Patchwork, applique, shibori, making friends

So I woke this morning knowing what the patchwork I've been stitching away at, will be.

As you see, I've stitched, recut, restitched, getting more complex as it goes. There are several layers in this pic. And now I know what I'm doing.

I'll cut the PW into coins of various sizes, and applique them to two pillow cases for the loveseat that visitors sit on. With pillows inside, yes.

However, the coin theme is going into the cases as well. I'm shibori dyeing them, even as I type, using beads, rings, other rounded shapes, to make the ring shapes.

The dyebath is a mix of red maple from my patio tree, black walnut from the giant trees out back and turmeric from my spice shelf. I'm looking for a warm background for the bright primaries of the patchwork.

After boiling in washing soda for an hour, to remove any sizing or insecticide that would block the dye, then rinsing

Here's the doings ready

And the tying done then  immersing in the dyebath for an hour plus, we'll see how the dye works.

 Typically it's subtle, once it's rinsed, when you use natural dyes. So we'll see how it looks  in a while. Ages since I dived into the freezer in search of dyes.

I still have quite a bit of iris, that's green, dye in there..and plans occur to me now.. different project..

Meanwhile, back to stitching.

More dyed linen, the last of that batch for the moment

I took the last of my linen yardage and shibori-wrapped it with rubber bands, left overnight in a dyebath of yellow onionskin dye, and here it is drying.  Some really nice figures appeared where the bands had been irregular, must remember to do this more.  

 One side and

 t'other side.


And there's a line of weird dots which I like but can't quite figure out their origin. Possibly some silk dye left on one of the bands got transferred. Anyway, I'm good with it, and it gives me an idea for doing it deliberately on other pieces.

This will be more than one finished artwork, I think, a large size for me.  While I was at it, I was doodling about trying out various finishing touches for Big Doorway, in addition to the painted arch I put in.  And I realized that I have a couple of embroideries I did for special exhibits but afterwards didn't like to much.  

So I cut one up and dyed the pieces, just added them into the dyebath and left them overnight with the big piece of linen, and it came out very nicely.  

Parts of this might end up on Big Doorway.  And since I've dyed embroidered motifs before -- BD has three of them in residence -- I know I like the effect of stitching on white linen then dyeing so the threads and beads pop very happily.  And the thread holding the beads dyes, too, so it disappears very effectively into the background. 

Summer is a great time for art ideas for me, I think.