BW continues

I started another one this morning and for a second though about the "quilt as you go" technique where smaller units are completed and then joined. As you can see by the discrepancy in size, that's not the road I'm going down here, but that first test piece turned out so tasty, there's no way I can't include it in the main even especially since I have a good bit more of that velvety black linen to work with. Still waiting on that thread from Superior....

B&W test finished

So, will the next piece have a black ground with white elements or a white ground  with black elements?  but really, how to avoid making the choice at all?

back to the design wall maybe tomorrow.  Studio time for today is over.

taking b&w chances

Here's my little B&W test flight.  I think of stitching, either hand or machine, in two classes; construction stitches or decorative stitches. I'm working on ways of combining the two. Of course, there are no absolutes so there will be glimmers and edges of color throughout the series. My task will be to stay my mad color hand and keep those splashes small and unobtrusive. Even this golden smile is more than I wanted on a piece that's little more than a foot across but I couldn't bring myself to cut it even smaller.

I had even greater black and white inspiration yesterday. This 1950 Chevy was parked outside the grocery store. Stupefied by it's massive glory, I took pictures all the way around and hung around outside to meet it's owner. The laminated original bill of sale was hung in the rear window. $1402.00 plus 24.96 for the white walls. It has only 30K original miles and I told him that when he was through with it to give me a call but since the name on the bill of sale was a close female relative of his, I don't think he's going to be parting with it any time soon.

On of my first cars was a used '53 Chevy and there is nothing like piloting one of these cars in today's driving experience.

all the colors of karma

Unfurling the cephalopod  and spending time with that great black and whiteness in my peripheral vision has reminded me that I have been waiting to make something using only black and white fabrics. It started with the excitement and spontaneity of "Los Dados Encantada" and, of course, circles around to my dear lost friend Karma.

I've been gathering up various types of cloth for a while; the blackest blacks and the whitest whites and the blurry almosts in between. There were a LOT of failed dye adventures over the summer so this morning I rounded up a batch of those gray/green/muddy wretches, brewed up a serious black, and had a successful kitchen sink mini dyefest. The waste was scandalous!

I'm starting small - there are a few things I want to try by way of hand stitching - and I won't know what the design will be like until I start putting things on the wall tomorrow.

the cephalopod shuffles

Cleaned and oiled the machine; new needle all tested and tight and LO, comes Bloody Murphy and his law. Chuckling bugger.

After checking though half a dozen almost appropriate candidates for top thread, the color I finally chose ran out 20 minutes into the morning.

I've been agonizing over how and how much I wanted to stitch in the background gold and after dreaming it done (and quickly sketching it) I'll have to wait a few more days for that thread to be delivered and get on with it. Something Other, something Big and B&W is in the works but studio time is over for the day...off to the whine mines.