June makings

 So in May my "try new things" attempt was pottery. I took a 3 week class at Oil and Clay Studio with my daughter and ended up with these pieces:

In June I was ready to move on to the next "new thing," dyeing fabric with natural dyes. I downloaded a class called Foraged Color from a artist (Rachel Denbow) who was teaching a class nearby at a timing that did not work for me. I also checked out a few books at our library, and bought a couple that seemed like a good long term reference. And slowly acquired a bit of stock pots to keep me from using the one I cook with, along with a few other items.

The first week I focused on a couple of flowers from my yard and some yellow onion skins and avocado pits/skins I had been collecting.

dye from yellow onion skins

The next week was all food dyes--beets (didn't work), blackberries, spinach, and red cabbage. I did not really enjoy smelling the red cabbage and spinach cooking down for the dye! 

The last week was items I collected out and about--some sycamore bark from a tree at the duck pond and by my house (that had to soak for a week), broadleaf plaintain roots and leaves (did not work for me), and a collection of wildflowers my daughter brought to me after visiting a friend.

the first set of dyed fabric

I ended up with a set of colorful dishtowels (the looser weave in the picture above) and a set of quilting cotton that I hope to use soon in a quilt.  While at the Fred Jones Art Museum, I saw this art that was the perfect inspiration for an improv quilt using the fabrics (along with some gray and white thrown in for contrast):

Urban Assemblage (Shapes) by B.J. Smith

Now it is July, and I'm not quite sure what my "try new things" creative project will be for this month, besides maybe making the quilt before I move on to something new!