Friday with NO WORK!

I was loose on the town yesterday with my buddy JR - (nobody went to 'mergency and nobody went to jail) but a good time was had by all...no big stretch for the Easily Amused!

First stop was a revelation for both of us. While IKEA is inspiring, it's overwhelming. I come away from them thinking I need to torch my joint and start from scratch.

On the other hand, The Container Store in the Perimeter Mall area of Atlanta was great fun. With a focus on organization I actually came away with ideas for reorganizing the studio and a few closets. They also have tons of just plain fun stuff like these little clear acrylic boxes that I used to spend my lunch money on at Takashimaya in NYC. I'm sure I'll find a way to put them to uses other than mere eye candy. 

We went from there to Restoration Hardware where we were treated like invisible lepers. I imagine I could have jumped up and down on their 4000$ bed and no one would have mentioned it. We might have gotten away with taking that 8 foot Eiffel Tower right out the front door. hmmmf.

On to the Barnes and Noble next door to further expand our brains and shrink our wallets. Enough foot work for the morning; we saddled up and groped our way up county to the wilds of Roswell to find the elusive Lemon Meringue Pie at the charming PieHole in Roswell. No luck but plenty of tasty alternatives. JR has given up finding her favorite pie; they have a really short shelf life but still we ran wild and had dessert before lunch.

We got back on the road and set out to find the address of a radio station where I was to pick up  tickets to see Tom Petty that Jim won when he entered a drawing at Cool Ray park last week.  Severe lack of civic imagination has every other street named "Peachtree Something" or "Somebody's Ferry", so we wandered around lost for about an hour in midday Friday traffic. Phone calls from my husband and to the radio station were no help. Finally I asked JR if her new phone had GPS. She had no idea.

We pulled into a parking lot and poked at the thing for a few minutes trying to learn the function on the spot. The screen said "type or speak your destination"- in a stage voice I told it where to go. The screen went all fuzzy  and after a minute or so a tinny voice said "turn left onto Mt. Vernon Highway". Hilarity! Demon voices guided us straight to the place. I couldn't get over the notion that the car had been possessed. Really, we're not Luddites, just a little out of step.

The frosting on the cake of my day was being able to stay awake for the Braves home opener. The pajama seats were great and the boys saved the day by winning!  A day off like this makes working the weekend palatable.

stunned

 
I just can't help myself. This makes me want to get a really expensive tattoo. Almost.(photo by G.Mocafico)


It's clear to me why I find some of these so compelling.

and don't miss his Jellies!

back to work

Thanks to everyone who snapped up the offerings new to the store yesterday. Tomorrow is ship day!  I'm back to the ironing board this morning putting together some more burritos.

 I've been taking out tasty bits for my own stash all the along the way, of course, and notions are percolating but there is a huge backlash, mental and physical,  over  a squad of UFOs and total chaos in the studio.

We've had a room open up in the household recently and major reorganization is underway. I hate the process but love the outcome.
The reality show is called "Hellhole to Heaven".

Two links of note today. Serena is stash busting. I had momentary thoughts of how I could over-dye, discharge or otherwise torture some of her commercial fabrics but no, I'm already ducking calls from the producers of Hoarders.

And WARNING TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE SNAKES....don't go here and please note I did NOT post any of the fabulous spellbinding images here. . But if you don't mind them, here's an incredible site devoted to the photographic art of Guido Mocafico.  I'm completely absorbed with the idea of creating fiber art after one or more of these incredible images. I'm stoned by 16 and 23...no links..find your own bliss!

brrrr!

It's a shop keeping day and I can barely break a  sweat in this chill that's come over the southeast. I feel for folks with tender plantings that may have been set out too soon - it might actually dip below freezing over the next few nights.Crazy!

I've been ripping and ironing all morning and have started putting together an entire alphabet's worth of cloth burritos for sale at Random Acts of Dyeness.

 Back to the iron! brrrrrr. Where's my hoodie?

Claret

 

old discount day

Out putting my bizness in the streets today. Letting my freak flag fly and all. It's Tuesday! 25% off at the Goodwill and more at a few other local small businesses just for having lived this long. Someone with excellent taste in books left a ton a great selections for me to acquire for a pittance - books I should have read but never did, like the Great Gatsby and My Antonia by Willa Cather. Books I've been wanting to read but just haven't gotten my hands on like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Ahab's Wife...good stuff all.

Before I hit the road I decanted 20 mason jars full of cloth and spent dye right out onto the deck boards and left them to drain. When I got back everything got a heavy dose of hosewater. Two washer and dryer loads later there's  some spectacular new cloth. Tomorrow I will chase the morning chill hunched over the steam iron..nope, sorry, no early eye candy.

from the other brain half

I'm still tinkering around with the code for the gallery on my website. I've figured it out, I think. but the hard part is deciding which images to show and in what order. And then there's the  re-shooting to consider as some  really crappy pictures come to light.

It was a busy weekend with much more work than play and no holiday doings at all besides eating the bunny's ears.

there are  flower seeds in the ground now and another dozen mason jars with cloth and dye out in the sun until tomorrow.


I am bruised with second hand sadness. Someone I love is in pain from a broken relationship. Nothing I can think of to say makes any sense or difference  so I'll keep mum unless asked.

web work - updated

I'm supposed to be redesigning my website but I keep getting sidetracked by the vast array of nuts and bolts that I've lost a firm grasp of - it's not like riding a bicycle - because it's been such a long time that someone has gone and reinvented the wheel.  Fiddling with graphics is much more rewarding. I've got the framework in place, now it's down to the dirty work..like filling in all those forms when you enter a show. How's this for a splash..it's a real reflection of what I'm about artwise and lately.

(when I focus on the image on the right and synchronize my breathing with the critter's breathing a calm comes over me)

(the gallery viewer is a new tool that I have to learn before using. Imagine?! Maybe by lunchtime tomorrow I'll have figured it out. Right now I am cross-eyed and code crazed. and signing off. )

happy full moon friday

We probably won't get to see the full moon tonight - it's turned damp, overcast and cold, sweater and socks cold, so this will just have to do.

We don't celebrate the religious holiday around here but we never miss a chance for a little festivity. I will color some hard boiled eggs tomorrow.  A chocolate bunny might even find it's way into the refrigerator to be pecked at until gone.


I'm finally undertaking a complete redesign of my website. For those of you who write code  (or write anything for that matter) you know it means putting your head into the necessary place for a while and turning off all distractions or mayhem will ensue. See you after the weekend.

one down, eight to go.

just desserts on opening day

I spent the morning ironing much of the recent dye batches and was once again reminded of the magic of this cloth - how the soft, fuzziness of machine washed and dried damask lies down under a hot steam iron and takes on a glassy iridescence.

Those pieces of silk came out gorgeous as well with no ironing called for.

This afternoon I'll be pulling some small corners and selvedges from this lot and packing them into a handful of crocheted cusspots. Tomorrow I'll photograph the stuffed lovelies and put them up for sale in the store.

I've taken my picks, of course, and there is a lot more cloth to be dyed.






In every dye adventure a treasure turns up. The kind you squirrel away and nip at, the kind that turns up in your work over and over.

 This is a large hand towel, damask and huck woven. It's sturdy and there's an '02 woven into it so I don't think it's vintage but the Hellenia Hotel  looks like my kinda place..hats off to the tourist who brought it back for me.

take me out

Last night the whole family went to a special game at the Braves minor league park. Most of the current major league team played against the best of all the Braves farm teams. I couldn't get over the difference in size and stature..the Baby Braves, as we call them, looked like rag tag teenagers which I imagine many of  them were. The recently retired and widely beloved Bobby Cox managed them. The Allstars beat the future stars 4-3 in a 7th inning rain out. I can't remember the last time I was caught in a spring downpour, the long walk to the car accompanied by the PA system cheerily broadcasting "Singing in the Rain". It was a very special night.

This morning I only had time to wash and dry the latest tasties from the dyedeck.  That blue is one of the pieces of silk!

glory days

Nope, no hand rinsing for me today. I dragged the hose up onto the deck and gave this lot a heavy shower and there was almost no dye run off, as flagrant as I am with the stuff.

I actually ironed the two batches from yesterday and only a very few came back downstairs for re dyeing.
 So many goodies.

I found a large piece of silk that was a gift from my friend Anna. I forget the official name but it's smooth, slinky and shrieks when you rip it.  I snatched it into fourths the other day and Sweetie fell off the back of the couch with her hair on end and hit the ground running at the noise.

All I recall about dyeing silk is that it's vinegar and not soda ash that sets the color. We'll see what comes of this.

I reset the dyestock colors this morning, mixing colors that were very low and remixing some new ones. Topping off others with a little water. There are no labels on the bottles- it's all a magical mystery tour from here on in.

There's still a half bucket of smaller pieces of cloth waiting for color. I'm going to give them the pizza dough treatment in a little bit. Letting things soak overnight  is turning out better for me and the fabric.
 
I have to pace myself today or regret it. I'm off from the day job today because we are going to see the Braves play tonight at CoolRay Field. I could slave at the cloth in the sun til I drop but I really want to enjoy the evening without being exhausted when I get there.  The whole family will be attending, a rare and joyous event.

super sunday

After three hours in the clutches of H+RB, it was a great day on the dyedeck - sails all spanking in the breeze and the pots aboil! Everything will stew in it's juices for the night serenaded by tree frogs under the waxing moon. Meself? collapse, after "the Killing" if I can stay awake that long.

seachange

Remember the magic sewing chair my husband found for my birthday?  I haven't been able to sit in it for a very long time.

Since I started working from home, I shuffled things around in the studio rather haphazardly sacrificing one half of the shortest wall to accommodate my day job computer set-up.Hateful but necessary.

The chair became a catch-all and was buried but worst of all, right next to it was a large basket of nasty tax papers sending out bad vibes like a box of radioactive snakes.

The rest of the papers are now boxed up and going to the tax pro in a few minutes. The chair is free and waiting for my return.

Maybe I'll catch a spring training game this afternoon and stitch on this one a bit. Whomever sent me those beautiful little indigo moons, please remind me so I can thank you. One of them is the star of this piece.

Art Quilt Elements in Philly

 It's opening night!

Thanks so much for sending these pictures Sue!

 It's  really gratifying to see people examining the work close up..seeing what I was seeing when I made it. Maybe wondering "What the heck was she thinking?" or "How was that done?"

I wish I could have been there this time, my first ever rilly big shoe

happy friday

I have to step back from hand dyeing for a few days. My process includes hand rinsing everything before putting it through the washing machine and last night my poor paws were begging for drugs.



So for the next few days I'm falling back on this little bit of hand stitching which is shaping up into something compelling. Tonight after work I'll slather my hands with some Bengay, put on gloves and be well in the morning.




I have also taken huge step in the direction of Peace of Mind and made an appointment with a tax professional for tomorrow afternoon. The 800 pound gorilla is packing his crap and vacating my studio as we speak.

spilling its guts

Here's the original purpose of the original cusspot which is about the size of an apricot - a thread catcher to carry with me when I was still working at the office.


Today I'm decanting everything I was able to cram into it since last nesting season. I've decorated the crape myrtles up by the mailbox and hope that some of the birds have ignored the crazy weather and are just now building nests.




Rather than drive everybody to bored tears with an ongoing project I've created a separate page for the Sun Lion piece....the link is up there on the tool bar.

inprocess

the waxed sunlions are floating in a pool of wisteria.

sun lions

I kept going back to this design and color in my sketchbook. Now I really have to leave it alone before waxing and moving on to the next colors.

in the meantime, a new clutch of cusspots gets the boston beanpot treatment and once they are washed and dried they'll be stuffed with hand dyed scraps for sale. The way I crank these things out would make someone think I was trying to quit smoking - not the case.

work before play

I've spent the morning hatching out some test pieces. Tinkering with the colors, seeing which appeal and which need either flushing or rebooting. I have officially renamed that fuchsia "the Devil's Blood" because it's so seductive but such a contaminating pain to work with. Look at it out there pinking everything all crazy.

I've cleared the table in preparation for doing some (big) whole cloth dye painting but I'll have to wait until later because it's turned nippy..not optimal for the strong colors I want right now..

For everyone who is waiting for a package, please forgive the delay. I hope to get everything to the PO tomorrow!

a very good dog

Don  & Brewster headed out this morning but not before I put Brewster to work modeling the latest WIP. He was so busy posing for the camera he didn't notice the saddle blanket and while I was fiddling with the settings on the camera he wandered away...art in place. At least today he didn't fall in the pool. They have only been gone since 11 and the cats have already figured out that the house is all theirs again.

sunday song

After a deeply overcast day, the setting sun set the evening all a-pink with wonder but Karma was oblivious..exhausted from a day of lurking and hiding from something the cat crew has never experienced; a canine house guest!





Don and Brewster rolled in from Texas for a few days visit. You couldn't ask for nicer house guests, two or four footed!

I dreamed about where this one is going next and hope to spend some time with it today. The base is an woven cotton upholstery fabric and I want to preserve and incorporate the design somehow, maybe embroider over it in another color..so far it's been "sew & pick out, sew & pick out"

shufflin'

I had wanted to sit with this piece and shuffle things around until they started talking sense but there's been a change of plans that call for some emergency, "company's coming" housekeeping.

back to the rubber gloves.

 these will have to wait.

prayer flags someday

I think spring has

come so early

in honor of WAS

Magic Time

Okay...browsing around in the basket I was reminded about the double life that these hand dyed damasks lead. Straight from the dryer they are supple as snakes and soft as clouds. Once ironed..the magic begins as the woven patterns leap into view and the flattened threads take on an iridescence that is very hard to capture digitally. This particular 18" square napkin is a perfect example of why I love working with this vintage cloth.  I'm posting this and three others over at Random Acts of Dyeness later this morning.

update..this piece has flown.

washday at Wingdale

urg...I was run over by a migraine earlier in the evening and my head feels like a spoiled melon...I have a soft spot on my head like new babies do. please don't touch my head, pillow.

I had a lovely note from a reader regarding prayer flags and I sent her this photo of a set I made in the fall of 2010.  Looking at them now I'm reminded of lunatic laundry...washday at Wingdale which was the local nuthatch for my hometown. The place where everyone's mom would swear she'd run off to if we didn't behave.

my Monday (your Tuesday)

Here's what is not happening today, despite the continued glorious weather. No ironing, folding, sorting, fondling..no stitching. It's my Monday and there are catchup chores to do after a weekend of slacking.

If I don't do my own laundry I'll be working in my PJs tonight (although I understand PJs are formal attire for many telecommuters). The warm  weather makes me wish for an old fashioned reel style clothesline but given the insane levels of pollen we are experiencing it would probably be a waste of time to put wet cloth out to dry. My dark green Honda looks just like a Granny Smith apple right now.

 I have to go out for a few errands. Every time I leave the house I get the feeling she won't be here when I get back. Colin slept downstairs' in Jake's room with the AC last night and Karma cried bitterly most of the evening looking for him. Even if he had brought her downstairs with him, she would have bolted and come upstairs to sit on the bed and cry. Cat senility.


And speaking of diminishing brain functions, I downloaded a new application and am having the devil's own good time sticking with the tutorial. What I really want to do is just rip in at "start" like I always do but since that rarely pays off, I'm forcing myself to live by that description of "crazy" - doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

first fruits

"subtle (for me)" would have to be the name for this lot. I used up all the remaining old dyes and can see which colors suffered over the winter and which held their ground.

 I now also know which of these cloths have a bit of poly snuck into the weave. I'm going to iron this lot tomorrow and they will almost all go up for sale in the store.

New colors have been mixed, new crayon poured and proven and a whole new batch of cloth is soaking in the sauce. Everyday this week will be a dye day as long as the weather (and my  stamina) holds up.

I did a lot of hand stitching on the big WIP this weekend too, despite my misgivings. There's nothing to say I can machine stitch right over everything if I decide to.

no eyecandy, yet.

Nope - no wet previews. I don't want to disappoint myself or anyone else. We'll just let this batch come into it's own when it comes out of the dryer; everything is in a cold water wash right now. Keep in mind the dyes were old and tired.

I have a large number of vintage damask table napkins and thought about dyeing them in sets of eight clear bright colors to sell in sets for prayer flags to be embellished as you wish with stitching, printing or other surface design techniques. I won't match the patterns...there are too many but they will all be close to the same size and hemmed all round.  Let me know if you are interested in a set for $30.00..well, let's see what the dye devils have wrought first!