first ecodye's of 2017 results!

so i opened up my first ecodyes of this year the other day!  they had been sitting out on my front steps for what seemed like quite awhile?  i let them pretty much dry out completely anyway!  they felt completely dried out and when i opened them up they were only slightly damp in the very center.  i think they turned out pretty good!
so, have a look!

2017-01 -the one on the left, i used leaves from the fall that i had saved in the freezer.  both had been simmered in water that pine needled had been previously simmered/soaked in.

so then this is what it looked like closer up from right to left..

the leaves used were some kinda maple, red oak, some kind of crab apple & mountain ash.  the maple left some green colours which i found kinda interesting!  the crab apple was more brownish and i have found crab apples to be more purpleish in the past..  the mountain ash did ok..  but i dont know, i have only used red oak a few times because there are not many around here, but i have not had much luck with them.  burr oak are a lot more common and i have always had really good results with those leaves..  it's too bad, cause i really like the shape of the red oak leaves!
anyway..  this is what it looked like on the back..

2017-02 -this one was a pine experiment!  the pine needles were simmered for 10min or so the night before then left to soak overnight, then i let them soak in some iron mordant for a little bit, just while i prepared the above one, so not that terribly long..  i will have to try another couple experiments with letting it soak longer, and then one without iron at all and see how that does..

a closer view from right to left..

i guess it's not really close enough to see the detail too well is it?  oh well..  i like the way it turned out anyway!  i am really interested in seeing how it looks after it is washed and ironed though!
this is the back of it..

fun stuff.  there's this fabric sale coming up in a couple weeks at this church.  i went to it last year, we went towards the end and everything was 50% off, there was LOTS of fabric..  a hall full of tables stacked full of it!  and it was cheap!  they had small pieces, under a meter, and big pieces 5 or more meters long..  all kinds, all colours..  but i got lots of different fabric for dyeing last year and i hope to again this year!  i also wanna make a patchwork quilt of some sort, so i want to get small pieces of fabric for that.  i want to make a colourful one and i want to make a dyed one..  so lots of stuff to work on i suppose.  anyway.. off on a tangent there i suppose.  not much as far as plant life out there yet.