perfect fall saturday

What a great time we all had yesterday! Jim and Colin had a spectacular day at the chili cookoff (we are still hoping to get some pictures from somewhere) the camping and cooking logistics came off perfectly, as did the food, but the camera was dead.  Jake and Missy visited the campsite and I'm told all the food was a big hit with the public but the judges missed the boat. Oh well! A good time was had by all and on to next year!

Janice and I went to our first bead show in a long time and I was actually moved to acquire the makings of a pair of earrings that I have been coveting.  These will be an homage to the art of Courtney Laine who creations I have long coveted. She uses real gold, silver, and gems. I will use whatever, spit and chutzpah and find out just how difficult this work is.

We pillaged the Norcross Goodwill library like pirates making off with all the books we could carry and then bought the makings for a great lunch, got it back home and served ourselves...shrimp scampi, linguini, guacamole and sangria. Yeehaa. No room for dessert.

When the sun comes over the yardarm and the ballgame game begins, there will be color and cloth!

Fall colors for the dyedeck

OK...the cornbread is in transit and I have a little time to kill so, time enough to make a fresh start, dyewise.


I washed out all my good stock bottles, made my choices and mixed up this set of dye concentrates which will have to take me through 'til spring. This batch will live in the deck fridge after tomorrows dye session. I'm a profligate waster of dye so I'll be more mindful of that for a minute or two.

Some of these are right out of the ProChem can and few are my own concoctions. All well and good on paper, I know. Time will tell.
 
Kinda sad that I had no golden yellow but hopeful that sun and sunflower together will zip.


I deliberately left out the straight turquoise..it dominates my magpie brain.
And no black...I never get it right anyway so why waste the cloth?

tomorrow...jars+cloth+dye+water+sunshine=?

it's Chili time!

 I was up before dawn getting cornbread into the oven for the Stone Mountain Chili cookoff. Jim camped there last night and is preparing the judges batch of the same recipe as I type this.

All the entries have to be cooked on the spot but I bake a dozen pans to serve little samples to the visitors, along with the chili and, this year for the first time, he's making Brunswick stew...whatever that is.

It's quite the rowdy party, and though I have attended in the past to help serve, it's not my cup of tea and I would only be underfoot so this year Colin will be delivering the cornbread and slinging grub for the masses. Later in the day there will be ear splitting live music, and with the spectacular fake summer weather we've been blessed with after a week of muggy rain, there will be mobs of party animals swarming the area. Me, I'll be at a bead show  waiting on the magic phone call to hear that we WON like we did in '03! Good luck my darling...

I may not have anything much going on but its great to see what other artists are making with my fabrics...


I know there are more out there...let me know.






Serena

and Grace

and Vicky

big and wild

Cleared off the dancing table, tuned up the Janome and have this large expanse of hand dyed vintage sack clothe and damask under the needle...winging it. Thoughts only get in the way, just gotta keep my fingers clear. Blood will not do here.

It's turned muggy and warmish again..just as I get out the blanket sized works.
Ah, Murph, you devil me again.

graces moby cloth

the original color was  a very pale pink.




Can you tell by looking if it's silk? It burns like a natural cloth, it's heavy like duck almost, and shrieks out loud when you rip it. tomorrow I'll try dyeing it again only fixing with vinegar instead of (dummy!) soda ash.

a new badge

I had to put on the long pants against the chill today for the first time and was happy to be able to zip up AND be able to breathe! Jim made a practice run of my cornbread recipe last night and I think I ate a pan almost by myself. 

It's rainy and drear and I'd like nothing better than to go back to bed right now but I promised some OT in a few minutes....so stitching and dreaming will have to wait. My little B&W feather break was refreshing - I am back in technicolor mode.

Another great box of white wonder thumped up onto the porch late yesterday afternoon. More about that tomorrow.

feathers flying

this time I remembered to take a picture before sending them off.

Jim is getting ready for the Stone Mountain Chili Cookoff this coming weekend - my dye deck has become an fresh air kitchen for a few days but I'll be jarring up a few experiments later this morning in hopes of a few more 80 degree days coming up. If anyone gets any cloth that has a whiff of a distant campfire, garlic or cumin, you know the reason why.

freepiecing denim

The turn of seasons has me washing all blanket-like objects and this old denim throw turned up with a multitude of failed seams. Time to be useful again. That orange broadcloth turned out to have a bit of poly in it and so it will go two work pulling this blanket together..a nice back of couch piece although I may hang it up and pretend I'm in a museum somewhere.

We were real hard on our denim back in the day. This was built in 1977, one of the first things I sewed on the Kenmore Jimmy bought me as an engagement gift. It was one of the first free-arm portables, indispensable for mending blue jeans. The man knew what he was doing. I did not but, Gees Bend, it's held up pretty well.

september morn

I've been slightly derailed (was I ever railed?) by the sudden change of season - even if it's only temporary,  a flexing day job schedule and overdosed with color.

I was surprised to read that Jude only has 282 feathers to date. I would have thought she's be over feathered by now but I was wrong so I am taking a little black and white eyeball palette cleansing break here before I set to the task of going through the new cloth, taking first picks and then putting things up for adoption and sale.

These pieces dried to be a lot less vibrant than this shot. I've given up being disappointed or surprised when the cloth does what it will. instead, I do what I know to bring the things around to my liking.

A couple of them have been painted with transparent textile paint and I'll post the results later in the day when they are fully dry.