signs of fall

This is view right over the back edge of the pool. there are several trees even closer than this one off screen right. The shade keeps the water cool and relatively algae free right through the summer but they (and the critters that live up there) drop endless loads of crap into the water.

Since I am the daily swimmer, it falls to me to keep ahead of these Augean stables and now that the buses are rolling the signs of fall are setting in.

But today I witnessed first hand where these leaves keep coming from. I mean, do you see one single brown, yellow or sickly leaf in my woods? Not.



Right on the other side of the fence my neighbor has a towering tulip tree  and the leaves are coming off it like confetti on New Years Eve...

catchup

I was not as fully divorced from electro-doings as I wanted these past days  but  still, lots got done.

On the other hand, there's nothing like a new bed to make one think about becoming an Olympic class sleeper. You just don't how bad the old bed was until you get a new one! I wake up feeling taller each day.

Work continues on Rêver 3 but there are stronger value changes in this one and I am anticipating even more vivid ones in the future. Dreams will sometimes pass into nightmares without you noticing.

A pair of swan feathers underway...I keep telling myself "less is more"

  and finally, finally
I am tackling the construction of this large piece. Getting these very disparate types of cloth to lie down and true up is crazy pesky.

The darkest one in the foreground is vintage cotton sackcloth (thanks Rosemary), the middle part is the last of the Nantucket flea market damask tablecloths and the pale strip on the far edge  a vintage percale - a sheet from my Aunt  Jo's lodge in Flint Michigan.

These three pieces of cloth have been only been joined because of the colors I gave them. The whole process seems to be against their individual wills but I am taking the wheel with a firm hand.

Happy FRIDAY!

Even though I have to work the day job this weekend, I'm taking a break from the computer and hand stitching.
My hands will be doing bigger, different things and my eyes will look for far horizons.

And if you are a fan of the game and can tune in, don't miss the Braves game tonight. Tonight they retire #6 and honor legendary manager Bobby Cox.
It will be a very big deal

self indulgence

I just came from ProChem like a junkie from her dealer...Sunflower,  Sun Yellow,  Hot Pink,  Rosewood,  Brightest Blue,  Turquoise,  Lapis Indigo Blue,  Kiwi,  Raspberry,  Plum and some  Soy Wax.  There will be many more hot days for dyeing here in Georgia but already the daily battle of pulling brown leaves from the pool has begun. It seems to start happening the minute the school buses start prowling the neighborhoods.

Yesterday's mail came in balance...a very belated rejection from the TSGNY exhibition (freeing up my entries for other shows - Yay!) and a tiny beautifully wrapped package from Morna Crites-Moore.  I'm not a jewelry gal - been wearing the same tiny gold and diamond hoops that my family gave me for my birthday ...um, two years ago. but I've coveted these for so long and slept through the night without noticing them so it will be a long running association.

She also sent the tiny hand stitched block and as I examined it I was amazed to see that this type of block was constructed on a base - a notion that never occurred to me. I immediately grabbed up some scraps and tried it for myself. Makes me wonder what else I am missing never having educated myself in the breadth of traditional sewing techniques.

faux natural...

...is what they look like to me. The loss of color will probably delight a lot of people. Me...not so much. But here they are. You can see closeups with and without the flash.

Although a lot of people prefer to use cloth in it's natural state, I especially like to iron the damasks when the dye process is finished. You can see by this detail that the huge tablecloth I stumbled over was probably created to be a souvenir for a tourist visiting the "auld sod".  One could only hope that it was actually manufactured in Ireland!  

The rest of the lightweight cottons will have to wait, in fact, I'll have to rewash them. SOMETHING went Lint Wacko in the washer and 99% of it gravitated to the pieces below. I will NOT be sitting over these with a roll of scotch tape today.

I've taken out the few that I'm keeping and everything else will be made available in the store over the next few days.

swimming with the cloth

I laughed out loud when I ready Judy's latest post cause I had just come in from the pool and teaching some new acquaintances how to swim...


While I shot this video, Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" was playing on the radio....YouTube took away the music but I bet you can hear it playing in your head. (You can open in another tab and play the song Here...  go figger)

fruits of the weekend

Everything is in the washing machine - drying? ironing?
Maybe tomorrow - the day job recommences today.

I think I need a mid season pallet reassessment. I threw away at least five empty dye jars and colors are missing. And I want more soywax...off to Prochem!


PS- the rate of color loss was severe. I put it down to old dyes depleted by exposure to high temps...once mixed they are supposed to be stored cool. the Lesson..mix only what will be needed for a session or follow the rule!

the recurring alligator dream

I went to sleep last night with achy stiff fingers on my right hand, presumably from all the washerwoman activities that go along with hand dyeing. I dreamed that I was swimming in deep water -not salt and vaguely cloudy like Lake Lanier can be - and was close up to and touching a whale which was sunning itself at the surface when something grabbed and bit down on my right hand. I went under the water and saw what at first appeared to be a patch of seaweed but quickly realized that it was an alligator about to take a better grab. 

"Alligator Dream"   2009

As it opened it's mouth I stuck my cell phone between it's jaws sideways and pulled my right hand free and remember thinking  "water damage was not covered in the warranty". The alligator hurried away with my phone in it's mouth and I turned back to the whale who was about to swim away and hitched a ride like it was no big deal. I remember looking at my hand and seeing angry red dents on the side of my middle finger and it ached like I had jammed it.

fini

I'm so glad I waited to do part two until this morning. The paler colors you see here were just hatched out from the group that went into the dyes this morning - a very tempered hand at the color helm was necessary. 

And for once, I got a set of greys that I like - MX Gunmetal and a tad of mystery mud to warm it.

Keep in mind that these colors will all  be stepped back a bit once they are washed and dried. For tonight, I'm just going to let them pickle.In the lower right corner are three or four damask table wipers.

August dyefest - day one

It was much hotter out on the deck than I expected and I was delighted when a brief thunder storm passed over and cooled the proceedings  down just a bit.

My personal thermostat seems to be broken these days. I overheat like an old Ford and cannot be cooled down quickly or easily.  I had to call an early halt but will pick up where I left off tomorrow.


I'm planning on a more subtle group of colors this time out. The dyestock that I'm using was mixed two months ago and has not been stored under optimal conditions and so, hopefully, will give the paler colors I hoping for.

All the cloth I'm working with is vintage - tender as Jude would say - and feels like it wants a gentler color touch than I'm used to dishing out. Some color whispering is underway.

I bought a heavily starched and ironed damask tablecloth at a yard sale this morning.
A little yellowed around the edges, it was tied tight in a bundle with jute and weighed several pounds. When I got it home and unfurled it for washing it was four by ten feet!

my soul restored

I got in the pool today for the first time in too long and found my legs were weak for walking against the water..step one in my patented pool cleaning process..get it whirling.  Must get back into form.

The pollywogs got on just fine without me peaking over the back edge down onto their busy little worlds.


I found the missing soda ash and got the cloth in to soak for the dye days to come. When the sun gets down behind the trees - when the light is not so severe, I will mix colors that I have been daydreaming about.
 

Dinner is prepped for later and I finally sat down with the sewing basket to get some stitching in. I am loving each of these elements and they are starting to reach out to one another in unplanned ways.

more here...

making ready for color

 This is from a previous dyefest earlier this year.

 After looking over the piles of white cloth in the studio - I feel a dyefest coming on. Preparations today=color tomorrow and Sunday.
There are color promises to keep.

Home again from NY

Not a speck of fiber to report on unless you count picking up one damask tablecloth at a local thrift shop. All the shops I had planned on visiting were closed for the summer! I spent the week visiting with Mom in the nursing home and Pop at Casa Useted. Both my sisters had grandchildren visiting too.
Four generations under one roof!

We had Bryan's first birthday party (one of three I think). I was not able to get one single shot of him that was not blurred - a champion wiggler!










That  same day Pop got acquainted with Amy's French Bulldog, Junior.  He was perfectly happy to take a ride with Pop on the scooter. A good time was had by all.