grace moons

this whole group spent the night basking in the full moon. I'll know more after they've been through a machine wash and dry.

These are the Grace Moons, each different but all from the same mother cloth, a section of heavy drapery cotton. Strong, soft and full of weave. These may become part of a larger whole.

avoidance & remembrance

It started with this commercial, the crying, and I knew I would be doing it on and off all day. So I made myself a list of all the things that needed doing this fine sunny day. In between the items, I would pass by the TV, watch a bit and cry a bit more. I had forgotten some things and never knew so many others.

It was almost hot today and I had readied some sample sized chunks of the newly gifted fabrics..three of my favorites got the treatment early.

Serena, you sent two of these simple sqares, hemmed all round with a tiny tag that says "Cotton, EGYPT". Could these have been diapers? Wonderful stuff.
I know she won't be seeing this post for a while because she broke her only pair of glasses. And next, a square of that wonderful, fragile muslin..I left the lavender ties in place and used this piece to wipe up.in fact, decided to dedicate that entire piece, one chunk at a time, to cleaning up...the best pieces emerge this way.

Once these things were in the pot, I took a huge pile of winter blankets and quilts to the washateria and while they were tumbling, cleaned my poor car interior, long neglected.. gross to the max.


Shopped for dinner, staggered home and forced myself into the pool in time for the first pitch. It was chilly but the sun was hot and there was a game on..


then baked ziti into the oven for my hardworking husband and one more  crack at the dyeworx..

This is a multi-layered log of some of that heavy drapery cotton, Grace.
Inside it, a  piece of that fabulous damask tablecloth (yes, I cut into it) layered with rice, orzo, oatmeal and grits...all of them buggy  -and an array of dye color.


tomorrow, we go on.

aggravation

The girls get together and discuss whether Mother needs to be committed. 

I have just returned from the local tire joint where it took them THREE EFFING HOURS to mount and balance two tires on the car. The middle hour was taken up by the hunt for the key to the car which they lost after I handed it over.

I brought this along to work on but thinking, like a fool, that an hour would be most time it could take, I only brought along two little patches to add on and no extra thread at all. Grrrrr... I was supposed to brave the pool today once more but the warm time has passed. Grrrrr...can you hear me grinding my teeth?  A woman in the waiting room politely asked what I was working on and I listened to myself spin the most extraordinary tale of bullshit about a commissioned funerary piece for the president of the International Clown College who had been recently kidnapped and was not expected to be returned because of budget cuts. Was that mean?

time better spent

Bag sitting inside on a day like this!

After several days of cold and damp Madam Karma reminded me of what you are supposed to do on a sunny day ..roll in the driveway, give a cold stare to the animal control officer as he drives by and then get up and gas with the two neighbors across the street for a spell.

Now dinner is cooked, Karma and 'Doo got their fair share of the chicken and I am off to the mines. Please people...don't spoil my day calling in those reports today. Go on, slack off as usual and bombard me tomorrow. There's a Braves vs. Mets double header starting at 4:10. Boys, my stomach can't stand another loss.

sleepin' in

It was a blanket night and the chill caused me to sleep until almost 9!  The morning light has established the priority for the morning...stitching.

For the first time in ages (there was dust on the box) I pulled a new card from my Tarot deck - see the sidebar. It was a welcome sign.

Ever since eligibility for social security snuck up me a few months ago I've been in a mental muddle. It's time to take up a serious course of study and bring my brain back around to useful sharpness.

Fall Fell

I have been working rather exclusively on this project and letting too many other things get away.  Things are in flux around the household  and my mind has been in other places. Just yesterday I finally sorted and folded a pile of clean laundry that was the size of a Volkswagen parked on the floor in my bedroom. I was waiting for a rainy day!
Did it ever! Fall fell yesterday and right this moment it feels like I'll be lucky to have a few days with temps right for dyeing..silly for sure, this is Georgia we will be sweating again before fall sets in for real.

I was thinking that I had kinda-on-purpose let several deadlines slip away but, no, the calendar mocks me and there is still paperwork to do.

the giveaway winner

After frittering the day away stitching and enjoying a ballgame and the smell of someone else cooking dinner, I remembered today was the day for picking the Magic Burrito giveaway winner. So, ably assisted by my Goodman Jim, here it is...
And the Winner is...

something new and wonderful

My friend Arlee Barr is taking the teaching plunge and sharing her knowledge and experience though the web in an online class "FrankenStitch" . If you are looking for a different perspective on textiles and stitching, I say JUMP RIGHT IN the water is fine....She has been so generous sharing the ups, downs and sideways of her art process and her life and it's been amazing to see how her art has come together over time, post by post and now she's getting down to the nuts and bolts of it all.

and this image, grisly and amazing!....chica, you should make this picture your FB profile shot RIGHT NOW! 

If you are in NYC

I got an email from Clara Fialho announcing a show she'll be having soon along with artist Kuzana Ogg.  The opening is next Thursday at Tria Gallery from 6 to 8 pm through 10/15.  Clara and I have traded art in the past. When I went to Kuzana's site I thought right away about "Limbo" and it made me grin about the many ways that joy can be expressed.

today the Giftie gie us...

Thanks for the share Diane!
the creeping mailman left me another package late yesterday. in it, two wonderful, ancient damask tablecloths all fat and fluffy from a good hard wash and dry. I'm going to heat the soy wax good and hot for these pieces..the openess of the fibers makes for some striking, clear marking come dye time. 

The blue piece is a fine light-weight linen that has been dyed with indigo. It's already been hacked into!


If any of you out there are simply plagued with drifts of old, humble tablecloths made of any natural fiber, etc., before you toss them out or leave them on a church doorstep please email me. Stains? Pshaw..Holes? Who cares! I'll not only give them a good home but I return some of them back to you in glorious color!

paving

 
I'm working out ways to fill in the spaces around the separately stitched elements on my MCD project shirt.
Raw edged "paving" with tiny scraps seems to be the way to go. You can see  more new elements here.

A few days ago I discovered what's been causing the malaise I've been experiencing. Instead of tripping over the bathroom scale, I actually got on it and recognized that there has been waaay too much carbo-indulgence going on around here. Sleepless nights and logy days, aching feet and general crankiness begone! the cure is at hand and I am determined to buy a new pair of sneakers this weekend.

Someone asked to see these three together. At first I was a little unhappy that the third was not the same size as the first two but they were created on a pair of hemmed armrest covers and the third deliberately cut square from a larger cloth. Going forward in the series I will stay with the square...there's another on the cutting table right now.