farewell and adieu

"Backyards 1" will be on it's way to a private collection very shortly. I spent some time this morning taking  a lot of good pictures by way of record and memory keeping and right away I was reminded about the value of working loose & relaxed and the enjoyment that came with the making of this one from the gift of the vintage cloth, the experimental dyeing to the quick and dirty designing that fell together without a whole lot of fuss or angst.

so raw

What do you see?  A pile of old sheets?


I see pure potential!

A friend has a naughty dog who raises mayhem with the bedsheets, digging for that ever elusive comfortable place, tearing the fragile 100% cotton fabric in unmendable ways. I hate it for you but I'm thrilled you thought of me before deep sixing  all this fabulous cloth.

This is hands down my most favorite kind of cloth to work with. Vintage, well used sheets take the dye in strange and wonderful ways. Not just into the cloth and the thread, it seems like the very soul and being of the cloth is anxious to absorb the color as if to find, one more time, a way of  being useful and alive in new and wonderful ways.  I am dizzy with the anticipation of color.

.saving Lush Life

I wondered where this one was. It slipped off the back of a chair in the bedroom and was gathering dust bunnies and dead moths. Not shown in this picture, all the mauve areas got over involved with a lot of compulsive looking machine quilting. What was I thinking??  A big mistake that I am determined to undo. Packed my little stitch ripper in the go bag and see how much I can get un-done this evening. Hopefully a gentle soak with reorganize the threads and the stitch tracks will go away. I really want to save this one.

changes afoot

One full moon, one cool night and you can sense Fall waiting in the wings.

There are changes afoot here as well. I'm reviving an old spiritual practice having decided that howling into the wind and stars is better and more productive than talking to myself.

What's the saying? Fortune favors the bold and if you don't buy a ticket, you won't ever win?

R&R

It was a restful weekend even with a few hours of OT on Saturday.

After several heavy thunderstorms the pool is starting to show the turn of the seasons. Dead leaves and debris from the trees are part of the daily chores now.

I got a lot of stitching done on "Ocean Homes" but it's a long way from finished and nothing much to look at now.

 I did spend the cool hours yesterday picking out, ironing and posting several new sets for RAD as promised. Thanks for all the suggestions.

During the "dig" in the studio, I came across these two very small (8"x8") hand stitched pieces. The tiny "T" stitches are the same ones I'm still using. One stitch in one direction just seems unfinished to me. Or lonely. These are both available. Email me if you are interested.

PHEW~!!

We had a bad shock yesterday morning. Awoke to find the water level down almost a foot from the edge.

We thought there was a leaking in the aging hose system that is concealed under the decking all round the pool - a nightmare to service or replace.  The water loss turned out to be from a valve that had stuck not quite closed during a backwash.  Thanks to the Pool Deities and other interested parties.
 Living without air conditioning down here would be brutal if it wasn't for the relief of the pool.  I will be spending the morning preparing new fiber collections some have been clamoring for  to post in the store...and then diving in!  Any colorway requests before I begin? What's the color mood?

honor thy process

My scant creative time has lately been eaten up by hand stitching on two ongoing, large projects and I find myself getting antsy. It's been so long since I've started something new that I needed remind myself how.

While looking for something else in the archives I found the post above. It took a few seconds for me to remember that after a long time staring at those fabrics as they hung on the wall in the bedroom (I used to just stare at them before falling asleep when I woke up) they sorted themselves out to this, one of my favorites, "Hopped Up". It's time to take some things out of the piles of fabric and hang them up for my mind's eye to doodle with.

Hello Belgium

Did you ever get the feeling someone was talking about you  - well, your work, as an artist?

A whole bunch of folks in Belgium seem to have discovered this blog. I'd like to say "hey" but I can't uncover which is the best language to go with so "Bonjour", "Guten Tag" and "Goeiendag" for openers.

blues and blooms

I woke up before dawn this morning and "Witness" was on the TV, sound way down low so it was all about the marvelous colors that everyone (except Harrison Ford) was wearing. I wonder if the Amish really dress this way?

and for the first time since they were planted, all four of my crepe myrtles are blooming at the same time.

moving the mountain with a teaspoon

I'm using four strands of Sulky 12wt cotton through all these layers of muslin, damask and silk. It goes so smoothly with no fussing or jumping into knots I know I'm going to have a hard time finding the stopping place even though this piece is something like 40"x65".

My intention is to build this piece as if it were to be used as bedding so the quilting layer has to look as good on the back as it does on the front (but don't call the quilt police just yet) .



And once again, while I was in the studio looking for something else, I unearthed this one which is waiting it's turn for the same treatment...

a weekend with (not at) the Beach

It's going to be a rainy weekend here in GA for the first time in ages and the plan is to settle in and stitch on the two large pieces I have in progress.


The piece of sugar dyed percale to the right in this picture popped out of a pile while I was rooting around for something else and it keeps calling me back wanting to be incorporated into "Beach".

Before I go chopping into it I'm going to fiddle with the two of them digitally to see if it's only my imagination that they have something to say about each other.

PS
After cutting and pasting some images together I decided against the juxtaposition. It was just too jarring. Phyllis, I went with another piece of that wonderful soft cotton you sent me.

ocean homes progress

It's been too hot to handle cloth much less do any stitching here in the south, but enough of that whining.
Yesterday there was a slight break in the oppressive weather and I sat under the fan in the studio and took up this long cool drink of water once again. Holding it at arm's length, I can't believe I've committed to a mile of crossed stitches but there you have it. As soon as I started sewing again, I knew this was what the piece required. I also know that one moment I'll find the last stitch is done and then it will be time to add the second layer and start hand quilting the waves.  Each of these pieces of cloth has a history and character and it's a pure pleasure to be bringing them together in this way.

the grove moves forward (only if you are not looking)

Remember this notion of a grove? It's made it's way to the next step of becoming and I hope all the scribbling in my notebook won't be for nothing. There will be hand dyed silk organza and this color example is not even close because there is just no rendering how it will look . Having never worked with this fabric before I have a lot of questions and little cloth to waste.

more for the foot freaks

Just come from dr. footsy who gave me a newer, bigger, better ON TARGET injection of magical monster juice and, if pain of process is any measure of a good outcome, I'll be dancing like Ginger Rogers in no time. 

And for a little added fun, I  get to wear this contraption at night but he said I could wear it at the office too whilst roosting. Mine is not this spiffy yet but give me a few idle minutes and some metallic Sharpies. He says there's no need to be cutting on me for this issue. I am relieved already.

banners continued

I'm still working on my battle banners. Here are a couple of unrelated sections...they should have been vertical of course. Haste and harried.

readying and fresh starts

We almost lost Louie this past winter. This dieffenbachia was a wedding gift from Donald and I left it out on the deck through a freeze and thought it was a goner.   I cut sections of the cane and tried rooting in water but they all seemed to rot rather than root. I buried the slimy chunks of stem in various pots out on the deck and they have almost all managed to make a comeback in the company of lavender and tomatoes.

This Painted Lady stopped by my work table this morning and asked "what the hell? Where's the work? Who stopped making the donuts??"

And I cleaned out my go bag and decided that my needle roll was pretty grubby looking and put in for a soak.  All this by way of preparation for some new beginning. No clue as to the direction right now but vacuuming the floor of the studio so I can actually see it is also a good start.

I've also decided to put these in more competent and inspired hands than mine are at the moment.