Quilting | Better Bloggers Hive

 Hi! and Welcome! Thank you for visiting my blog. I am participating in this years #2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop hosted by some fantastic folks that I met here on the internet!  This Is the week I get to tell you about me...

I am a new quilter and a new blogger, so I am new. New like: I don't know all of the rules yet, new.

I am going to let you in, I am going to pour some tea, and I am going to spill it, my guts, not the tea, silly.


Scrap quilting and large applique seem to be my thing. I have values that hold close to the upcycling, recycling, responsible eco thrifty  and traditional quilting values.

I think it is in my Blood

My mom used to make her own clothes in the 70's. Lovey caftans, with vibrant prints and colors, could be found in the trunk in the basement. I wore these treasures in my teens (90's) with a reverence for free spiritedness.

Upcycling and recycling are very important to me.
 I adore the roots of quilting where it was about making the best of what was available. I care about the environment and the people who make our textiles. I want to live a conscious life and I want to contribute as much or more as I take. (I am such a girl guide [eye roll] )







I have found a few bloggers in the quilting community that share my values: 
I adore Kaja's philosophy and style at  Sew Slowly her improv ad-hoc utility quilting inspires freedom and makes me feel like I can breathe.
Jo Avery from My Bearpaw who wrote this post about the Green Quilting Movement.
Blair Stocker  at Wisecraft just wrote a book about upcycling in quilts! and Debbie at a Quilters table wrote an introductory post about it.
If you are interested in the upcycle aspect of quilting, I would love to connect!


The 9658 Brand
I know that some people are curious about the name 9658 Textiles. The 9658 is a brand of sorts that started with my 9658 Honey products. My husband and I make honey in our back yard and on a woodlot in Ft Assiniboine, Alberta Canada.

9658 is my house number;  9658 is the house brand. So when you come over and I have perfected the rhubarb wine recipe, I will pour you a glass of the 9658 house wine, then send you home with a jar of the house jam or pickles, and a bunch of the house cut flowers, you will be taking home a little bit of 9658 with you.


So far on my blog, you can find my textile pursuits such as rug hooking tutorials, finished rugs and my crochet work.

I have just started this blogging journey and It is great to have you along. It has really turned into so much more than I thought it would. Follow me on my Journey who knows what we will learn together!

My hive is hosted by  Beth at Cooking up Quilts

And the other two hives are hosted by Leanne at She Can Quilt and Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. Check out  my blog mates hives for cool stuff and giveaways

• Jan of Cocoa Quilts http://www.cocoaquilts.com/
• Yanicka of Finding Myself as an Artist http://yanickahachez.blogspot.ca/
• Vanda of Quilt in Piece http://chittenden.co.za
• Abbie of Sparkle On sparkilyblog.wordpress.com

Stay crafty my quilty friends.

Until next time,
Sarah

Rug Hooking | How to Dye Wool

This post is for a friend of mine over at BizarreQuilter who is interested in the rug hooking. 

I have only been dying my own wool at home for a little while. I learned the techniques from some very talented ladies at my local rug hooking guild. I will humbly show you what I have learned from them.

Lately I have been working on a cute little alien called Moog. I needed some green wool to continue on with my Moog rug so I ordered some pro chem wash fast Acid Dye in Spearmint 723 Green and dyed up some wool in the exact shade I needed.

The guild purchases their Pro Chem dyes from Ragg Tyme Studio. you could get them there or buy them from your preferred source. 

I used about a quarter meter of some unbleached wool cloth that I had purchased for dying my own shades, but you can use any type of wool you would like. 

Part One - The Washing

You will need to soak the wool in a light detergent for about half and hour. Gently poke it down and swish around to make sure you are getting all of the wool we, then leave it to sit. This process gets rid of chemicals left behind from manufacturing and it opens up the follicles in the wool to make it accepting of the dye. 

*Note*   Agitation + detergent + extreme temperature change = wet felting. We aren't wet felting so let's go easy on our wool cloth. Sometimes you will want to butch up your wool, and in this case, I would go ahead and use the formula to felt it a bit. 

Part Two - Mixology the Art 

While the wool is soaking, boil a couple of cups of water for mixing the dye in. Make sure all containers used with dye are not used for eating or drinking in again. I use a plastic 1L yogurt container to mix my dyes in 

I measured out a tiny bit of dye and added it to a cup and a half of boiled water.... 

I dye without exact measurements because I find the process very flexible; if I don't get the shade I want then I just add more and adjust the length of time the wool is in the dye bath.

 If you want to recreate the same color in a different batch you can record your process and try the measurements next time.

Part Three - Rinse, Heat, and Dye 

Once the wool has been washed and rinsed we will put the  wool in a pot of warm water that just covers the wool on the stove and turn on the heat to a low heat (almost a simmer but never over) 

Add the dye mixture to the pot with your wool; you can add it however you like. Adding it directly to the wool fabric will give a very strong color in that area and adding it to the water will give you a more even color throughout. To add it to the water just move your fabric over a little and stir in with your stick. You can swish the fabric around or you can just leave it still. It is up to you and the affect you are desire.

Part Four - Add Acid, Wait and Assess

After the wool has been soaking up the dye for about 40 mins add 1/2 cup vinegar (the acid of the acid dye technique) while the dye bath is on the heat.  You will probably be able to see the water clearing up before your eyes (its pretty neat). Let the dye bath sit on the heat for another half an hour or until all of the dye is taken up by the wool. You can repeat the adding color and vinegar until you have something you like.

Part Five: The Cool Down and Dry Off 

When you get the color you like just turn off the heat and let the temperature come down slowly; a sharp change in temperature by washing in cold water can cause the wool to felt.  Some people wash/ rinse their wool to get rid of the vinegar smell but I don't wash it after. You can check the color fastness by rinsing but I usually trust the dyes I am using. 

After the wool fabric is dyed it can be cut into strips for rug hooking. I will show you some pictures in the next post: Cutting Wool Fabric for Rug Hooking.


If you have comments or questions feel free to leave them below. I try to respond to everyone.

Sarah