The Blackest Black

 Black is a hard color to dye because there is no single "source" for it. Most black is a mixture of  several other dye colors, and manufacturers have to use a LOT of it to make black fabric BLACK.

So it wasn't really a surprise last week when the color catchers that came out of the wash with the black fabrics I bought were this dark (and actually they are DARKER in real life).

Now, I should tell you that I wash EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF FABRIC before I even bring it into my studio. I never used to use Color catchers when I washed new fabrics because I (erroneously) thought that washing the fabric would remove ALL the excess dye. I was mistaken, so now whenever I buy fabric I always include color catches in the wash cycle.

Since I bought these black fabrics to use in a Black, White and Red quilt for my granddaughter, I knew the blacks would bleed into the other fabrics after the quilt was complete. I didn't want that, so I decided to soak the black fabrics in detergent using Vickie Welsh's instructions, here. 

Doing the red fabrics last week showed me the faucet in the bathtub leaked, and while it was only a drip drip drip, that was enough to almost fill the tub to overflowing if I let something soak all night. (Can you say, saved by the skin of my teeth?)

So when I needed to soak the black fabrics I used one of the large plastic storage bins I have. As you can see from the photo above, taken over twelve hours later, the fabric really needed it, and a lot of black dye was released.

This is what it looked like when I drained the tub.

This is what the color catchers looked like after I washed the black fabrics again. You can see they are lighter than the light gray fabric from the pink and silver quilt and just a bit darker than the white bath towel visible in the background.

I've since ironed all the fabrics and will be ready to start on my granddaughter's quilt early next week. The guys are going to be here for the next two days replacing the carpet in my living room with Laminated Vinyl Flooring, so my house is going to be in disarray for a few days.

I have one big long seam to sew to finish the Pink and Silver quilt top. That and getting the backing ready for it will happen while the guys are working on the floor. (I'll be taking refuge in the studio.)

Harlequin Scrap Slab Flimsy Complete

I've been sewing the blocks together for the new black Scrap Slab Triangle quilt, and I am really happy with it.

I'm not quite sure why I've been pressing seams open.

After I sewed the blocks together, and completed the flimsy, I stuck it up on the design wall and decided it needed a light border.

So I added one. I tried to make sure the assortment of fabrics I chose were not too strong, and seemed to blend into each other.

This will probably have a black binding. I don't have a backing fabric selected yet, but I am in no hurry.

That's it for me as far as quilts for this year. I have to get the backing ready for three flimsies (including this one) and I have two quilts away being quilted which I am scheduled to pick up late next week. The bindings are ready for those. Given the Holiday coming up I might get one finished by the end of the year.

I'll be blogging intermittently. Take care, stay warm (or cool) and safe.

 

The Nightingale Quilt

 

This is the new Black quilt. It is called Nightingale, and I will be releasing a tutorial on how to make it soon. 

This is 60" x 72" and has about 50 unique fabrics - and the one thing they have in common is they all have a black background. The quilt goes together surprisingly fast.

Here's a closeup of one section, so you can enjoy the variety of fabrics.

A New Black

 

I've decided to make a Black quilt, so when I was reorganizing my fabrics, I cut some blacks with bright colors.

I've paired some black fabrics. I am excited about this. I am still waiting for more fabrics, so I have to set this aside until they arrive.

I'm also planning a quilt for a friend of mine who has helped me out around the house several times in the last year. We have discussed colors, and I have to let that roll around in my head before I get started with that.

And I have started hand sewing the binding on the Peonies quilt.

HOWEVER...

I had an appointment with my financial advisor recently, and we were talking about the "what-ifs" and close calls in life when he mentioned that one of the staff members who had greeted me when I walked in had recently lost everything when his house burned to the ground in the middle of the night. He and his fiancee escaped with their lives - and nothing else - both were completely naked!  Immediately I said, "Can we make them a quilt?" My advisor practically jumped out of his seat. "YES! How much money do you need?" So I'll be making the couple a quilt. He is a drummer for a band in his free time, and she works in health care.

Fussy Fussy Fussy

 I know you won't believe me, but I really don't have any idea where half my quilts are going when I start designing them. I have a GENERAL idea (this one is scrap slab triangles made from fabrics that have a lot of color on a black background), but I don't know any specifics until I really see what's happening when I stick all those blocks together. 

So the black triangles are up on the design wall, and now I am adding the side triangles of colored fabrics on white or cream backgrounds. And sometimes they are black on white with colors and basically whatever else I think looks good. 

 

Once I got going, I noticed something I liked - when two different fabrics sitting next to each other looked like they were one piece of fabric. You can see some of it in the photo above, but let me show you exactly what I mean.

In this quilt, one block is a black(ish) triangle with a lighter side triangle on each side, so the block makes a square, like in the photo above.

Backing up a bit, we see that the side triangles sit next to other light side triangles for the adjacent blocks. Here I have deliberately placed fabrics that emphasize that square block-y feel. But what if I DIDN'T do that? What if I made the pairs of side triangles that sit next to each other look like they belonged together? I don't want to make them the same, but I want the viewer to not notice they are different fabrics...

Kinda like this. Here are six pairs of light triangles arranged so you think they are the same fabric, so you don't notice the underlying square block.

So that is what I am playing with. I have more side triangles to put up on the design wall, and I have to decide if I want the patterns in the lights to do something - to make a secondary design - and if I do, then what do I want it to do? And there's an awful lot of busy here. Too much busy is not good, but organized busy is fine. I have a lot of juggling to do to get this to look really good. 

I like the high energy of it, so it will be a challenge to balance it all. As Oscar Wilde once famously said, "Oh, the anxiety - I hope it lasts forever."

I was shopping for fabric online a week or so ago and I needed one more yard for my order to qualify for free shipping, so I was cruising the Oriental section and saw this cat among some lotuses. Something about the eyes reminded me of Millie, so I ordered a yard of the fabric. Now this sweet girl will live in this quilt.

This is a Scrap Slab Triangle quilt. You can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away. You will need the Tri-Recs Ruler set, which you can get at your LQS.

Black is Back!

 

It's always fun to pick up quilts from Janet-Lee Santeusanio. I picked up the black and white Scrap Slaps quilt, All Together Now.

You can see the quilting design best when you look at the back. 

I was picking up the quilt after lunch, so I had to prepare the binding. But I had to go back to look at a picture of the quilt, to remember what the edges looked like. Once I knew the edges were white, I knew the binding had to be black. But black with colors, just like the blocks in the quilt. So I rummaged through my stash and found eight fabrics. For the binding I needed eight WOF strips. I cut strips of each, then cut the strips more or less in half, and then sewed the strips together for the binding. I feel the binding tells the quilt what color it is, and while a white binding would have worked, this quilt is black with colors and white, and a black (with colors) binding would emphasize that fact.

As you all know, I sew my binding to the BACK of my quilts, so my finish stitching is on the front. (Because you know, I like to show off my invisible stitches.)

Yeah, this is going to rock big time.

You know what's THE BEST thing about this quilt? Every single bit of fabric, from the top, backing and binding, came from my stash. 

(Of course that could also be a little bit scary too! How many quilts are hiding in my stash?)

I Made the Bed...

I changed the sheets on the bed the other day, and as I straightened this quilt over my top sheet, I thought it was something worth talking about again.

It's probably not "usual" to make a black quilt, but when I made it, back in 2005, I had been collecting novelty fabrics with black backgrounds for some time. I happened to mention to my son I thought they'd make an interesting quilt.

I wanted to make a quilt where the individual blocks disappeared. I wanted the viewer to see colors dancing across the surface then to notice there were dozens of different fabrics, then to notice the quilt was patchwork.

I made it the way my Grandmother made quilts when I was growing up - they were not quilted, just tied to the backing with crochet cotton.  But here's the funny thing. Our quilts were placed over the top sheet, and under the blanket, so they were hidden most of the time. So although this quilt lives on my bed every day, nobody ever gets to see it.
 

You can read about the process I made it here.
 

And Now For The Blacks

I'm actually more proud of my Black fabrics than the White ones, so here are the black fabrics I've used in the Triangle Dance Quilt.

 These fabrics were all fat quarters that I bought on sale.

 These fabrics were given to me. I don't necessarily keep everything folks give me, but I am not averse to keeping the good stuff.

 I was on an Oriental kick for a while.

 Three of these fabrics are backings for quilts, the fabric on the upper right was a binding.

These are fabrics I bought for the Black Crayons quilt. I used most of them, but letters don't take much fabric, so I had a lot left over.

Give Me a Y!

and when I do, I'll have all the letters made for the Black and White Crayons Quilt.