Last Dyefest of 2010

Here are just a few of the smaller pieces from what's probably the last dyefest of the season. there are more to do but the sun is still poaching hot out on the deck..I may wait until tomorrow to finish the rest and do some overdyeing.

It's been a long day already. The piece hanging from the rack in the background was a piece that I put down on the table when I was mixing the colors. There are another whole group off camera that have been dyed using buggy oatmeal. Those should be interesting, bugs and all.

work view

We've been recently given permission to "claim" our real estate at the office if we have been there at least six months. Over a year ago I selected a seat that no one else wanted so I've been lucky and comfortable there. My back is to a wall of windows and a door and it's only half a cube, on the corner of Crazy & Main. I like the natural light, the view of the pines and now, I'm free to decorate a bit so I brought "Backyards" to work with me to enjoy it a bit before shipping.


My marigolds are going into fall overdrive. Here's one of the smallest cusspots on my desk.

And a picture of the moon that was worth getting pulled over for. I stopped for a few seconds on an overpass on the way home and shot this out the car window. It was a spot that had the least amount of light pollution and there wasn't another soul on the road except for a police officer who pulled me over to find out what I was up to.

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.