the special days roll

It's been a very long time since I've had two consecutive days off from the Whine Mine. I'm still not used to the luxury of it. Offset that with by Friday night I'm ready to tell someone exactly where they can shove their concerns. Enough of the day job, I still have 24 hours of freedom!










Saturday was Charlie day this week. Jake's birthday was 6/2 and if it wasn't for his brother, I would have forgotten!! We went on a pilgrimage to Bass Pro Shop to further outfit Jake's tackle box. The fish have finally found him and he's having a ball. Colin pitched in to help.

June 2, 1985. We couldn't wait to get the fresh one home.

the weekend

Two new rounds of Dirty Threads were hatched out despite the weather, but it's gonna be a while before I do this again. You can grab some up here:



Everything step took twice as long as usual. Tedium is not a good creative partner.  Come some real summer weather and I'll think about doing it all again. Maybe.











I had some sleepover company Sunday night! We watched junk TV, made art, ate junk food and generally got up to no good, but a good time was had by all.

monsoon spinning

It's been a hectic week. Cooking up thread, editing/writing and dealing with house crap. We finally passed inspection for the insurance (I think) and, in response to my money-saving efforts, the Universe said "Hah!" and my old Maytag finally up and died. Colin and I conjured up some fix-it magic a year ago, but this fail sounded ominous.

The machine was a gift from my folks when we first moved here. Twenty-four hard, abusive years. Mom & Dad, I sure got your money's worth out of this one!  Time to drag it and its mismatched partner, the Dryer from Hell, to the metal scrappers. Time to start a new tip jar.

There was some innovation too!

no nests

I left this hanging outside on the high deck. Since no bird elected to call it home, I've brought it back inside. Fill it with quarters and call it a vacation fund. Should buy me gas to get to Destin and back.

Magnolia Rains - updated

I did some very different things with this latest batch of threads.

I put took them out of the sauce in small groups, six or eight at a time, ensuring they were pretty wet when the dye struck.

 The salt/sugar mix was very humid - clumpy. I chose some pretty antagonistic colors, including things that I had been avoiding, like Avocado, hot pink and Hard Red.

The neighbors magnolia trees are blooming and it was threatening to rain. Atmosphere + chemistry.

At first, I was worried that I had knuckled them too much. (just what it sounds like) and then the skies opened up after they had only been batching a few hours. I left them in the rain all night long. The first rinses were very murky, then this happened.
it's a magical batch!


More hot, wet days ahead so I'm going to take another run at getting those golds, aubergines, and limes before this batch is available.