Remaking a Classic

While I was mentoring Maddie, I dragged out cartoons of former work, to illustrate how to make a quilt from a full size drawing. One of them was the pattern for October Gift. 

Looking at the pattern got my juices flowing and I decided to tackle this design again. This remaking required that I come up with an alternate color scheme since I really don't have the same fabrics in my stash, making it difficult to match the original. I decided on nighttime colors.

And when I went to look at the silks I have (for the moon) I saw I was also out of moon colors. Since I have dyed silk yarn in the microwave, I figured I could do the same with silk fabrics. Yup. It worked. I used acid dyes and vinegar, painting the silks on a cut and opened trash bag. Then I folded it up and nuked it for 2 minutes. 

The dyes I used were food colors! But they work great and are a lot less messy than the powders. When I did the wash out, there was no color in the rinse water. It all stayed in the silk. I did two half yards, to soak up the wetness without it running all over the place.