No sewing yet, but a play day instead.

Sirdar book 398, "Roman Holiday"

In town yesterday, I found myself looking for a pattern for a cardigan. I have needed a cream cardigan for quite some time and haven't done any knitting for months. So I walked into Crafty Stitches and picked up this lovely book. It has a number of patterns in it which I know I shall be wanting to knit over the next few months.

Sirdar 9428, top version

This pattern was the one which took my eye. There is also a shortsleeved version which could so easily become longsleeved. Some lovely cream yarn came home with me too. Sadly, I really can't knit with cotton, so I opted for a polyacryl/wool mix  which feels beautifully soft and should wash really easily.

New print blocks

Home again I decided I owed myself a play day so got out the print blocks, fabric paints and stencils. The large print board was set up in the conservatory and I was off. My new print blocks from Colouricious were the first ones to be used.

Flower - first prints

Flower - overprinted

After quite an enjoyable time with the blocks, it was time to break out the stencils. I do so love playing around with the fabrics and trying out the different paints, mixing them too.

Using a stencil - work in progress

More stencilling.

I think my favourite is to use fabric which has already been painted or dyed and then print over the top with something completely different. You can see this clearly with the photograph above. The base fabric had been painted for a landscape theme and I really cannot throw away anything which might prove useful. I have used the offcuts above.

Blocks, foam pieces and bowls drying

My printing table at the end of the session.

I really need to get on with some stitching now before finishing off the printing now that the fabrics and the blocks have dried out. If you are wondering about the toothbrush - well, it is brilliant for getting the paint off the blocks and cleaning right into all the little nooks and crannies of any design. Yes, those are children's foam printing blocks in the centre. I do use those too. I printed using my new heart block too, but will share those photos another time. I am going to overprint that fabric, or perhaps add more colour in a different way. I just haven't decided yet.

Printing, painting and catching up.

With my two geriatric cats in attendance, I got the tables out and set up for a fabric painting, block and lino printing session. I also got some feltmaking done too.

The tables were groaning with equipment.

The sky was pretty full too. Well, the clouds were full of rain and rather threatening.

I work outside when doing anything messy, so I had taken advantage of an unusually dry afternoon last month. It has taken me far too long to post about it here.

You will see pegs attached to the various pieces of fabric. They are there to stop the fabric moving too much and getting surplus dye and paint in areas I hadn't intended it to go.

These are two large pieces of fabric ready to be used for the "Boundaries" / "Beyond Boundaries" theme of the "Textiles Without Limits" group. I haven't fully worked out how I shall assemble this quilt, but I have started..................

The bamboo blind at the other side of this washing line is the one  I use when making felt.

This is one of my favourite blocks at the moment - a grape leaf design which I bought from Colouricious. The fabric beneath is a piece I painted during a previous session. I'd tried painting indoors that time and discovered that it really was too much of a fuss since it was difficult to get as much done as I'd really wanted to do. This is why I prefer working outside - I have as much space to use as I like and it really doesn't matter  too much if I make a mess. I can easily wash the paving slabs before any fabric paint has a chance to dry, and the grass doesn't seem to mind too much. The cats just enjoy watching humans doing anything.

The really pleasing thing was that the rain only started after I had packed everything away. There has been so much rain since that I feel doubly lucky to have managed to get so much done in one session.

Block printing on painted fabric.

I've just come into the house after a glorious evening spent block printing out in the garden. This is my printing board. It is sitting on my husband's easels. It was made some time ago and hasn't been used as much as I intended. However, I think that is about to change. 

This afternoon I had painted some fabric and left it on the washing line to dry. By evening, the fabric was dry  so I got all the equipment ready and started printing. I completed three pieces before the light started to fail and I started to get rather cold.

I just love the patterns on the fabric top of my table. It is such a useful surface to try out the blocks before printing them onto the main fabric.

You may recognise the patterns - they are the blocks I bought from Colouricious. I used some of the fabric paints too. 

This is the view I had as I worked.

I shall be doing this again the next time we have a dry, fine evening. Such fun!

Painting and printing some more fabric.

I finished the last two of my yellow fabrics - a deeper yellow/orange and a yellow/green. This is the first one. I added a lot more water this time.

The resulting fabric is lovely. ever so slightly stiff, but I just love the colours.

I kept on with using paper underneath. 

The colours used for the yellow/green.

The result is just what I wanted. I have another project to complete before I can start putting the yellow set of the Journal Quilts together./ I have collected all the bits together, so I am almost ready to go.

This is the paper version. I can hardly wait to put some books together to use this patterned paper.

I overprinted the fabric I used in the last post. I used a second print block for the first one.

The second one was just using the same block. I shall use this fabric in my journal quilts.

Painting and printing fabric.

I've been having fun with my new printing blocks and fabric paints. This shows the first colour added to the vine leaf block on to a piece of calico. I shall be overprinting this with another, darker colour.

These are the new fabric paints from Colouricious. I used these neat, mixing three colours together, sponging them onto the fabric. Great fun. Next time I shall try them with a little water added, just to see what happens. The containers make it really easy to get just the right amount of paint. There is a little hole in the top and its easy to get just the right amount. Such a good idea.

The completed fabric is still really malleable, a little stiffer than I am used to. I will still be able to sew through the fabric and overprint on it. I was wondering about discharge printing using the new blocks but this will have to wait for a change in the weather. It has been far too cold and wet outside today.

I decided to cover my work top with paper this time. This way I get to the use the paper as end papers for my home-made books or in my sketchbook. Yes, I do have one on the go at the moment. I shall show it to you another time.

This time, my trusty Setacolor Opaque fabric paints. I water these down a lot, so the paint goes a really long way.

This is the completed fabric. It is softer than the Colouricious fabric paints, but then I did water the paint down a lot. (Probably about four or even five parts water to one part paint). The Setacolor is really thick and gloopy when it comes out of those small bottles, which can be a bit of a nuisance if the bottle is newly opened, or the paint has hardened a little.

I shall definitely use paper again. Such fun.