Easter Eggs Made with Natural Dyes

I dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes recently after seeing the process here.  I found it on Pinterest originally.  If you've noticed I haven't posted many blog posts lately, you can blame it on Pinterest.  I spend way too much time looking around.  If you are on Pinterest and wish to "follow" my pins, my boards are at http://pinterest.com/shari3139/.  

Thought I'd show you my 4th burner pot I first saw on "Food In Jars" -- linked on the left side of my blog.  The pot comes with a handy wire basket -- great for steaming veggies or boiling eggs.  I also intend to use this pot to process small batches of canned jam this year.

Anyway,I got some unusually results with the dyes.  I think I may have had some uniques chemical reactions because of the method I used to hard boil the eggs.  The recipe I used for the perfect boiled egg called for salt and vinegar in the boiling water.  I got a bit of a salty coating on my eggs and had to scrub it off (which also took off some of the brown tint too.  So odd!).  I think if I had boiled the eggs in just water, my results may have been different.  

I made dye baths with red onion peel, grape juice, red cabbage, beets and paprika.  I found it funny that they are all kind of the same color at the beginning, but create such different colored eggs.
The instructions are different for each color, but none of them were hard to make or took any exotic ingredients -- just boiling water, white vinegar, and the item that contains the color.

I found the red cabbage to have the most interesting result.  I got dark teal and pale teal all in the same batch.  The beets gave a nice mottled pink color.  The red onion was supposed to create jade green, but mine look more like a burgundy with a green patina instead.  The paprika made a nice pale orange and the grape juice made a dark lavender color.

I think they turned out quite lovely.  This is what I have left over after giving my friend, Cristin, some of them.  She contributed some of the red onion skins and she assisted me with making the dyes.  She made a fun creative project even more fun -- and the good music and a great bottle of Concord Wine helped too.  Good times!

Tie Dye Onesie

My supervisor at work just had a baby boy and I wanted to give him a little something for the child.  Luckily, I keep a bunch of tie dyed clothing on hand for this kind of thing.  I figure it will be summer time before the boy will wear this -- so patriotic colors will work fine.  

I'd like to do more tie dye this Spring, but I should honestly try to sell some of the ones I have.  My Dad is a walking advertisement for me and always has people asking him about the shirts I've made for him.  I think it is because they are men's shirts rather than t-shirts.  I should get my Etsy sight up and running again.  I would happily give my blog readers a nice discount once I do.  Are you interested?

A little knitting

This is a photo of a dish cloth that I made with some cotton yarn that I hand dyed.  I promised All the Pretty Flowers I would get it posted -- so here it is.  This is a mini project really.  I just picked up knitting again.  Previously I've completed a scarf or two, but never really learned much more than the basics.  Maybe someday I will take the time to really knit.  I do love fiber crafts, but I am more drawn toward dying fabrics and fibers than sewing and knitting (although weaving really appeals to me).  Anyway, I like the colors that I got on my first attempt and can't wait to do more. 

I'm curious who else has any projects that they are working on right now.  Let me know so.  I need inspiration.

Last Weekend

I've been pretty busy lately trying to get ready to go on vacation this next weekend.  I'm so excited to get a little relaxation time.  I just wanted to do a quick blog about last weekend.  

I took my cat Sassy to Grand Rapids so that she can be taken care of while we go on vacation.  She hates riding in cars!  I guess most cats do though. 

 

I got to spend some time with Dawn and Corryn on Friday night.  We had a good time just talking and drinking coffee (insanely strong coffee) and eating pie.  

The next morning I went with Mom and Dad to a beautiful garden and we walked around a while.  Then Mom and I went to some of our favorite spots and shopped a while.  Everlasting Blooms was having a clearance sale on some of their stuff -- we just love that store!   

  

After that I went to the Avenue for the Arts Market that Jen had a booth at.  I tried to help out but I had to leave shortly after I got there.  She sold some tie-dye for me (what an awesome friend -- love ya Jen!) and she had some really cool hand made goods too.

 

So, then I had to zip back home and meet up with a few girls from work.  Then after that I met up with Charlie at some of our other friends' house.  We got home fairly late and I was exhausted.

Sunday we went to a graduation open house and then over to Charlie's parents for Father's Day.  It was all pretty hectic last weekend.

Now I'm midway through the week and trying to figure out when I'm going to get everything done before vacation.  I have to get groceries and pack up everything and...  Phew!  I didn't know relaxation took so much preparation!  

Tie Dye Weekend

This past weekend I went to Grand Rapids to do a batch of tie-dye with Jen and Rich.  I wasn't real thrilled with how the stuff I dyed turned out, but it was a really fun time.  I was experimenting with stitching the design into the fabric rather than folding the fabric and that didn't really work for me.  

Anyway, I got to spend lots of time with Rich and Jen and the girls and I got to see Jenna and her family.  I also made two new friends -- Rachel and Jane.  Making new friends is something that doesn't happen for me very often, so it was cool.  Rachel is staying with Rich and Jen for a while (originally from Portland, OR) and is interested in intentional community too.  Oh, and she can bake a mean gluten-free brownie!  Jane is the hippie-est chick I have met since I traveled around with the Rainbow Family.  It turns out that we went to the same Church growing up and I even went to Brazil with her brother and to Spain with her sister.  It is a small world.  

We did a bunch of tie dye on Saturday - until evening.  Rich made an awesome vegetable curry for dinner!  Then we hung on the porch until it got too cold and we went inside.  I got back to my folks house pretty late, but I still got up in the morning to go to breakfast with my Mom and Dad.  It is becoming a tradition for us to go out on Saturday or Sunday morning on the weekends I visit.  Then I packed up and headed back to the Holshoe house to rinse out the tie-dye.  The weekend flew by and I didn't get to see Amy or Dawn like I had wanted.  :(

Jen is going to try to sell some of our stuff at the Farmer's Market in Grand Rapids.  What doesn't sell there will probably go up on Etsy.com so be looking for future posts about how to find our "store".  What?  You've never been to Etsy.com?!?  Well, you should check it out!  It is only the coolest place on the internet for a crafter who wants to quit their day-job and just create full-time.  -sigh-