Friday with NO WORK!

I was loose on the town yesterday with my buddy JR - (nobody went to 'mergency and nobody went to jail) but a good time was had by all...no big stretch for the Easily Amused!

First stop was a revelation for both of us. While IKEA is inspiring, it's overwhelming. I come away from them thinking I need to torch my joint and start from scratch.

On the other hand, The Container Store in the Perimeter Mall area of Atlanta was great fun. With a focus on organization I actually came away with ideas for reorganizing the studio and a few closets. They also have tons of just plain fun stuff like these little clear acrylic boxes that I used to spend my lunch money on at Takashimaya in NYC. I'm sure I'll find a way to put them to uses other than mere eye candy. 

We went from there to Restoration Hardware where we were treated like invisible lepers. I imagine I could have jumped up and down on their 4000$ bed and no one would have mentioned it. We might have gotten away with taking that 8 foot Eiffel Tower right out the front door. hmmmf.

On to the Barnes and Noble next door to further expand our brains and shrink our wallets. Enough foot work for the morning; we saddled up and groped our way up county to the wilds of Roswell to find the elusive Lemon Meringue Pie at the charming PieHole in Roswell. No luck but plenty of tasty alternatives. JR has given up finding her favorite pie; they have a really short shelf life but still we ran wild and had dessert before lunch.

We got back on the road and set out to find the address of a radio station where I was to pick up  tickets to see Tom Petty that Jim won when he entered a drawing at Cool Ray park last week.  Severe lack of civic imagination has every other street named "Peachtree Something" or "Somebody's Ferry", so we wandered around lost for about an hour in midday Friday traffic. Phone calls from my husband and to the radio station were no help. Finally I asked JR if her new phone had GPS. She had no idea.

We pulled into a parking lot and poked at the thing for a few minutes trying to learn the function on the spot. The screen said "type or speak your destination"- in a stage voice I told it where to go. The screen went all fuzzy  and after a minute or so a tinny voice said "turn left onto Mt. Vernon Highway". Hilarity! Demon voices guided us straight to the place. I couldn't get over the notion that the car had been possessed. Really, we're not Luddites, just a little out of step.

The frosting on the cake of my day was being able to stay awake for the Braves home opener. The pajama seats were great and the boys saved the day by winning!  A day off like this makes working the weekend palatable.

stunned

 
I just can't help myself. This makes me want to get a really expensive tattoo. Almost.(photo by G.Mocafico)


It's clear to me why I find some of these so compelling.

and don't miss his Jellies!

back to work

Thanks to everyone who snapped up the offerings new to the store yesterday. Tomorrow is ship day!  I'm back to the ironing board this morning putting together some more burritos.

 I've been taking out tasty bits for my own stash all the along the way, of course, and notions are percolating but there is a huge backlash, mental and physical,  over  a squad of UFOs and total chaos in the studio.

We've had a room open up in the household recently and major reorganization is underway. I hate the process but love the outcome.
The reality show is called "Hellhole to Heaven".

Two links of note today. Serena is stash busting. I had momentary thoughts of how I could over-dye, discharge or otherwise torture some of her commercial fabrics but no, I'm already ducking calls from the producers of Hoarders.

And WARNING TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE SNAKES....don't go here and please note I did NOT post any of the fabulous spellbinding images here. . But if you don't mind them, here's an incredible site devoted to the photographic art of Guido Mocafico.  I'm completely absorbed with the idea of creating fiber art after one or more of these incredible images. I'm stoned by 16 and 23...no links..find your own bliss!

brrrr!

It's a shop keeping day and I can barely break a  sweat in this chill that's come over the southeast. I feel for folks with tender plantings that may have been set out too soon - it might actually dip below freezing over the next few nights.Crazy!

I've been ripping and ironing all morning and have started putting together an entire alphabet's worth of cloth burritos for sale at Random Acts of Dyeness.

 Back to the iron! brrrrrr. Where's my hoodie?

Claret

 

old discount day

Out putting my bizness in the streets today. Letting my freak flag fly and all. It's Tuesday! 25% off at the Goodwill and more at a few other local small businesses just for having lived this long. Someone with excellent taste in books left a ton a great selections for me to acquire for a pittance - books I should have read but never did, like the Great Gatsby and My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've been wanting to read but just haven't gotten my hands on like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Ahab's Wife...good stuff all.

Before I hit the road I decanted 20 mason jars full of cloth and spent dye right out onto the deck boards and left them to drain. When I got back everything got a heavy dose of hosewater. Two washer and dryer loads later there's  some spectacular new cloth. Tomorrow I will chase the morning chill hunched over the steam iron..nope, sorry, no early eye candy.

from the other brain half

I'm still tinkering around with the code for the gallery on my website. I've figured it out, I think. but the hard part is deciding which images to show and in what order. And then there's the  re-shooting to consider as some  really crappy pictures come to light.

It was a busy weekend with much more work than play and no holiday doings at all besides eating the bunny's ears.

there are  flower seeds in the ground now and another dozen mason jars with cloth and dye out in the sun until tomorrow.


I am bruised with second hand sadness. Someone I love is in pain from a broken relationship. Nothing I can think of to say makes any sense or difference  so I'll keep mum unless asked.

web work - updated

I'm supposed to be redesigning my website but I keep getting sidetracked by the vast array of nuts and bolts that I've lost a firm grasp of - it's not like riding a bicycle - because it's been such a long time that someone has gone and reinvented the wheel.  Fiddling with graphics is much more rewarding. I've got the framework in place, now it's down to the dirty work..like filling in all those forms when you enter a show. How's this for a splash..it's a real reflection of what I'm about artwise and lately.

(when I focus on the image on the right and synchronize my breathing with the critter's breathing a calm comes over me)

(the gallery viewer is a new tool that I have to learn before using. Imagine?! Maybe by lunchtime tomorrow I'll have figured it out. Right now I am cross-eyed and code crazed. and signing off. )

happy full moon friday

We probably won't get to see the full moon tonight - it's turned damp, overcast and cold, sweater and socks cold, so this will just have to do.

We don't celebrate the religious holiday around here but we never miss a chance for a little festivity. I will color some hard boiled eggs tomorrow.  A chocolate bunny might even find it's way into the refrigerator to be pecked at until gone.


I'm finally undertaking a complete redesign of my website. For those of you who write code  (or write anything for that matter) you know it means putting your head into the necessary place for a while and turning off all distractions or mayhem will ensue. See you after the weekend.

one down, eight to go.

just desserts on opening day

I spent the morning ironing much of the recent dye batches and was once again reminded of the magic of this cloth - how the soft, fuzziness of machine washed and dried damask lies down under a hot steam iron and takes on a glassy iridescence.

Those pieces of silk came out gorgeous as well with no ironing called for.

This afternoon I'll be pulling some small corners and selvedges from this lot and packing them into a handful of crocheted cusspots. Tomorrow I'll photograph the stuffed lovelies and put them up for sale in the store.

I've taken my picks, of course, and there is a lot more cloth to be dyed.






In every dye adventure a treasure turns up. The kind you squirrel away and nip at, the kind that turns up in your work over and over.

 This is a large hand towel, damask and huck woven. It's sturdy and there's an '02 woven into it so I don't think it's vintage but the Hellenia Hotel  looks like my kinda place..hats off to the tourist who brought it back for me.

take me out

Last night the whole family went to a special game at the Braves minor league park. Most of the current major league team played against the best of all the Braves farm teams. I couldn't get over the difference in size and stature..the Baby Braves, as we call them, looked like rag tag teenagers which I imagine many of  them were. The recently retired and widely beloved Bobby Cox managed them. The Allstars beat the future stars 4-3 in a 7th inning rain out. I can't remember the last time I was caught in a spring downpour, the long walk to the car accompanied by the PA system cheerily broadcasting "Singing in the Rain". It was a very special night.

This morning I only had time to wash and dry the latest tasties from the dyedeck.  That blue is one of the pieces of silk!

glory days

Nope, no hand rinsing for me today. I dragged the hose up onto the deck and gave this lot a heavy shower and there was almost no dye run off, as flagrant as I am with the stuff.

I actually ironed the two batches from yesterday and only a very few came back downstairs for re dyeing.
 So many goodies.

I found a large piece of silk that was a gift from my friend Anna. I forget the official name but it's smooth, slinky and shrieks when you rip it.  I snatched it into fourths the other day and Sweetie fell off the back of the couch with her hair on end and hit the ground running at the noise.

All I recall about dyeing silk is that it's vinegar and not soda ash that sets the color. We'll see what comes of this.

I reset the dyestock colors this morning, mixing colors that were very low and remixing some new ones. Topping off others with a little water. There are no labels on the bottles- it's all a magical mystery tour from here on in.

There's still a half bucket of smaller pieces of cloth waiting for color. I'm going to give them the pizza dough treatment in a little bit. Letting things soak overnight  is turning out better for me and the fabric.
 
I have to pace myself today or regret it. I'm off from the day job today because we are going to see the Braves play tonight at CoolRay Field. I could slave at the cloth in the sun til I drop but I really want to enjoy the evening without being exhausted when I get there.  The whole family will be attending, a rare and joyous event.

super sunday

After three hours in the clutches of H+RB, it was a great day on the dyedeck - sails all spanking in the breeze and the pots aboil! Everything will stew in it's juices for the night serenaded by tree frogs under the waxing moon. Meself? collapse, after "the Killing" if I can stay awake that long.

seachange

Remember the magic sewing chair my husband found for my birthday?  I haven't been able to sit in it for a very long time.

Since I started working from home, I shuffled things around in the studio rather haphazardly sacrificing one half of the shortest wall to accommodate my day job computer set-up.Hateful but necessary.

The chair became a catch-all and was buried but worst of all, right next to it was a large basket of nasty tax papers sending out bad vibes like a box of radioactive snakes.

The rest of the papers are now boxed up and going to the tax pro in a few minutes. The chair is free and waiting for my return.

Maybe I'll catch a spring training game this afternoon and stitch on this one a bit. Whomever sent me those beautiful little indigo moons, please remind me so I can thank you. One of them is the star of this piece.