in the works

Despite a heavy round of what's now called "adulting" I prepped and dyed a new batch of dirty threads and while I was slinging crystals, I put this sleeveless linen blouse down on the deck boards to catch the overspray and scatter.  They have all been batching a while now.

I'm thinking through how I want to handle dyeing shirts. This is a test.


These are two views of the table cover that I've been using all season. It's a flannel fitted shit that probably has a high percentage of synthetic in it. I don't expect it to hold on to these colors. Sad that.

a double header

I had a Charlie Sunday and Monday this week. Just enough hours both days for us to have all the fun and none of the "gotta" stuff. A Nana's delight. Early, early on Sunday got my day in gear instead of languishing and today, a lunch & park date.  I'm a lucky gal.

He was not amused about my choice in music in his Dad's car but driving it was work enough for me to be fooling with the radio so I shut it off and we just talked. Conversation with a three-year-old is an adventure unto itself.

Being useful

I love reading about artists using and enjoying my raw materials. Thanks, Grace, Joanne, Hazel and Liz for loving my Dirty Thread.

the big gift

a big box filled with wonder turned up the other day. shirts and pants in the size and style that I like best, in cloth I've rarely worn. certainly never appreciated. linen and cotton/linen and every piece a blank canvas waiting for....

plum, daffodil, robins egg blue, golden brown, gun metal, raven

in addition to all the others

and the vintage flatwork...amazing. Many thanks, JS. Now all I need is for summer to hang on just a little longer.

.

I'll leave just this one white.

almost showtime

Getting these and seven others ready for a gallery show ..delivery Sunday.

Under the gun much?

I forgot how pesky the detail of backing small hand-stitched pieced can be..thanks Joanne, for a trove of the perfect sized napkins to close the deal.


And thanks, Colin, for the orientation advice. I never know which end is up.

False Fall (I hope)

I call him "Git 'Er Done"...by Jude Hill and I have to take that direction.


It's dark, rainy and cool here. Snoozing in weather. Reading weather. The pool is finally recovered from a bout of "vacation neglect" algae, but by the time the sun finds time for us again, I fear the water is going to be pretty chilly.

I'm finding I'm not as Atlantic Ocean hardy as I used to be. Numb is okay, but not when it persists for an hour after you get out. I blame air conditioning.


I'm in the fiber studio today making a bunch of pieces ready for a small gallery show coming up in September.



There's always the one thing that you can't put your hands on and, not finding it will drive you to distraction (a short hop for me) until you find it.
Nonetheless, I'll git 'er done.

The Wheel

It's been a fraught, lost weekend. Last post I was crowing about having salvaged a batch of rags from a bad dye-job. Hah! Such Hubris! Today it's back to the business of making a living, caring for family and self and worrying about things that I don't have a lot of influence over. (Note to self, I used the word "influence" rather than "control").

I have family and friends in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. All of us are in the wake of the subhuman at the helm of our country. We all do what we can.



Yesterday with Charlie was a great respite from all these cares and concerns, even if I am paying the price today. Getting him and two other stray toddlers in and out of those bucket swings and keeping them going has me longing to be just flat on my back studying the ceiling, but I know that ceiling too well and there is shit that has to get done.

Charlie and his Hero!

Down demon pink!

Curry, bronze, daffodil, and peacock got the job done. Fuschia rescue a success.

a day outside of time

It's been a long difficult week for a lot of people close to me. They said the eclipse was going to rock boats. No shit.

Friday is my one day off from the paying job with no outside obligations. I spent most of at a much-needed writers day with part of my crit group. The bitch-kitty scene that's been defying me for a month (as I putz about around it) fell in flames and rose from the ashes reborn in glory even as T. and I solved the problems of the world. From the writing blog a month ago:

Revision

Is like shaving off prison tattoos a square inch at a time.

So far it works like this. I'll read the last scene that WORKED and then the new victim,
the next one and the one that follows it. If it fails on enough fronts - and I've had more than
half do just that, I brood over the truth of it. The five 'whys'.

Then I start the autopsy. Print and then redact - just like in the movies- with the broad,
 black marker anything that's crap. Anything that's not a jewel.

Then I brood on it some more and find a different way to set some, not all of those jewels.
A setting that not only makes the scene worthwhile but nods to the one before it
sets up the next. Dominos dipped in nitro.

fool the eye

I was in the grocery store today grumbling at the proliferation of "flavors" of bleach. Not wanting to have any of it in the house anyway. Then I spied a tiny little bottle of Mrs. Stewart's Bluing. Why not. My favorite throw and the king sized duvet were looking dingy. Stuff works, even if it is an illusion.

Demon Fuchsia

There has been a dreaded PINK incident and I'll be dipped in shit if I don't salvage this mess. There. Temper tantrum over. When will I learn that Raspberry, Watermelon and the other silly pinks all contain that damn contaminate, fuchsia?

I GOT this...

not your usual tuesday

took some time in the AC to recover from a dye frenzy out in the blazin'.  The 'feels like' index said 101. Every bit of it.

Kept this one for myself, I'm sure there will be more when I get them in the morning light.





Later, there was a quick visit from someone with a big surprise for me.

Eclipse

We went to the park early to be sure that Charlie would expend enough energy making nap time easier. The heat and humidity almost did me in and I was mostly just watching. There was no one else at the park which made leaving early a little more agreeable.

The lunch menu discussion has turned into a ritual of hilarity:
me: Shall we have chicken livers?
C: NOOOO!! the giggling begins,
me: clam eyeballs?
C: Nooooo! more giggling.
me:  Pony toenails?

by this time he can hardly answer for giggling.  We picked up the standard chicken fingers, sun chips, lemonade and one petit four, and made it back to the house in time for a TV picnic with Curious George. He was sound asleep by 1:30.



I waited until the sun and moon were really getting it on before stepping outside to see what I shouldn't see. Used my camera to sneak an inept peek.
More interesting was the change of light over everything else. Even at only 97%, it was eerie. disorienting. I felt short of breath or that the air didn't have enough oxygen in it.

Went back inside to a very dark apartment and slept for a few minutes until Charlie climbed up onto the couch with me to continue our adventure together.

early results

One of these days I'll remember to open the screen before I take pictures, but you can tell what this special Eclipse edition of Dirty Threads is going to be like. There are 60ish, all told, plus another dozen or so of the last round. Once they are are ready to go, I'll put them in the store.

Now, to clean up after that mess and get some very special linen down for a round of the same treatment if the heat doesn't get me. There will be texture galore!

Something special

I'm prepping a large batch (I lost count!) of a special edition of dirty threads and hand dyed scraps. I'm dyeing all of it today and leaving everything out to cure under the solar eclipse, primarily because it's a Charlie Monday tomorrow and I can't be in two places at once.

Same prices, same stuff with a little twist. I'm throwing back to a little sugar dyeing. Curious? It's no big thing.

Again, expediency rules the day. I used up all the salt in the pantry and with the pending lunacy of tomorrow, I'm pretty sure the grocery stores today will be as if there was a pending winter snow storm. In Georgia, people lose their minds and hit the stores foaming at the mouth. Whatever is in the fridge will have to do.

If you want to reserve any, email me and let me know - how many, color range. If I can accommodate, you know I will. I should have these posted on Thursday.

Home....

Sunday evening actually.
Lessons learned.

I intended on some stitching, some reading, and writing.

NOT when you are visiting family and friends. It was all about the people and some places with no time for my agenda. That's more than OK, but I should have known. Driving instead of flying filled me with hubris. Half the stuff I hauled never saw the light of day in New England.

Away cont.

sisters

Away

Just love

Charlie's third birthday was yesterday.

I spent the day before with him but didn't say much about the special day pending.  I think too much anticipation for a toddler can be like a hard dose of sugar.

Taking some time to visit distant family and I'm already missing him.



I'll be traveling for a while. As of Friday, 8/4 the shop will be closed until I get back. 

details

Two cast away garments, a blouse and a vest, both linen, have been reborn.

Gifts that will keep on giving.

Alas, linen has to be ironed.