change of face

And here I was all fuzzy brained and uninspired after just dunking six pieces that I quit and slept for two hours.
Woken by Samuel Jackson going on about his "M*Fing Snakes on a Plane!" I decided to do the washer woman thing and see what transpired while I dozed.

Miracles and Mysteries!


The hot soy wax loves the vintage damask and the dyes love the damask too. It's a love fest out on the burning dye-deck at the Lawrenceville Frankenstein Dyeworx!

I wonder what's going on in here?

storm waiting

I took today and tomorrow off from work hoping to break in the new dyes but we are under a thunderstorm warning which is supposed to pass by noon. Might as well collect some free water...

In the  wait time, I have a huge stack of books from the library which welcomed me back into the congregation warmly once I paid a year-old fine.  I scored "Autobiography of Mark Twain" and hesitate to settle in with it. I am smartass enough without encouragement from the ages.

There is also stitching galore.  "Rêver 2" is well underway. I am so impressed with folks using complex embroidery  in their work but my stitching is much more about construction than decoration. Going back and making a cross stitch out of a running stitch is a big deal for me. I call them staggering crosses. Nailing bits of silk organza down to aging damask is like putting decals on bee wings.

Many years ago I embroidered a huge linen tablecloth that I given. It was supposed to be done all in ecru silk with cut-work which seemed to me (and the original owner) like a prison sentence.

I bought 20 or so different colors of DMC floss and proceeded to cover all the printed lines with every imaginable color and stitch trick I could find in the book. It's a riot cloth that I trot out only for holiday meals. I may not have mastered every stitch but I can say that I have been there, and stitched that at least a dozen times.

These little staggering crosses are hard at work holding every thing together.

dye day preparations

 You can tell by the names which colors were internet specials....and the purists out there will be freaking at my mash-ups.

Could there be something special about dye stock mixed on a full moon? You will have to admire my restraint that no cloth was involved in the days festivities. That party will be this coming Wednesday and  Thursday.


I ran out of bottles though, there are more colors waiting, turquoise, avocado, black, chino, raspberry.....

I needed a tablemopper but accidentally picked up a piece of damask that had been waxed. There will be more wax and discharging for this piece soon.

antimacassar redux

These were built on bases that used to be the armrest covers of a couch. The backsides were relatively pristine. The fronts, not so much. I like the fabric so much that I have idle fantasies of taking a razor to the side that faces that wall.

I will certainly skin it like a beast when we are through with it, boil it clean and make great things.

I like doing this one so much that when I found the other  armrest cover in with the "to dye" bunch, I pulled it out and started a twin, fraternal, not identical.  Call this one "Brave beat the downtrodden Mets, double header". Yes, there will be more french knots.

Yesterday was so cold and blustery, Jim was inspired to make chili and I was forced to postpone making new dyestock.

Instead, I wasted the morning trying to master Jim's old cell phone (mine came over on the Ark and is failing). I was happy to be able to stitch anything after all that useless thumbing. Useless because later in the day I was told that, through a chain of loved one's upgrades, I would be given a gently used Blackberry. Just what I need.

We'll see what the day brings weather-wise after lunch.

Giving Thanks

You know who puts off doing the tax boogey until this morning, those who owe. Still, the filthy deed is done and as I pressed print there was a thump on the doorstep. FedEx!

My boodle from Prochem arrived chock full of wonder. I love buying (cheap!) the discontinued, heinous colors no one else seems to want. What a challenge! There's Curry, Loden, Pumpkin Spice, Grape, Azalea Pink, Golden Yellow, Sapphire and Intense Blues, Raspberry and Superblack!  I feel a day off coming on.

Here's a hasty pot of Forget-me-Not which I have rechristened "Fuggedaboutit" Blue. Results tomorrow.

For now, I give thanks once again, for being so easily amused. 

back to the wall

Remember this one?

I was so in love with it at first but I left it hanging on the design wall, sideways (as it was built) and only pinned in place - I could not take the next step of basting it.

Deep down, I knew it was fatally flawed.

Thanks to E, who clarified what I knew to be true, there really was no way to unify the two disparate halves and what I really had here were starting points for two separate pieces.  Here's to heading off false starts before they become groaning disappointments.

You know what I am supposed to be doing at this moment, don't you.

the personal stash

 After the storm front moved through last night, it's turned cold again. There are sleeping cats draped all over the house.
 

I was busy at the computer and didn't hear her come into the room and clamber up from the ironing board into my personal stash...




So I asked her, "Sweetie, what the hell are you doing up there?
Casually, slowly, she turned around and showed me what she thought of my efforts.

a humble Thank You

to Jude Hill who has been so incredibly generous in featuring my hand dyed fabric on her resource page along with the work of several amazing artists.
You won't go wrong here.

Jude, I am scrambling to live up to your recommendation.

There will be Born Again Overdyes, Sugar, Salt and Buggy Cereal cloth, discharged,painted and dragged behind the mule fabric (just kidding)...lot's of new and interesting things to share in the upcoming weekends.

half baked still

Here's more what I was thinking about yesterday. The oval/circles I like best come from discharging - the hot wax is much more willful and harder to control. These processes are both time consuming and messy and this whole week I am very short of free time so I am going to let everything rest until the weekend.

I'm going to be pulling many pieces from the stash for similar treatments - they thought they were safe, all ironed and folded on the shelf. HAH!

I did a rare thing last night -spent four consecutive hours watching TV (I should have been sleeping) the pilot and second episode of "The Killing" on AMC.

I can't put my finger on what is so compelling about what could be boiled down to yet another cop drama. The complexity and dominance of character reminds me of "Homicide, Life in the Streets" and there's a dash of David Lynch. Strong performances from unknown actors. It all adds up to really good TV. 

Yesterday - 1st dyefest of the season

It was great fun to hold the first dye day of the season at Elizabeth's studio.  We are both always on the lookout for happy chemical accidents, neither one a stickler for rules.  Here she is working over a piece that came to her from another well known fiber artist (a prize if you guess who via email). They have a swap going, each taking turns changing the piece.  I don't know when they are going to stick a fork in this one and call it done.

Another view of the day's doings here.

This is part of my murky results, but murk was just what I was after because I've been having visions of those discharged discs and have a half baked idea along the lines of Shell Vapors and I'm fresh out of spots.


Overall results ran from the sublime to the ridiculous, as usual, which means something for every occasion.

There were great lessons remembered and new ones learned like, don't waste soy wax on wet cloth, make the wax hot enough in the first place, split peas were a waste of lentils and SHAKE THE DAMN BOTTLES! and don't forget to check your gloves once in a while..you don't want to see my thumb.

freakin' friday

I'm convinced that this will be the fate of this telecommuter unless drastic action is taken immediately.

Until then, play with this .

I'm rounding up stuff for a studio day at Elizabeth's place tomorrow.

finishing touches

Sweetie's on post for the birds setting up housekeeping in the hedges.  I've decided to name this one "Rêver" - french for dreaming. 
I've been falling asleep listening to people speaking french in foreign films which leads to dreaming in french and I wake up wondering who and where I am.


It's perched on top a pile of white fabrics all destined for the dyepots at some point in the future. I'm headed to EB's studio this weekend for some fiber r&r - someone else's workspace is always a treat and a challenge for me. Some of these pieces will come along and be transformed.


I chose the bits of cloth for this piece as much for their texture and character as the colors - everything is very weavy and soft, easy to stitch. 

Appropriately,  I'm busy building a  small army of  french knots wandering in the streets and alleys. 
Each one says "You Are Here" but not in red.

Cusspot decanted

This is the first cusspot I ever made. I keep it with my hand stitching basket to capture thread ends rather throw them any old where which caused the early demise of my Hoover upright vacuum.

After a year, it was bulging at the seams. We had hellacious storms in the night with high winds, hail, lightning and threats of tornadoes all night. It went from 80 degrees at 11 pm last night to barely 50 degrees this morning but everything looks fresh scrubbed as if Winter was blasted away and Spring can finally get on with Summer.

I went out side and put all the clippings and snips in the shrubs around the property so they can become nesting material. We are aswarm with cardinals, eastern bluebirds and many other birds in this neighborhood all rioting around the property and setting up housekeeping.

small stitches and grand plans

I started this bit of embroidery last night during "Mildred Pierce" but I was too tired to get into it and it may languish. It's an odd little cartoon that I've had in my head for a while - I think the gesture comes originally from a H.Bosch painting, a pickpocket working the crowd.


Saturday JR and I met at HoAnn's to confab over the weight (not!) for the batting in her quilt and not arriving at a choice for backing fabric - there's plenty of time for that, and 50% coupons still unripe. I did have a couple to use up and went back yesterday and was compelled to by a pattern and two lengths of fabric intended for wearing.

After spending some time with the pattern instructions I'm tempted to email McCalls the meaning of the word "easy". I remain doubtful but having once upon a time replaced the engine in a 1963 Ford Fairlane, I think I can handle building a garment from cloth. As you can see, the quilt has affected my color sensibilities. My wardrobe tends to the "denim mudhen" spectrum so these will be a welcome change of pace.

a tiny snitch of blue

"She's In the Pink" is well underway. Making utility quilts in this manner is so satisfying, like spinning straw into gold. Bonus, setting aside the handwork for awhile is giving my aching paws a rest.

I spent my work shift using a frozen picnic coolie as a wrist rest while I moused about. Trying to tab my way through my work is pestiferous but necessary.

For you Idol watchers out there. do you think there is work for my son as a double? (Colin has long since gone clean shaven but needs a haircut even more badly)

Opening Day!

Finally!

Gotta go buy me some peanuts!

GO BRAVES!

the efforts of others

I love seeing what other artists make of the cloth that they buy from me.
Made for one of Jude's online classes,
 Helen was kind enough to send this.

It always amazes me when my cloth is seen through other eyes and and felt through other fingers, to see what's made of it after I have thrown up my hands at a loss - yes, dear customers, you only get the fabrics after I am well and truly finished with them. If I had hours to waste I could backtrack and give you the provenance of almost all this fabric...hours!   

If you've made something, anything, with fabric purchased at Random Acts of Dyeness, send me a picture and I'll show the world, with your permission of course!

time constraints

After working the weekend and using yesterday to catch up on errands, I woke up this morning fully convinced it was Sunday, fell back on my face and wasted half the morning of what's really my Monday. Ugh.

To compensate for the disjoint in time, I set about building my friend's Pink quilt with wild abandon. Ripping, ironing and piecing without a measuring tape or pattern in mind is very freeing.  Once the top is finished I plan on some very organic machine quilting - more fun for me and a good warming up for working on the Big One.

stalling

 one of many neocolor sketches from last night. it's still on my mind.









I'm still thinking about how I want to proceed with the new piece on the wall. I like it for it's simplicity and vigor and don't want to screw it up, bog it down with a technical misstep.

I gave fleeting thought to finishing it like "Beach" - only two layers, aside from the design elements and all hand stitched. It was finished as a functional summer quilt, one of my "flings' and I spent most of last summer stitching on it. The pale blue in this one is cotton lawn, the blue in the one on the wall is silk chiffon. Is the energy and immediacy of the new design cancelled by miles and hours of my very small Kantha stitching?

It feels that way to me.  I am more inclined to layer it over a light batting and machine stitch it, the way it did with "Innocent Bystanders" or "Roadkill"

So the question, dear readers, is machine or hand stitching..and why?

detail from Roadkill

new on the wall

Just something to think over in my sleep.

this is big, 4x8 feet (hear it crack in the wind!)




I met my friend Jan for lunch at our traditional place los Hermanos Taqueria in Lilburn where the California Quesadilla is  so reliably delicious I don't know why we bother with the menu.
One of Jan's sons, Ryan,  has been recruited to be on the Taiwanese version of American Idol!
Does anyone know how to access Taiwanese TV via the internet?

Sunup

I spoiled my own coffee yesterday and walked around with a headache until after lunch, grumpy. This morning I got up to find the dishes already done and good coffee (correctly made) just a button push away. I love you Jimmy.


In a few minutes the sun will have cleared the eastern horizon and come blazing into the studio and I'll go back up there and take advantage of the light and work a bit more on this which has to be named "Clara's Tattoo Dream". 

I'm off from the office today so it's going to be an art day for me with a tentative break for lunch with humans at an actual restaurant. Wonder if I'll know how to act??

There is cloth to select, sort and iron, a big New piece to get up on the design wall, stitches to stitch and laundry to catch up on before the weekend rain sets in. ciao4now.

after dark

My end of the swap arrived yesterday! It's more subtle and mysterious in person than it was on the web and impossible to do justice to with a hasty snapshot. Thanks again, Clara. For now, I have it stuck to the mirror right over my monitor.

I was inspired to take up tools and doodle a bit and a little later, I closed my eyes and reached into the scrap basket for two pieces of cloth and I was amazed that I never found them together with my eyes. This will be a part of a much larger whole:

worky worky

The morning was given over to a combination of cooking, laundry and cleaning - all satisfying pastimes with immediate and visible outcomes, unlike art.

But a new dye season is on the horizon and I'm already collecting the white goods. There's an Antique Depot nearby that has a great load of old damask table cloths with a half inch of dust on them, in time I will make them an offer they can't refuse.

My wish list at ProChem changes almost daily. I have to keep reminding myself that old dyes still make great fabric.

Lest you think I have been consumed by cooking and cleaning, (those who know me well are having a good laugh) above are two single sized tops waiting to become quilts destined to be shipped to Japan when I finish them on the machine.  I'm grateful that there are those in the US who are organizing the transport and distribution. I knew when I made them that they would be useful someday to someone.

This little exercise  is already finished off.  It's now a kindergarten sized quilt with a tiny black and white checked border and a soft blue and white pin striped cotton backing, built for living.

dream influenced

I wanted to show this new piece in progress the other day but Voodoo decided I should go do something else for a while.  He was quite insistent.


I'm glad everyone else took great pictures of the super moon last night - although it was clear as a bell last night and I could see the craters and such, I still couldn't persuade my camera to come up with anything more that a fuzzy white ball. I did remember to take my tarot cards outside for a blessing.

We've been extra busy around the house this week. Jim is about to start a full time job and I am going to have to relearn how to shop and cook. Prepare for tales of woe from the kitchen.  

 
I'm been daydreaming about making this since I saw this.