SO YOU DYED/PRINTED/ETC YOUR OWN FABRIC!?!?

After getting my hand-dyed and otherwise printed fabrics better organized (I blogged about it here), it became very apparent that all I seemed to do was fondle them while remaining very indecisive about how to utilize them.

 These three all started out as an ugly yellow/white print...with an almost calico flavor.  First I dyed it.....but can not identify what method I used....was it a failed deconstructed screen printing, tray dyeing, ice dyeing....who knows?

One thing I do know is that I brought that hunk of fabric to Fiber Junkie Denny's house the day we experimented with stenciling and otherwise playing with crayons, chalk, oil pastels.  The top two designs are what came of that day...with still a piece of uninspiring dyed fabric leftover.

 The problem with all these experiments is that generally they yield small pieces....so if you like it.....it's still somewhat difficult to find a way to use it.  Patchworking them together is one way to make them work. 

Nature themed quilts that allows folks to bring a bit of the Blue Ridge Mountain experience home with them seem to sell the most quickly.  Okay....so my designs have now evolved with that focus in mind.  Despite really wanting to use it, the bright colored dyed cotton batting was too strong.

 Next I decided to paper cut some wonky tree shapes....maybe that's the direction I should be heading....

.....this way I can use some of the other small pieces of these dyed/printed fabrics.  The brown piece on the left is another one that was a failure after dyeing, then fabric paint was applied at another gathering (trying to save it), and finally, again at Denny's I used a pressing plate rubbed with who knows what and stenciled the squares and lines.  Yeah....I was happy with this piece...but it's small!

All the rest of the fabric with the exception of the top horizontal piece and the 1st yellow from the left have been dyed, sun printed, deconstructed screen printed, or stenciled......Let's see what I can do with these little bits and pieces....