Buggy excitement stewing in Georgia

While I was looking for something else, I came across a box of oatmeal that's been the happy home of a host of bugs since it was opened a while ago. There was also a batch of sorrowful cloth soaking in the soda ash just waiting to be raptured. I put them all together with a little magic and dye powder and this time tomorrow we'll see what's brewed up in all this heat and humidity.

survivors

Here are the tadpoles that Colin vacuumed up out of the pool. They are living in a 40 gallon container at the edge of the woods. I sincerely hope that they head for the creek when they climb over the side, and not the pool where they started. No doubt I'll be cursing them once they are screaming through the night with their parents, still, more frogs=less mosquitoes.

more QN thoughts

Thanks to Deidre Adams for posting a fine overview of QN 2011. When I first attended QN the biggest impression I got from seeing the quilts in person was the impact of the sheer size of  the majority of the pieces.

This time my impressions are the overall confidence and intent of the art. Because of the rule about keeping these works unpublished before the judging, I imagine that many of them were created with only this venue in mind.
 
It makes me wonder about my own level of confidence as I imagine designing and building several significant pieces with no input from anyone at all - a secret undertaking with no one to confide in except the mirror which could easily be a font of delusional bullshit!  I am so accustomed to sharing my process and where it takes me that working under cover like that looks like a grim, joylessness sentence. And just imagine getting rejected, three for three, after spending two years in that solitary cell. All the more reason to congratulate all the participants once again.

Sunday

I

It's not all drudgery! Put some old cloth into the soda ash soup in preparation for discharge experiments. Spent some time in the pool and sun today, burned up some burgers and kabobs, lingered over the NY Times and finished rolling up the latest batch of magic cloth burritos. In a little while Jim and I will be leaving for Turner Field to see the Braves play the Reds. Woo woo...Night games!

ps- it's really great when the home team wins!

Go Judy!!

This is my friend Judy Martin with her entry at Quilt National.

For those who might not know, getting into QN is the Holy Grail for art quilters.
 
The only shot that would be more perfect would be to see her with this quilt wrapped around her shoulders in a big hug.

Congratulations Judy!

Like Hotcakes..

The first four of the Magic Cloth Burritos are sold out !(thanks to Jude banging the drum). this seems to be a popular way of adding some zip to the stash.

I've posted a few new sets and plan on makin' yer eyes bleed with more tomorrow. Stay tuned.

commitment & magic burritos

commitment...Isn't that getting sent to Wingdale (NY) or Milledgeville (GA)..I'm sure every state has one, the famed nuthouse.
My mother used to say "You kids are going to drive me to Wingdale!" and I'd smart off and say "Give me the car keys".


No, this is a different kind of  commitmen- the kind that makes me feel like someone is chasing me around the paddock, bridle in hand, but I'll get over it.

A map, compass and destination are good things sometimes.  Since I've been a rudderless boat lately I've signed up for a class - Jude Hill's "Cloth Whispering - the Magic Diaries" and before I really even know what's going on I'm rummaging through the cloth, new and old, to see which ones will be a part of the process.

I've set a side a growing group of pieces that will not be coming to my dance and have decided to share them like this. Each roll has 8 to 10 layers each piece approximately 3" by 18" or more - damask, huck, muslin, broadcloth, all chose for that certain spark that sets things off. Some edges are torn and others cut. As smaller pieces get used up, I'll be substituting other pieces of cloth.

I'll be posting them for sale here

signs

One of the many reasons why I love my husband.

When I stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen this morning this was on the table...darling, the coffee was weak this morning but the magic was strong. thank you.

An overnight guest entertained the cat posse from a safe resting spot on the kitchen ceiling.

I took her outside where she shivered in my hand for a long minute reading the lines on my palm with apparent excitement....



and then flew away to get on with her Luna day.

done for now

Some for building with, some for sharing...I'm glad, for the moment to not have cloth hanging around waiting to be worked on. Many of these will be further transformed but for now I want to refocus on making something out of all this raw material.

There are projects to work on, deadlines looming, backburner ideas that are beginning to smoke and a change of pace is called for.

morning filled with color

The morning is filled with color and promise, started this time yesterday in certain faith that this world and the people in it - (although we, most all of us, need some work) - would still be spinnin' and scratchin' today.

 

I am grateful that my new neighbors are early risers/doers. They put two large cages full of parakeets out in the yard yesterday and someone is hard at work power washing the Florida room they lived in at the same time I am hosing  and bashing pots out on our deck.

TGIF

It's DONE and so am I.
Disconnecting now!

What sort of party will you be going to tomorrow night?

quick and dirty

batik, bumped






The pool is full, if ungroomed. Most of the amphibian denizens now relocated.
There was much running about and stuff to do after two days of slacking but the sun was too bright to put off a quick shoot of some of the pieces I've been working on that I will be putting up for sale in the shop. All you have now is this list of raw, enormous images that may well feature my toes or someone's hairy tail.

In the morning I will be moving them into the shop with descriptions, sizes, prices etc.  If you see something you like today, reserve it with an email. Some of the pieces are large and I will be willing to cut them in half.

Full Moon celebration

Despite the unseasonable cold (it barely cleared 55 here all day) I used hot water and got a couple of great finds into the color today just to see what  would come of it.

There were some vintage finds today at a local antique place that was giving an additional discount for it's anniversary!  I hope the dye solution doesn't freeze in the night.

My little garden pots struggle on and what it that we see in the background? YES, finally! We will be opening a skating rink by the weekend if it keeps up this cold!

Colin & Raquel were here most of the day doing the dirtiest work after we let the pool go totally back to nature this winter, uncovered again. Raquel and I took two five gallon pails swarming with all kinds of tadpoles and polliwogs down to the brook and freedom.  I can swim with a clear conscience.

stitching day

I spent (wasted?) a lot of time wandering the web yesterday and have been inspired by a lot of other people's hand reveries, I picked up where I left off with this one and will spend the rest of the morning with it. I've had my satisfied fill of household chores for the moment.

grey morning

"GreyGrid" is a perfect reflection of my mood this morning.

The weather is the same, dim, uncertain, vaguely threatening - generally unhappy. I was treated to a Braves game at Turner Field last night on Fireworks Friday Night! Coming off a come-from-behind win the night before we were hopeful of a high spirited game but a combination of friday the 13th nonsense plays and bad calls conspired for a loss for the home team. We stayed for the fireworks anyway but the video I so dumbly shot sidewise didn't even come out and today all my bones are complaining bitterly about all that marching around on concrete. Next time rollerskates?

This piece is permanently attached to an 11x14 canvas with matte acrylic gel.

seeing spotz

I'm not sure exactly what I am looking for in the right set of dots but that won't keep me from looking longer.



I may get out the crayons later!

Jake said this looked like a Hubble deep space shot. I'd agree if it weren't for that nasty red blotch.

This was a piece of cotton that disappointed me because I discovered that the cloth must have some poly content that made it resistant to getting strong color from the dye. This was a cleanup rag before the discharge - it may have a starring role coming up.

rich results

If I do say so myself, this cloth came out pretty spectacular just wish I knew it's  provenance. If anyone has any notions please let me know. 

(that's the ever-present critic's paw in the upper right corner)


You can go here and here for some closer looks. This one looks like gila monster skin.


I'll be sharing these and other new pieces in the store over the weekend. Smaller pieces, more variety...

from sublime to spectacular

Remember this score?  Combing through the acres of cloth I finally found a tag. Read it, carefully clipped it off and tossed it "somewhere safe" for future reference. Where that might be I have no clue at the moment.
All I can recall is "cotton" and the name of a company in NJ.

I cut this one up into rectangular pieces and spent yesterday morning using soy wax, dye powder, sugar and salt on ten or so pieces. I lost count.

Wish I knew more about thread count. The hand on this cloth is soft like sateen. The pattern you can see is part of  the weave, not embossed, embroidered or printed on. When wet it feels almost like chamois. And it took the wax and the dye so aggressively that I had to boil everything to really get it clean and ready to iron. When was the last time you looked forward to ironing anything?  

before

....and after.
Well worth the trouble and mess!

until tomorrow

It will be tomorrow before I can see what will become of these. Spent the morning with soy wax, paint and dyes. Now, I'm off to the whine mine to see what happened over the weekend.

the perfect dessert

After a lovely day with family, the perfect dessert hatching out of the washer. Summer is upon us!

Eye candy from the burning deck

It was blazing out on the deck today so I had to work these pieces in stages dashing into the darkened, cool living room to regain my vision. At one point I thought I was working in black and white.


Later, when the game is on, I'll iron all these to heat set the metallic textile paints.

what fun. more later and much of the day tomorrow...

hubris

If the weather stops being so crazy the plan for tomorrow is for continued work on the cloth most recently dyed. Some soy wax in preparation for overdyeing this weekend, some paint, some discharging and hopefully,
some magic.


(Notice the void on the railing in the background. That's Voodoo fantasizing about hummingbirds on a stick.)

to show, or not to show

Baghdad Bazaar

Elizabeth Barton has written an excellent post about whether and where to show your work.

Great questions asked and I'm sure the answers/comments will be stacking up and full of insight.

I've started a very short list of fiber exhibits that I've decided to take a shot at this year but I am more inclined to look for mixed media art shows because entering textile shows is starting to feel like preaching to the choir. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've gotten into any of the biggies and I will keep trying. I just want to reach out to a wider art audience.

Now to get off me arse and get my most recent work photographed and update my website. Ah, yes..the work!

My work has been through changes in both technique and direction since I last updated the website. These two pieces were part of the I-4 Corridor exhibit at the Peabody in Daytona in 2008. There have been a few others since then but it time to get busy or start giving away horse blankets.

Clubbin'

spring today, summer tomorrow

The Yankee peonies are running riot this year in my Georgia mailbox garden. The deep pink ones in the foreground came from cuttings taken from peonies grown by my grandfather in Armonk, NY and later moved to our house in Golden's Bridge.

After we moved to this address in '98 I brought down some cuttings after a visit. The dark pink ones in the foreground are the original color and the pale ones in back are a recent mutation. Below is my only nod to vegetable gardening..those are grape tomatoes that produced right up through November of last year in the only place on the whole property that gets enough sun for veggies.

brand new bag

I had to work over the weekend so I loaded up the scrap basket and proceeded to pave over that cloth bag.

It was a blinding lime green paisley Vera Bradley knockoff  when I bought it in the grocery store a few years ago. The perfect size, shape and arrangement of compartments, I could never quite get over the color and use it, even for 50% off...the trend was over.

I made over the scalding yellow duffle bag version three years ago and it's still in service when I fly (makes a great pillow depending on what you stuff in it)

I've given up stitching in the tiny cramped spaces and am resorting to metallic textile paint to cover up the remainder of the green. It will be a work in progress for a while but I think I'll start using it today...well, as soon as the paint dries.

Astounding news last night about killing OBL.  I can't help but wonder about all the people he infected with his hatred over the ten years in hiding and what they are thinking. Wonder about the people who were willing to hide him and what the Hell is this crap about burying him at sea?

There is passing interest in this household about conspiracy theories and I can't imagine what they will make of this piece of nonsense.