QueenbarbieJ I think your reds look great with your selections even if brighter than the paint chip. Love those aboriginal turtles! And a fantastic collection of neutrals.

Carol in WI, love your single fabrics, especially with that background/neutral. I would probably declare your light blue the Refresh/aqua figuring it as sky and using the gold as the Skada/lighter blue. Both of those colors are the lowest amounts of yardage, slightly more of the Aqua -- so use your favorite of the two for that.

Today is the day to finish the dying! If I had not been stuck at home without a car there is no way I would have stuck with all this boiling. I will still have approximately 1/2 or so of that bag untreated unless I get some renewed surge of motivation, but on the other hand I have prepared about twice the yardage needed for this project. Still think a log cabin out of them would be nice and would work with the remaining colors. Have enough vinegar to do maybe half of what is left...

Oh, for an update on the water heater, our preferred installation company was able to find a model that will fit in our space, it had to be special ordered but will be installed (finally!) Tuesday before Thanksgiving. City sent us a notice on bright green paper to get our attention asking if we were using more water or was there possibly a leak and what to look for, we explained the situation and they won't send out a crew to inspect the lines. Total cost will be under $3k (we chose the no rush option on the special order), so less than the 3.5 I was figuring with the build out. I know things can be a lot cheaper and easier in other jurisdictions. Here, just to replace a water tank with no changes at all still requires a $60-70 permit -- yes, if you went down to the home improvement store and did it yourself on a basic electric tank it still requires a permit. We could do an electric tank but neither hubby nor I are comfortable around the gas lines. Now you also have to have a city inspection ($25-40??) within 3 months of installation or your warranty is voided, inspection is partly about the earthquake strapping. Permit was still required last time (I think it was only $20) but the inspection part is new.

Car should be ready on Thursday or Friday. I'm keeping myself ignorant of the cost because sometimes ignorance is bliss. I'm just trying to be a good sport about it all will be about two weeks total of no car. After I get the car back I'll see what's left of my repair budget and if I can take the Bernina in for it's servicing and possible repair. Nice thing is I have plenty of vintage machines to choose between as well as the cheapo Brother. The thing I have most against it is it is so light! Moves around all the time but I have some of that stuff you put under a carpet and I'll try that.

Or another thought, what does the back side of the gold fabric look like? It might be light enough but still be a workable color.

"Do you think it would work to make the light blue my aqua and the gold my light blue?? Does that make sense?"

Yes, Carol in WI, it makes sense to me. There are two ways to create contrast by intensity or by color. Gold would be by color. What we don't know is if she intends the light blue to be shadow to the darker blue. As long as you gold would look good with all the other colors, it might work. Love Kassaundra's idea of possible using the back of the gold. Yellow's and golds can really pop and take over.

Iceblossom have you tried the bleach pen? Maybe try drawing a design on your fabrics before dying. It might look more like a batik. It came to me when you said you were bleaching pieces before dying.

I did think about the bleach pen... when I pulled out my subtle batiks they were still too patterned for me with the home dyes. A lot of what I really would like to do is too patterned to go with the other fabrics. but I've picked up some odds and ends at the thrift stores to help sprinkle a bit of color and keep messing with this stuff if I want. Got sponges and squirt bottles and things from the dollar store so have all sorts of possibilities that way too. Back when I was actively playing with dying things, I loved doing work on screens which of course I bought at garage sales or thrift stores. The panels that go over a screen door to protect against critters and kids can be used in all sorts of cool ways. I'm about to start slowly today by taking a piece of my prepared washed/damp white piece of fabric and slicing a raw beet on it, folding the fabric over the top and weighing it down for awhile. I don't know how well it will transfer, so will check in at like 15 minutes. I'm going to try using the peels in little bits on a piece of the parakeet green at the same time as well. It might stain deep, it might not stain at all... but beets require very little effort to turn into dye.

I'm also going to check my penny jar for old pennies to use in once batch of the tie dye, copper is a mordant and can do some funky things, so bind the rubber band around the penny in a large dot/ring outcome. Modern pennies are mostly zinc, but pennies before 1962 are worth more as copper than they are as coins, and between 1962-1982 should still give me enough for a reaction. I think. Again, don't know until I try and it all depends on a lot of factors.

I did get the shaving cream at the dollar store, and my husband who is like the most non-crafty guy there is ever says, oh yeah, like for dying easter eggs? I looked at him stunned and he says that facebook takes him all sorts of places, maybe it was "things you never knew you could do" sort of video.

Qbarbiej, I think your reds look beautiful with your purples. Your aqua is reading as dark as your red (except for the lightest aqua), so I don't know how well they will work in the pattern, as Bonnie said contrast would be important; the aqua is supposed to be the lightest color group (not counting the neutrals, which are lighter yet). And Bonnie's green shows as medium, whereas your green is very dark and might not contrast well with your dark purple, should they meet in the pattern. But I think they do all look great together.

Carol, I think using the gold as the med. blue might be problematic, because Bonnie mentioned that we would be using the dark blues and med. blues in matched pairs. So rather than a same-color, shade difference effect, you would be getting a strong color contrast effect where we use the blues, and that would most likely change the effect of the pattern (which could turn out to be beautiful, we just don't know). I think if you could find a darker blue to be your med. blue, the gold could still work as the aqua.

Stabilized hand dyes at last! Bonnie talks about Refresh/aqua as being the color of April skies, I'm going pretty bright and strong but then again, I'm using those yellows instead of neutral. My Parakeet/green is ending up as the lightest fabric.

Darks and reds are easy. I'm still working with the balance of the medium/Skada color, have two basic ways to go and just have to watch the darks and the aqua along side them. Have plenty of fabric to work with -- and still have half the bag to stabilize but most is not in the colors I'm using here.

Iceblossom how are you getting your colors so vibrant? Are you using rit dye or food coloring?

Iceblossom, your colors are wonderful!