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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Messin and a Gommin, Correction and a Doodle

Happy Thursday  and welcome, ya'll. How has your week been so far? Mine has been very soggy. Lots and lots of rain since Monday and more rain through the day is expected. But on the plus side that is good stitching weather. 
I have been working on a new saltbox.  Here is a sneak peek. 
Speaking of saltboxes, I made a little oops on Spring Green Saltbox. I  have seen many stitchers working  on it, and many have finished it. I  believe many stitched right through  the mistake probably knowing what I meant to  chart. Lol. But I wanted to point it out  and make the correction. 
In my first photo, I have my scissors pointed to an area which uses  DMC 937 and uses the symbol $   . There were a couple of squares that were accidently charted with the symbol " 3". They were supposed to be charted with the symbol $ for 937. 

The 2nd photo has my scissors pointed to the top of the flower leaf. There was the symbol •  ( which is 310) . It was supposed to be the symbol  3 which is for DMC 3345 the same as the rest of the leaf . 
I have corrected both the colored and black charts. You can click here to go to the original post or you may want to make a note on your copy.  I am so sorry about that, and hope it has not caused too much inconvenience or confusion.   Please if you ever see anything that seems off  in a chart, let me know. It is truly appreciated. 

Well, what else have I been up too - a little messin and gommin. That's what we say in the south when we are making a mess. Do you want to come along with me and see?  We are off to the kitchen. 

I was recently asked about how I dyed my aida. There are a lot of wonderful tutorials out there, but I will tell you how I do mine probably not much different than you do. 
First, I know you might be wondering do I actually cook with all that stuff on my the stove. Yep I do , but I am always right with it . Usually I cook on my other  stove though. 
First, I cut a hunk of 14 count aida and gather up my supplies. I used coffee, family size tea bags and sometimes cinnamon . Sometimes I also add black walnuts  but not this time though.
Usually, I use about 4 or 5 tea bags, a cup of coffee grounds and a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon- I like the smell. This time hubby saved me some used tea bags so I have those to add in too. 
 I dampen my aida so it is easy to put in the pot. Sometimes I use a big stock pot, but today it is a small pot. 
I place the coffee, tea bags, cinnamon and water in the pot. Now I am a bit messy when I am dyeing. I would suggest putting your coffee grounds in a little cloth bag tied off. I just threw mine in . Eeek - I bet you are saying- "She is  a gommin" .  Lol. ( More about that later.)  
I bring my fabric to a boil, and then I reduce the heat to low and let it sit on the stove for a few hours checking it often.  I keep a pitcher of water by the stove to add to the dye when the water gets low. I ended up cutting off the heat when I went to bed but left the fabric in the mixture. 
Now sometimes I immediately take it out of the pot and then bake it for about 20 minutes in a pyrex dish at 180 degrees,  but I watch it carefully. Other times I do not bake it at all. 

This time after letting the fabric sit overnight, I took the pot outside and hung the fabric on the swing to dry. Once the fabric was dried, I shook out the coffee grounds- messin again.  Since I liked the color of my fabric , I went ahead and discarded  the tea /coffee dye into my garden ( tea bags and all). I broke down the tea bags with a garden shovel and buried them among the garden dirt. They will be gone in no time. Plus the mixture is good for my plants. 
This is how my fabric looks in comparison to beforehand. It is pretty dark. I like it!! Now it is time to stitch. 
 
Oh, I hope you are not cringing too much after reading this. I am sure you do not mess and gom like I do but boy is it fun. 

It has been awhile since I gifted you a doodle. I am all into my chickens right now. So I was working on some Spring Chick doodles last night. I haven't got to stitch them yet, but they are on my agenda for this weekend. I am going to embroider mine using a back stitch and create a little quilt. 

Click here for the Spring Chick Doodles. 

Thank you so much for coming to visit me today. Bring some fabric next time, and we will mess and gom together. I will promise not to be too messy. Lol.   As always...
Happy Stitching, ya'll
Melisa
This weekend I am joining Wendy at Sugarlane Designs for a Friday Night Sew In. Hope you will pop over and check her out and perhaps sign up and check out the others who are participating.
A creative mess is better than tidy idleness. 
Hugs and Stitches!!!




















 

21 comments:

  1. Très intéressant cette teinture de toile mais trop foncé pour moi, mais je retiens le rajout de cannelle ! Je vais broder la saltbox mais suis pas une rapide ! Merci pour les poussins, ils sont adorables.
    De la pluie dans ma région de France (département 77) et ciel souvent gris,
    Bonne fin de semaine. Martine

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting me and leaving such a kind comment. I am so thrilled you are putting the saltbox on your stitching list. It was a fun little stitch. I hope the rain has moved out of your area and you are enjoying a bit of sunshine and warm weather. Have a lovely week and happy stitching.

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  2. I think your cross stitch projects are so lovely but I don't stitch them, just not my thing. I like the little embroidered chicks, very cute. Happy stitching!

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    1. I sure do appreciate you stopping by to visit, Gretchen and for leaving such a kind comment. I try to stay busy whether it is cross stitching, quilting, or painting though quilting will always be my main love. Have a great week.

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  3. I sew enjoy your posts and all you share. Thanks

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    1. I so appreciate your visits, Jacqueline. You always leave such positive kind comments that really brighten my day. Thank you so much, dear.

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  4. We say we gommed something up if we mess it up. Lol two southern sayings in one sentence. Thanks for teaching us how to dye. I have some light Aida that I would love to dye.

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    1. Lol we say "gommed" too. Gotta love the southern sayings; we southerners can be descriptive. Lol. I hope you try dyeing some of your aida. I didn't start dyeing mine until a couple of years ago. It is always a hit or miss how dark mine will get. Have a great week.

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  5. Thanks for sharing how you coffee/tea dye your fabric, Melisa! Lovely start on your new saltbox design! Happy Thursday!

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Robin. I have fallen in love DMC 3816. It is such a pretty green to stitch with. Hope you have a great week. Hugs

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  6. You are so creative! Love your fabric dyeing method!

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    1. Ahh you are so kind, Sharon. I may be messy but I have fun dyeing the fabric. Lol. Thank you for the sweet visit and have a lovely week.

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Maureen. I can not tell you how much that warms my heart. Thank you for lifting my spirits. Hugs.

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  8. So interesting to read about your dyeing method, Melisa. I've never tried to dye my own fabric, but will definitely keep your tutorial in mind. Your new little saltbox looks like such a pretty color--looking forward to seeing the finished design :) Have a wonderful evening ♥

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Carol. I try to dye a pretty good amount of fabric at once so I do not have to go through the process that often. It is fun to experiment with it though. Have a great week.

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  9. I tea dye fabric using a similar recipe and mine is definitely messy too! I stitched the first fall saltbox you designed but I’m going to stitch it again, as well as the others, as I love them as simple pillows in a dough. Owl! I’m such a copycat! And I’ll definitely stitch those cute chicks! Thanks as always for sharing your amazing talent with us!! ❤️

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    1. Lol I am so glad I am not the only one that makes a mess when dyeing fabric. It is a lot of fun though. Thank you so much for stitching Crow Creek Salt box That is one of my favorites.They will look so fabulous in a dough bowl. I finished my chick embroideries tonight. I hope you enjoy them. Have a fabulous week, dear.

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  10. Oops - I meant dough bowl (auto correct! 😕)

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  11. Thank you! Such cute Easter chicks!

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    1. Aah you are so welcome, Susan. I hope you enjoy them. They were some of my favorites to work on.

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