Sunday, April 17, 2011

dye day preparations




 You can tell by the names which colors were internet specials....and the purists out there will be freaking at my mash-ups.

Could there be something special about dye stock mixed on a full moon? You will have to admire my restraint that no cloth was involved in the days festivities. That party will be this coming Wednesday and  Thursday.


I ran out of bottles though, there are more colors waiting, turquoise, avocado, black, chino, raspberry.....


I needed a tablemopper but accidentally picked up a piece of damask that had been waxed. There will be more wax and discharging for this piece soon.

antimacassar redux


These were built on bases that used to be the armrest covers of a couch. The backsides were relatively pristine. The fronts, not so much. I like the fabric so much that I have idle fantasies of taking a razor to the side that faces that wall.

I will certainly skin it like a beast when we are through with it, boil it clean and make great things.

I like doing this one so much that when I found the other  armrest cover in with the "to dye" bunch, I pulled it out and started a twin, fraternal, not identical.  Call this one "Brave beat the downtrodden Mets, double header". Yes, there will be more french knots.


Yesterday was so cold and blustery, Jim was inspired to make chili and I was forced to postpone making new dyestock.

Instead, I wasted the morning trying to master Jim's old cell phone (mine came over on the Ark and is failing). I was happy to be able to stitch anything after all that useless thumbing. Useless because later in the day I was told that, through a chain of loved one's upgrades, I would be given a gently used Blackberry. Just what I need.

We'll see what the day brings weather-wise after lunch.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Giving Thanks

You know who puts off doing the tax boogey until this morning, those who owe. Still, the filthy deed is done and as I pressed print there was a thump on the doorstep. FedEx!

My boodle from Prochem arrived chock full of wonder. I love buying (cheap!) the discontinued, heinous colors no one else seems to want. What a challenge! There's Curry, Loden, Pumpkin Spice, Grape, Azalea Pink, Golden Yellow, Sapphire and Intense Blues, Raspberry and Superblack!  I feel a day off coming on.

Here's a hasty pot of Forget-me-Not which I have rechristened "Fuggedaboutit" Blue. Results tomorrow.

For now, I give thanks once again, for being so easily amused. 

back to the wall

Remember this one?

I was so in love with it at first but I left it hanging on the design wall, sideways (as it was built) and only pinned in place - I could not take the next step of basting it.

Deep down, I knew it was fatally flawed.

Thanks to E, who clarified what I knew to be true, there really was no way to unify the two disparate halves and what I really had here were starting points for two separate pieces.  Here's to heading off false starts before they become groaning disappointments.








You know what I am supposed to be doing at this moment, don't you.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

the personal stash



 After the storm front moved through last night, it's turned cold again. There are sleeping cats draped all over the house.
 

I was busy at the computer and didn't hear her come into the room and clamber up from the ironing board into my personal stash...




So I asked her, "Sweetie, what the hell are you doing up there?
Casually, slowly, she turned around and showed me what she thought of my efforts.


a humble Thank You


to Jude Hill who has been so incredibly generous in featuring my hand dyed fabric on her resource page along with the work of several amazing artists.
You won't go wrong here.

Jude, I am scrambling to live up to your recommendation.

There will be Born Again Overdyes, Sugar, Salt and Buggy Cereal cloth, discharged,painted and dragged behind the mule fabric (just kidding)...lot's of new and interesting things to share in the upcoming weekends.

Monday, April 11, 2011

half baked still

Here's more what I was thinking about yesterday. The oval/circles I like best come from discharging - the hot wax is much more willful and harder to control. These processes are both time consuming and messy and this whole week I am very short of free time so I am going to let everything rest until the weekend.

I'm going to be pulling many pieces from the stash for similar treatments - they thought they were safe, all ironed and folded on the shelf. HAH!


I did a rare thing last night -spent four consecutive hours watching TV (I should have been sleeping) the pilot and second episode of "The Killing" on AMC.

I can't put my finger on what is so compelling about what could be boiled down to yet another cop drama. The complexity and dominance of character reminds me of "Homicide, Life in the Streets" and there's a dash of David Lynch. Strong performances from unknown actors. It all adds up to really good TV. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Yesterday - 1st dyefest of the season


It was great fun to hold the first dye day of the season at Elizabeth's studio.  We are both always on the lookout for happy chemical accidents, neither one a stickler for rules.  Here she is working over a piece that came to her from another well known fiber artist (a prize if you guess who via email). They have a swap going, each taking turns changing the piece.  I don't know when they are going to stick a fork in this one and call it done.

Another view of the day's doings here.

This is part of my murky results, but murk was just what I was after because I've been having visions of those discharged discs and have a half baked idea along the lines of Shell Vapors and I'm fresh out of spots.


Overall results ran from the sublime to the ridiculous, as usual, which means something for every occasion.


There were great lessons remembered and new ones learned like, don't waste soy wax on wet cloth, make the wax hot enough in the first place, split peas were a waste of lentils and SHAKE THE DAMN BOTTLES! and don't forget to check your gloves once in a while..you don't want to see my thumb.

Friday, April 08, 2011

freakin' friday




I'm convinced that this will be the fate of this telecommuter unless drastic action is taken immediately.

Until then, play with this .

I'm rounding up stuff for a studio day at Elizabeth's place tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

finishing touches

Sweetie's on post for the birds setting up housekeeping in the hedges.  I've decided to name this one "Rêver" - french for dreaming. 
I've been falling asleep listening to people speaking french in foreign films which leads to dreaming in french and I wake up wondering who and where I am.


It's perched on top a pile of white fabrics all destined for the dyepots at some point in the future. I'm headed to EB's studio this weekend for some fiber r&r - someone else's workspace is always a treat and a challenge for me. Some of these pieces will come along and be transformed.


I chose the bits of cloth for this piece as much for their texture and character as the colors - everything is very weavy and soft, easy to stitch. 

Appropriately,  I'm busy building a  small army of  french knots wandering in the streets and alleys. 
Each one says "You Are Here" but not in red.



Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Cusspot decanted






This is the first cusspot I ever made. I keep it with my hand stitching basket to capture thread ends rather throw them any old where which caused the early demise of my Hoover upright vacuum.

After a year, it was bulging at the seams. We had hellacious storms in the night with high winds, hail, lightning and threats of tornadoes all night. It went from 80 degrees at 11 pm last night to barely 50 degrees this morning but everything looks fresh scrubbed as if Winter was blasted away and Spring can finally get on with Summer.

I went out side and put all the clippings and snips in the shrubs around the property so they can become nesting material. We are aswarm with cardinals, eastern bluebirds and many other birds in this neighborhood all rioting around the property and setting up housekeeping.

Monday, April 04, 2011

small stitches and grand plans

I started this bit of embroidery last night during "Mildred Pierce" but I was too tired to get into it and it may languish. It's an odd little cartoon that I've had in my head for a while - I think the gesture comes originally from a H.Bosch painting, a pickpocket working the crowd.


Saturday JR and I met at HoAnn's to confab over the weight (not!) for the batting in her quilt and not arriving at a choice for backing fabric - there's plenty of time for that, and 50% coupons still unripe. I did have a couple to use up and went back yesterday and was compelled to by a pattern and two lengths of fabric intended for wearing.

After spending some time with the pattern instructions I'm tempted to email McCalls the meaning of the word "easy". I remain doubtful but having once upon a time replaced the engine in a 1963 Ford Fairlane, I think I can handle building a garment from cloth. As you can see, the quilt has affected my color sensibilities. My wardrobe tends to the "denim mudhen" spectrum so these will be a welcome change of pace.

Friday, April 01, 2011

a tiny snitch of blue

"She's In the Pink" is well underway. Making utility quilts in this manner is so satisfying, like spinning straw into gold. Bonus, setting aside the handwork for awhile is giving my aching paws a rest.

I spent my work shift using a frozen picnic coolie as a wrist rest while I moused about. Trying to tab my way through my work is pestiferous but necessary.










For you Idol watchers out there. do you think there is work for my son as a double? (Colin has long since gone clean shaven but needs a haircut even more badly)