We dyed laughing

Vibrant fabric from our dyefest.

My new art quilt group -- STITCH -- had a dyefest yesterday on a little island off the coast of Washington accessible only by boat. We laughed, dyed, ate, dyed, lounged and laughed.

We saw WHALES and RAINBOWS!

Linda loved the dye buckets.

The day started dark and early on the ferry, where we saw two Orca whales swimming in the distance. That little black speck in the water to the lower left of center is one of them just going under. If you click on the photo you might be able to see it better:

Orca whale going under near Tacoma.

Our ferry stopped at Ketron Island, below, where we wondered how long this old ferry had been listing at the dock. Ketron's population is 17, according to the 2010 census.

Moving along, the weather was getting more threatening:

When we got to Anderson Island, our hostess and dye leader, Andrea, had tables and supplies set up on her back deck overlooking the South Puget Sound. Before we dove in, she showed us some of the gorgeous fabric she has dyed:

Results of dying white-on-white cotton fabric.
The ink in the designs acts as a resist,
allowing the designs to stand out against the dyed background.

Andrea's Twisted Log Cabin block with some of her color gradations.

For this striking quilt top, Andrea dyed white fabric
with black ferns in a green gradation.

Then she took us outside and showed us how to prepare the dye buckets for two color runs: greenish yellow-blue and yellowy orange-red.

Pat took her job seriously ...

... Linda didn't.

Barbara coordinated her purple shirt, gloves and glasses.

That's Andrea, Lois, Carol and Pat agitating the fabric.

Relaxing after our potluck lunch
while the dye does its thing in the buckets.

My fabric ready to go home and be rinsed.

I promised you a rainbow, and as we were packing up to leave, Mother Nature spread her own dye across the sky in a beautiful colored arc. We couldn't have planned a better ending to a fabulous workshop.

Thanks STITCHers!

Thank you Andrea!

Some of my fabric after washing and drying.

Have a colorful day!