today the Giftie gie us...

Thanks for the share Diane!
the creeping mailman left me another package late yesterday. in it, two wonderful, ancient damask tablecloths all fat and fluffy from a good hard wash and dry. I'm going to heat the soy wax good and hot for these pieces..the openess of the fibers makes for some striking, clear marking come dye time. 

The blue piece is a fine light-weight linen that has been dyed with indigo. It's already been hacked into!


If any of you out there are simply plagued with drifts of old, humble tablecloths made of any natural fiber, etc., before you toss them out or leave them on a church doorstep please email me. Stains? Pshaw..Holes? Who cares! I'll not only give them a good home but I return some of them back to you in glorious color!

paving

 
I'm working out ways to fill in the spaces around the separately stitched elements on my MCD project shirt.
Raw edged "paving" with tiny scraps seems to be the way to go. You can see  more new elements here.

A few days ago I discovered what's been causing the malaise I've been experiencing. Instead of tripping over the bathroom scale, I actually got on it and recognized that there has been waaay too much carbo-indulgence going on around here. Sleepless nights and logy days, aching feet and general crankiness begone! the cure is at hand and I am determined to buy a new pair of sneakers this weekend.

Someone asked to see these three together. At first I was a little unhappy that the third was not the same size as the first two but they were created on a pair of hemmed armrest covers and the third deliberately cut square from a larger cloth. Going forward in the series I will stay with the square...there's another on the cutting table right now.

relief

 
Greatly relieved to talk to Pop this morning. We usually talk every day and I can tell by the sound of his voice just how he is doing.

Their power came back on yesterday afternoon and Nextel in his neighborhood was not working since the hurricane. The house phone worked until a tree took the lines down. 

Everyone is OK and there was no damage and only minor flooding. Blessings on the family and neighbors who kept tabs on him for the duration. I know a lot of family, friends and readers in the NE are still sitting in the dark waiting.

vibrance

I know that a lot of artists who dye their own cloth are experimenting with the natural dyeing process these days but my magpie brain still craves to be gobsmacked by color when I go to the trouble of cooking up my own.

This recent batch delights me on so many levels. Aside from wonderful, rich color there's an array of glorious texture here too.

This is a piece of a woven tablecloth that I picked up for a smile at a yardsale. There was a burned hole on the corner. You can't see it in this photo but the raised cords were colored thread that bled during the dye process.  It shows better in the paler pieces but this cloth loves the dye.

A quick Google  yields a tantalizing clue as to the origin of the owners of these hand towels. There are also several damask napkins with VE embroidered on the corner. 


Do you think they ever imagined what could become of such prosy things?

Even the 79 cent towels I picked up at IKEA the other day didn't disappoint. I wasn't even sure they were cotton.

it's Dutch for "towel" ..it too has the trixie little hanging loop like the one above.

No small wonder that the majority of these treasures came from grace.

monday morning washout

It was a blue Sunday...due in part to a mason jar disaster with a half quart of turquoise (see below). No pictures of my blue ankles, for once I had on shoes. I was just stirring the dye with a spoon when a hole popped out of the glass! Do jars get old?

This piece of woven, gridded cotton picnic cloth is getting discharged right now. Those dots are about 3/8 of an inch and I think I have that out of my system for the day!