs and some eggs. Vixen was out at 1010am yesterday bless her, despite the school being open again, so sure sign shes still hungry.

Foxes mating time is late autumn so she may well already be pregnant

so in need of good food!

Is it too late for Folic Acid do you think ..?

Okay a brief entry..............more later...

Oh and this one too...........

Forgot to put this one in! Cherry Blossom maybe?

2010 and hoping for a better year than the last two!

New trees with different fabric manipulation and sleeping cats beneath lol

Its all snow, snow, snow and this time its real snowmen and snowball snow! Not the weeny polystyrene ball snow, which simply did not look real!

Now must buy some soda, so I can treat some fabric and do a couple of tubs of snow dyeing........may as well make the most of the blessed stuff whilst its here!

Watch this space, if it works I will give it an airing!

OH! And happy days, Sheila Folgate is doing another cybery Challenge and Im in for the larnin' curve!

Waheyyy good fun and great company in the group! Many, many thanks Sheila!