Tuesday, January 14, 2014

a giveaway - UPDATED!

I was supposed to be doing paperwork this morning, but instead I dumped out my thread basket on the pretense of making some direly needed order.

I did a bit of hand dyeing thread last season and find that I just don't like working with perle cotton.
This bunch was hand dyed with Procion MX dyes. That pale blue on the upper left is Tencel.

 So, leave a comment and Friday tomorrow night I'll see if I can't persuade Sweetie to pick a winner for the lot of them.  International participants are welcome! The package won't weigh much.

UPDATE!!  Holy Cow. Who knew so many people liked Perle cotton??
 I'm cutting off the giveaway tomorrow night to give all you early adopters a fighting shot at winning.  And I guess I'll be dyeing more, but it will have to wait until it warms up outside..the only way I could figure how to dry it was stringing it wet around the deck canopy. 


Below are the DMC six strand cottons that came from the same dyefest.
I really love these and have used most of them up in recent work. This is all that's left, but in a week or so I'll be offering 13 yard hanks as a regular item in the shop.

Store bought hanks are 8.7 yards and one never seems to be enough. Since these will each be one of a kind (I hand paint the hanks) 13 yards seemed to be a more user friendly amount and a lovely kinky number.            Stay tuned.


Monday, January 13, 2014

low






Sometimes it's just us and Don Draper.

well shod

I am so tickled to have finally found a pair of shoes! This may not be a big deal for the majority of you, especially those who are afflicted with shoe-itis.  I know you are legion and there is help if you want it.

It's not that I cannot afford a new pair of shoes (within strict limits to be sure) but I am very fussy and hard to fit. I think I have been looking on and off for maybe three years; since the Sketchers started splitting around the toe.

Having given up finding anything in all the shoe emporiums around here, I went to Bass Pro Shops yesterday and headed for the clearance rack, always my first stop.

As I watched a tall, warrior looking woman clad in black leather picked this pair up and inspected them. For all her grandeur, she had tiny feet. I said "They'll never fit you". She looked at them rather disdainfully and put them back and strolled away, chains clanking.

I snatched them up, scuttled off to the nearest bench and tied them on. As I had hoped, they were made for my feet. I clapped my dear old Sketchers in the box, walked around the store for a while and then checked out. Good for at least another five years if I switch out to sandals as soon as the weather permits.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Seth






Since there is no end of snappy sayings, I could on making these, but I have to stop.

There are other things that I want to do.

Not more important things, just different things.


Friday, January 10, 2014

time tattered

The shawl has been around a long time; whipped up in haste from three yards of panne velvet that had to have been half price somewhere.

The machine appliqued flowers added on years later when I started dyeing cloth.

It used to be my go-to wrap for anything after dark.
The vintage damage is evaporating and I'm not going to try and stop it.

This also reminds me that free motion machine appliqueing damask over a substrate with some softness/depth gives wonderful dimensional results.
The quicker and dirtier the stitching the better.