Art Quilt Elements in Philly

 It's opening night!

Thanks so much for sending these pictures Sue!

 It's  really gratifying to see people examining the work close up..seeing what I was seeing when I made it. Maybe wondering "What the heck was she thinking?" or "How was that done?"

I wish I could have been there this time, my first ever rilly big shoe

happy friday

I have to step back from hand dyeing for a few days. My process includes hand rinsing everything before putting it through the washing machine and last night my poor paws were begging for drugs.



So for the next few days I'm falling back on this little bit of hand stitching which is shaping up into something compelling. Tonight after work I'll slather my hands with some Bengay, put on gloves and be well in the morning.




I have also taken huge step in the direction of Peace of Mind and made an appointment with a tax professional for tomorrow afternoon. The 800 pound gorilla is packing his crap and vacating my studio as we speak.

spilling its guts

Here's the original purpose of the original cusspot which is about the size of an apricot - a thread catcher to carry with me when I was still working at the office.


Today I'm decanting everything I was able to cram into it since last nesting season. I've decorated the crape myrtles up by the mailbox and hope that some of the birds have ignored the crazy weather and are just now building nests.




Rather than drive everybody to bored tears with an ongoing project I've created a separate page for the Sun Lion piece....the link is up there on the tool bar.

inprocess

the waxed sunlions are floating in a pool of wisteria.

sun lions

I kept going back to this design and color in my sketchbook. Now I really have to leave it alone before waxing and moving on to the next colors.

in the meantime, a new clutch of cusspots gets the boston beanpot treatment and once they are washed and dried they'll be stuffed with hand dyed scraps for sale. The way I crank these things out would make someone think I was trying to quit smoking - not the case.

work before play

I've spent the morning hatching out some test pieces. Tinkering with the colors, seeing which appeal and which need either flushing or rebooting. I have officially renamed that fuchsia "the Devil's Blood" because it's so seductive but such a contaminating pain to work with. Look at it out there pinking everything all crazy.

I've cleared the table in preparation for doing some (big) whole cloth dye painting but I'll have to wait until later because it's turned nippy..not optimal for the strong colors I want right now..

For everyone who is waiting for a package, please forgive the delay. I hope to get everything to the PO tomorrow!

a very good dog

Don  & Brewster headed out this morning but not before I put Brewster to work modeling the latest WIP. He was so busy posing for the camera he didn't notice the saddle blanket and while I was fiddling with the settings on the camera he wandered away...art in place. At least today he didn't fall in the pool. They have only been gone since 11 and the cats have already figured out that the house is all theirs again.

sunday song

After a deeply overcast day, the setting sun set the evening all a-pink with wonder but Karma was oblivious..exhausted from a day of lurking and hiding from something the cat crew has never experienced; a canine house guest!





Don and Brewster rolled in from Texas for a few days visit. You couldn't ask for nicer house guests, two or four footed!

I dreamed about where this one is going next and hope to spend some time with it today. The base is an woven cotton upholstery fabric and I want to preserve and incorporate the design somehow, maybe embroider over it in another color..so far it's been "sew & pick out, sew & pick out"

shufflin'

I had wanted to sit with this piece and shuffle things around until they started talking sense but there's been a change of plans that call for some emergency, "company's coming" housekeeping.

back to the rubber gloves.

 these will have to wait.

prayer flags someday

I think spring has

come so early

in honor of WAS

Magic Time

Okay...browsing around in the basket I was reminded about the double life that these hand dyed damasks lead. Straight from the dryer they are supple as snakes and soft as clouds. Once ironed..the magic begins as the woven patterns leap into view and the flattened threads take on an iridescence that is very hard to capture digitally. This particular 18" square napkin is a perfect example of why I love working with this vintage cloth.  I'm posting this and three others over at Random Acts of Dyeness later this morning.

update..this piece has flown.

washday at Wingdale

urg...I was run over by a migraine earlier in the evening and my head feels like a spoiled melon...I have a soft spot on my head like new babies do. please don't touch my head, pillow.

I had a lovely note from a reader regarding prayer flags and I sent her this photo of a set I made in the fall of 2010.  Looking at them now I'm reminded of lunatic laundry...washday at Wingdale which was the local nuthatch for my hometown. The place where everyone's mom would swear she'd run off to if we didn't behave.

my Monday (your Tuesday)

Here's what is not happening today, despite the continued glorious weather. No ironing, folding, sorting, fondling..no stitching. It's my Monday and there are catchup chores to do after a weekend of slacking.

If I don't do my own laundry I'll be working in my PJs tonight (although I understand PJs are formal attire for many telecommuters). The warm  weather makes me wish for an old fashioned reel style clothesline but given the insane levels of pollen we are experiencing it would probably be a waste of time to put wet cloth out to dry. My dark green Honda looks just like a Granny Smith apple right now.

 I have to go out for a few errands. Every time I leave the house I get the feeling she won't be here when I get back. Colin slept downstairs' in Jake's room with the AC last night and Karma cried bitterly most of the evening looking for him. Even if he had brought her downstairs with him, she would have bolted and come upstairs to sit on the bed and cry. Cat senility.


And speaking of diminishing brain functions, I downloaded a new application and am having the devil's own good time sticking with the tutorial. What I really want to do is just rip in at "start" like I always do but since that rarely pays off, I'm forcing myself to live by that description of "crazy" - doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

first fruits

"subtle (for me)" would have to be the name for this lot. I used up all the remaining old dyes and can see which colors suffered over the winter and which held their ground.

 I now also know which of these cloths have a bit of poly snuck into the weave. I'm going to iron this lot tomorrow and they will almost all go up for sale in the store.

New colors have been mixed, new crayon poured and proven and a whole new batch of cloth is soaking in the sauce. Everyday this week will be a dye day as long as the weather (and my  stamina) holds up.

I did a lot of hand stitching on the big WIP this weekend too, despite my misgivings. There's nothing to say I can machine stitch right over everything if I decide to.

no eyecandy, yet.

Nope - no wet previews. I don't want to disappoint myself or anyone else. We'll just let this batch come into it's own when it comes out of the dryer; everything is in a cold water wash right now. Keep in mind the dyes were old and tired.

I have a large number of vintage damask table napkins and thought about dyeing them in sets of eight clear bright colors to sell in sets for prayer flags to be embellished as you wish with stitching, printing or other surface design techniques. I won't match the patterns...there are too many but they will all be close to the same size and hemmed all round.  Let me know if you are interested in a set for $30.00..well, let's see what the dye devils have wrought first!

warming up leftovers

Before  I could mix up new dyestock I prepped a small lot of cloth to use up the leftovers from last year. They were stored optimally in a small cooler and I took them out for the first time yesterday so they've had a full day to come around to ambient temperature.

The method was a hasty "dunk it in here" parfait affair -  I was anxious to get the squeeze bottles cleaned and ready for the new colors. There are all kinds of cottons here from an embossed upholstery woven to some squares of humble, unbleached muslin. I'll give this bunch until tomorrow morning....





I made a big mess and am not inclined to clean it up right away. It's hot, I'm tired and there's a lotta later in today still.

so far so good

After a few hours stewing in it's juices I rinsed this one in cold water to flush off the excess dyes and to not disturb the soywax in the process.


I actually left a few pins in the thing having missed a few corners here and there in my basting frenzy so I had to be a cautious and gentle washer woman. A firehose would have been useful. Keep in mind this is four by six feet and three and four layers thick in places.

The balmy Georgia spring day has turned ugly on us. Thunder is rolling and the sky has turned all dark and broody.

Most of the wax is out of this one now and I am really pleased with the potential of the process so far. It's dark here, soaking wet and I've hung it over the rolling rack in the rain.

There will be some discharging and painting in a few places that are still needing to be pulled together design-wise.  Correcting value deficiencies this way is more fun than it should be.

post-lunch/pre-nap

yes, I remembered my bartender's apron and gloves.
The entire piece is crammed into a two gallon steel tub along with about a quart of dye and a gallon of special sauce.   I'll do the reveal later today or tomorrow.

not a crime scene clean up unless the big piece turns out really sucky. this will be the first table mopper of the season, formerly a pristine 24" square vintage damask table napkin. I wonder what the mistress of the household would have thought!

waiting

It's hot enough outside ...the dyes are out of the  refrigerator and this piece is well and thoroughly waxed . I let the soywax get very hot and in most places it's penetrated through to the plastic tablecloth underneath.

When we get back from lunch, I'll don the gloves (don't forget) and apron and mix up the monkey blood I have in mind for overdyeing this...pictures later.

basting sails

All of a sudden, it's shorts weather, and once chores and running around were out of the way, I took a chunk of this day off to do some more basting.

Some people may thing it a terrible waste of time but my basting stitches are like Attilla's march and  so I'm perfectly happy snipping and ripping if something needs relocation. I don't even bother sinking a knot at the end of a thread; a back stitch or two will suffice. Pins are such a pain.

I'm going to work on both these large pieces at the same time and have plans to do some some soy wax resist and direct dye painting on both pieces before I make any decision about if, and how, any permanent stitching, machine or hand, happens.