Holidays and computer mal-functions

Yes we had a holiday. And both of our computers were down for over a week, but are okay now.  For the most part we travelled with family, but I did manage to get 4 days at the lake with no interruptions.  I did quite a bit of dyeing, but with mixed results.  Unfortunately, there is still no new camera, and likely won't be for awhile---so I don't have to show you my disasters.  The basic problem appears to be insufficient dye in the bath, as most of the pieces turned out to be very pale.  Now, in one case I tried a second bath, using the same colour but twice as much powder, with only a minimal change in the depth of colour.  For another group of pieces, it was the second dye bath that was insufficient and over-dyeing with a more concentrated bath did produce a visible difference, but still not the depth I would have liked. 

So this lead me to suspect that I was putting too much fabric in the bath--4-5 fat quarters in a bath with 2-3 tbsp of dye powder.  Since I'm dyeing stitch resist Shibori pieces, it takes me a few days to prepare the fabric for the dye bath, and I want the pieces to be the same finished colour, which is why they go in the same dye bath, but maybe I need to re-think this.  Perhaps dyeing each piece separately, with a carefully measured concentration of dye will be the next step.

In the meantime.  I have two other pieces that are on deadline.  I am committed to re-purposing a hat.  This is in response to a challenge.  There are about 40 of us who have been given hats from the estate of a lady, who collected them over her lifetime.  We are to alter the hats in a way that reflects our lives.  My vision requires an internal armature to support the weight of the hat, once it has been covered with several layers of paint and other embellishment.  This armature was a bit of a problem, and once made, took almost a week to dry.   I took it out in the sun yeterday to finish the drying process and discoverd tiny pin dots of what I assume is the beginning of mould.  So it was left in the bright sun for several hours, and will, hopefully, be okay.  Now I get to do the embellishing and painting--I'm just not sure what order to tackle that.

A closer deadline is also closer to my heart.  I am working on another beaded hanging, using a hand dyed fabric that struck a cord with me.  I used a low water immersion technique with the strange burgundy dye I mentioned once before.  The resulting fabric is mottled sage green with deep red and blue patches.  I spent a lot of time while travelling and since getting home, finding just the right beads for this piece.  It is now together and I have started the FMQ'g, but it has been entered in a  show with a delivery date of August 27th.  Guess I better get off the computer and start stitching!