Insects to dye for

                                                             

 Bug collecting 101  



Cochineal was once a prized insect valued for its crimson color before chemical dyes were available. The color of the cochineal was found on the uniforms of the British soldiers during the revolutionary war and some historians believe Betsy Ross’s red on the first United States flag was the red of the cochineal. Cochineal was in the paints of Michelangelo's paintings. The Canadian Mounted police red coat was cochineals. So as I collect these little insects I realize that I am not merely collecting a insect but a piece of history.






 Cochineal Road

                                                   

Last evening Maulie, Hubby and I went on our nature walk for the cochineal. It went better then I thought. As we walked by a neighbors house I watched as they're rooster frantically ran by us on the outside of the yard.Their horses stared at us as we walked by quietly munching they're dinner. I saw several ground squirrels running  in front of us I guess there is courage in numbers if your a squirrel. . We arrived at the prickly pear cactus and Hubby watched as I got out a knife and scraped the cochineal off the cactus like a pro. I may not be a Julia Child at cooking but I sure can collect bugs and cook them. I asked Hubby to scrape the cactus near the ground for me. The look he gave me was priceless! What a trooper how many men would go along with a wife searching for bugs?

I was busy scraping the cochineal at eye level happy to find that the bugs were coming off the cacti easily. In the future I would use a spoon since as you scrape the cochineal they tend to fall on the ground. They aren’t too bad a insect to collect and it was kind of fun. I had some gloves but they weren’t necessary. The cochineal looks like little bits of cottage cheese and you can’t even tell it’s a bug. I was trying to get about an ounce but this is all I could collect. You can only get as many that are available.

It takes a lot of insect bodies to get the true crimson color.So today I will squish and then it will take a day to get the wool to obsorb the color.

 
                                                   Maulie was happy to go on a walk.

     

Squish of the cochineal

A rolling pin works well to achieve the color.

 Cochineal

                             more pics when the wool is dyed...........
                           from Cheri the cochineal killer.

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From Bugs to Baby

Do you ever have a weekend where your not looking forward to something your going to do? That is my dilemma I have told my self  "Cheri go collect the cochineal for your dye! Walk down the dirt road and get those bugs, Quit making excuses and squish those bugs." It doesn't matter I have sharp pointy cactus ready to prick my fingers.

Cochineal weapons

I have decided this Sunday evening I will be the squishing bug off the cacti for the cochineal. It sounded like a great idea before. I made a great dye years ago using the cochineal but I hate to squish bugs. This is going to be Gross! I put off collecting the cochineal because it was so hot but it is feeling a little cooler. I love the internet and I read some more information about getting the best color. I need to use distilled water. I also can put the cochineal bugs in a plastic bag and roll a rolling pen over them.

 You can use a morter and pestle but I could never use that again for grinding up food so rolling pins sound like a great idea. Alum will be what I use to soak my wool in the night before.

 Early in the week I took a trip to visit Baby Jack and I repossessed my spinning knitty knotty from my daughter . A girlfriend gave me some yarn she had spun and so I wanted to relax the spun wool a little. Megan brought out a sock she had knit for the baby . This is only one sock knitted someone needs to get the other one done quick.  


She's back! 

                                   


  Oh No not the cheeks!

 Wish me luck collecting those bugs.

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Things that make me smile

                                                             

                                     Jax the Wonder dog with his
                                     goggles in old town.
  

Wednesday and the heat is holding me hostage. It has been so hot and humid sometimes Summer is too hot for me. It’s a this and that post. These are some photo’s that make me smile.

 The wonder of new life

                                     Fresh cut flowers      

                                         A smiley Baby jack

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Natural Dyeing results of Coreopsis

I just had to post a quick picture of the wool that I dyed with Coreopsis petals.


The result is that the wool dyes a darker yellow then the Dodder.I started with a white wool with little specks in it. 
It’s a hot humid day so Maulie and I are going to stay cool inside.I hope it's not too hot where you all live!



News in my neck of the woods


This email is from Khandy she informs everybody what's going on in emails.  This is todays dilemma I had to laugh.....
 This was the email. 
This morning, Tuesday at 7:30am, I got a call from a good Samaritan who found 3 goats( a mom with collar, a baby, and a daddy) and herded them into the tennis courts at Nancy Jane Park. She gave them some water and some Bermuda to eat before the owner can claim them.

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Long Beach Imagination Quilt Show

What a nice Convention center.

Well I did take pictures of the Long beach International quilt show and it was interesting but my dumb camera acted up and I only caught pics arriving and leaving. I am so bummed but you will just have to use your imagination this time. Sorry! My favorite exhibit was the  Baltimore quilts which allowed no photo taking .There was a lot of art quilts from all over the world and lots of interesting quilts that were beautiful but I was disappointed by the lack of traditional quilts.So as I downloaded my pictures there was a gasp Oh No a blank bunch of pictures! I am not sure what happened I kept putting the camera in my bag and so clearly that was not a good idea. I think the gremlin in my camera thought the same way about the lack of Traditional quilts and acted up. My girlfriend told me Long Beach is known for having lots of Art Quilts.

  



 Ladies start your engines.


Imagine your at a large convention center lots of ladies walking around your feet is hurting from all the walking your doing.It seemed like the aisles were packed at times and then less ladies. This was not as busy a quilt show as three years ago when I went. That time they had actually ran out of food. That time it had been so packed that you could barely get in a booth this time there was only a couple booths like that.   Primitive gathering quilt shop was a hit. That booth was packed the whole day.I loved looking at their wools and books.I went with Linda and Janet and we really didn't shop alot. I was disappointed I wanted to see some civil war material but there was none of that anywhere at the show. Heart to Hand had their usual nice wool patterns. That was good booth.








 Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine had a booth.


   The new Primitive  quilt and Projects Magazine had a booth with rug hooking kits and some wool. The first issue had been sold out at the Country Loft so I bought the issue at the Prmitive Quilts and Projects booth.

 The gals signed it for me. I think this magazine is really packed with great designers and really good projects.

I would highly recommend it.                                                                           



   

 A busy booth was a booth that focused on japanese fabric. There was alot of ladies looking through their fabrics.I bought a half yard of a cute lion material. I think I want to cut it in little squares for a little quilt for Baby Jack. I bought a cute pattern for a doll. I love all types of dolls but for some crazy reason I like ugly dolls.I think it's because I loved the book TheVelveteen rabbit as a child and  so somebody has to make dolls that look a little out of sorts. Lol

                                      Main floor of Convention center 
                                    All the quilters are down stairs at the show.

                            I know it's just a bus but I had taken
                                         a picture of it.

                        Bus ready to go and goodbye Long Beach

                                  Traffic jam on the way home from                                        Long beach.
                                   

.
                                                 View from the bus of the Pacific Ocean

           

                                                                                                                        end.

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Dyeing Wools,Cheri Payne Quilt and Wool Crazy!

                                                   Tuesday Rug Hooking Group

                                       As I race through my post with so much to talk about this
                week. This was a picture I took on the way home from collecting Dodder
               on Sunday.

Not much rug hooking was done. Country Loft had new classes, new wools and patterns so we were too busy looking at everything and visiting. Between sharing my Dodder and explaining how I got the pretty yellow color it was non stop visiting and jaws a movin.   Marjorie explaining about a book she is reading called The root of wild madder It tells the tale of dyes and history.I have to check that book out at the library it sounds interesting.
                                                                       That's a swatch of  
                                                          wool dyed Pomegranate 
                                                          on Marjories book.
                                                          I love that color.

Michele  had the cutest doll bed to share. Michele is also a excellent rug hooker . One of Michele's  rugs is in one of Renee Plains books.Michele  is making another rug for Renee Plains newest book.

           Here is  Pam as usual Pam is a excellent Quilter, rug hooker and basket maker.
             Her website has great pictures of her quilts. http://www.fiberartist.com/

Pam brought two quilts she had finished . Pam quilted our Cheri Payne quilt a donation for the Sew for the cure later this month at Country Loft.  I have two blocks in that Cheri quilt somewhere.
                                              Cheri Payne quilt                     

This is Janes bears she is making for the project for children in developing Countries.The Mother Bear project helps children with Aids and Hiv with a simple bear and a little show of Love.
                                       http://www.motherbearproject.org/
 Jane saw a wonderful article in knitting magazines and there she went helping others with her knitting. Jane also teaches kids to play piano and I love to hear about the recitals.What a kind woman.

   Lot's of information gets passed during rug hooking  on a variety of subjects . There is a wealth of infomation that we all know and so were able to benefit from others.   What’s funny we all sit at the same chair every time .Sometimes I think we should change seats and mix it up a little. It reminds me of pews at  a church. For some reason when you sit at the same pew in a small church you are a creature of habit and always surprised seeing someone in your so called seat.

 Yes I am still working on it.

Wool Crazy was fun I totally forgot my camera sorry. Jo Ann Mullally who is the creator of several books on using wool in projects did show and tell and had at least a dozen projects she has finished.Check out Jo Ann's blog.
                                                           http://woolcrazy-jam.blogspot.com/
Jo Ann is going to have one of her projects in the next issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.
Jo Ann was the original wool Crazy artist

I have seen other pattern makers now going wool crazy and I have to laugh they look like Jo Ann's just lighter wool colors.   There was a cute article she did on her mom in this months issue of Primitive Quilt magazine. I love the way my wool crazy project is coming along.Even though I work on it just once a month I plug away. We also got some wool scraps from Jo Ann’s grab bag of wool and a new handout pattern oh plus brownie and bagels. So now you know why I am not hungry.
That’s about it two days of fun and Saturday the biggest quilt show in California.
It is going to be crazy.

                                                           Whew!

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