screw hot

I'm going to stop whining about how hot it is as it only seems to add fuel to the fire.

I have always hated air conditioning and wasn't too bothered when ours kicked the bucket. Fans work nicely - to a point.  Living or working in an overly air conditioned environment makes it very hard to go outside into the real world.

One of my gigs for AT&T was in a room full of computer servers. It was in the mid 60s in there and very low humidity. Fuzzy leggings, fingerless gloves and scarves were in order even in June. When my shift was over, I'd walk out into the parking lot where my black Honda was baking away in the heat. I used to open both doors wide and sit on the curb for a few minutes so I wouldn't pass out at the wheel.

I worked on the MCD project last night...TV was the pits. I want to watch the new season of Breaking Bad but can't seem to bring myself to the time needed to catch up on the past shows that I missed.

sweaty

I tried putting this quilt in my largest hoop (the one I never used before) and found it easy to work my "walking" stitch - some wouldn't call it quilting but it's not running - somewhere in between. Trouble is I find a thimble would be good and do you think I can find where my two or three special thimbles  are stowed away?

Right.

It's too hot to try anything more than once right now but I took advantage of some morning breezes and cloud filtered sunlight to stitch a bit this morning. All the cooking and cleaning I'm going to do today were finished before 9am. Now it's just me and CBS Sunday Morning for a while.

I'm worried that these vintage damask flowers are going to suffer with use so I'm going to overlay them with some stitched vines....miles of them.

Hey! Let's go to the Beach!

Grace was kind enough to point out that the page I made for Jude's Magic Cloth Diary Project didn't allow for comments so I renamed and remodeled an old,
unused blog to chart my progress and put a link to it in the sidebar.

It's called "Tattoos I'll Never Get"


I wish it wasn't so damn hot. Sitting in a comfy chair and clutching cloth is the last think I want to do just about now. I'm thinking about taking myself off to the public library and sucking up their AC while I sew. My tax dollars at work!

helter skelter

This morning I am scampering to get three pieces delivered over to the other side of town. They'll be in a show being hung on tuesday. 

Bad reporter here, groggy with the morning, I'll have the name and date of the shows in this spot later today..

This is Highway to Hell I.  H2H2 and Mirage will be in the same show. This will be the first time exhibit for all three. The roll and hardware should just fit across the backseat of my car.

Also traveling today are "Up on Wheels" and "Roadkill" bound for the west coast and points beyond. Details later when I can find where I left my wits.

dampened 4th

A perfect illustration of  how low key our 4th of July was. Not long after this was taken it started raining in fits and starts but was coming down hard in other neighborhoods around ATL. The fireworks could barely make it through the cloud cover. The Braves finished a win over the Rockies in a downpour.

Here are the cloth victims of my weekend long criminal behavior with cloth. They will all be put to use, perhaps together as a tribute to long suffering fabric at the hands of psycho dyers everywhere.



I also started another element for the MCD project

weekend festivities

So far the only thing I've accomplished this weekend is adding a bottom sleeve to the banner I made for the chili cook off.  No I'm wondering why I went to so much trouble (the lettering was hand drafted and painted) but used such poor quality cloth. It must have been the largest continuous expanse of fabric that I had on hand (or could buy locally). After this year I think I'm going to back it with something more durable just to keep it from falling apart.

more crap

I've been torturing the same four squares of cheap cotton for two days now. So far, I'm wondering why. It's become a test of wills but there's another day of vacation tomorrow....

more dyepainting

the scene of the crime

and the perpetrators hand. she wore gloves to no avail.

results from yesterday (tepid to boring)

One of the things I like about dyeing cloth is that you get several chances to have your way with it via over dyeing, discharging or painting it. Problem number one is usually knowing what the heck you were looking for in the first place. It is very easy to lose sight of the goal when you are caught up in (or stumbling through) process.

 I've always struggled with choosing between different extremes with everything - with the middle ground always boring me to tears as a place to be avoided. Here we have middle ground 1 & 2 . Back to the burning dye deck

and thanks this morning to Nancy Natale for reminding me about Joan Mitchell.

something different for friday

gratuitous cat graphic

It's 'doo deciding where to spend the day chilling.

It's going to be another blazing day today so I decided to take advantage of getting up with the chickens (who work in construction and leave while it's still dark) and seize on the dreams of archipelagos that filled my night.

I've been wearing earplugs in an effort to quell tinnitus and I think my brain hears the sound of my own heartbeat and blood rushing and thinks it's the surf breaking somewhere close by.

I'm starting with hot soy wax..the cloth is not presoaked with soda ash so some areas will take the dye less fiercely than others where I've mixed dye and SA,  something I rarely do.

There are two owls out there in the trees and I swear they are singing "Who are you, who who, who who?" 

dye+soda ash applied directly to the cloth and wax. those discs are rounds of clear glass intended to act as a resist to the next step but I have my doubts. I should have stuck them down with more was but I ran out.

last step, bring on the ocean via a spray bottle filled with dye and soda ash solution.

Cleanup is going to be hell but I'm just going to let this one dry completely before I even try to move it.  There are three more panels all about 5'x5' -  but I've got the whole weekend ahead to expand on this path.