stitching meditation

With a few chores and a follow up visit to the doctor out of the way (all is well) I rummaged around in the studio and uncovered this UFO.

I recall that I stopped working on it because I convinced myself that it was just too large for hand stitching and yet I was reluctant to put it under the machine needle.

So,  I made comfy in the downstairs chair and spent time hand stitching on it while  a thunderstorm blew through the afternoon. It felt good.

moon poached cloth

It took a lot longer than usual but sitting and choosing the fabrics and doing the webwork to post these is quiet, easy work. Here's the lot of them. Now, I'm going to refurb my own scrap basket and see if I can remember how to thread a needle.

bounty

That's enough standing at the ironing table for one afternoon. I taken a few choice bits for myself  (above) and now will sit and group the rest of these to go into the store tomorrow.  I had some additional surface treatments steps planned but the cloth is tender and these colors seem to be all that's called for this time around.

cooked by the supermoon

She's  baaack.

It's so good to be home. There are so many people to thank, and so much to think about and share that I can't find the end of the yarn to start winding that ball, so, one foot in front of the other and start with familiar tasks that give satisfying results.

I went out on the deck early this morning and rescued all of these from the little baggies and jars they have been pickling and poaching in since a week ago. Lesson one...there was zero dye in the liquids.  In a while I will get some help getting these up to the laundry.

After being gone for a full week which included emergency  surgery and a short hospital stay, there is unpacking, paperwork, housework, web work...all sorts of work to get caught up on but right now reconnecting with family here, touching base with distant family and friends and putting my hands on the fabric is all I want to do.

My reason for traveling in the first place was a long overdue visit with my Mom. It was very hard to say goodbye yesterday.

waylaid -updated

I left for NY as planned on Sunday morning but had no plan for being admitted to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy at the crack of dawn on Monday. Convalescing here for a while

I got to NY  midday, with mild discomfort but fever and pain set for real by dinnertime and it was off to the ER at the Rockstar of hospitals, Northern Westchester Hospital...if you must get sick, it's the place to be. The staff, the care and the technology were all the best. My sister Kitty got me there and stayed 'til I was tucked in and diagnosed. The plan is to fly home on Saturday.

incubation

Here they are, forty or fifty half and third yard pieces of vintage damask of varying weights, a few pieces of high quality cotton muslin and a little linen. They will just be poaching out here in the sun until Friday. I've never set a lot of store by the notion of batching dyed goods; that is, giving them time to acquire color (or not). Several notable dyers have posited that whatever is going to happen will happen in two to four hours. Now we'll see what five days looks like.

Brewing a good time

the pieces of black damask and linen from yesterday came out just as I wanted them..the greenish cast in this photo is bounce from the outside lawn/trees light. The non color is dense and actually warm. Photographing anything made with this will be trixy.

Below is the wet table mopper from the session I just finished out on the dye deck. My current colors have been jacked up, doped sideways and titillated to the max. There is  Bloody Bordeaux, Monkeys Blood, Bile, several Blues from Beyond, Indigo Hell, Yell-ow and Grape Grotto among others.

The remaining vintage cloths are in the sauce waiting and tomorrow everything will be put together with Jazz & Heart and left to stew and fritter until I get back from New York on Friday. That's right folks..you read it correctly. Steeping for almost a week..a record for this hasty, impatient colorista.

And now to try to scrub the green off my feet so I can wear sandals on the plane..don't want to be accused of having something odd going on bodywise.

blues on the line

Sure..hang things on the line and just watch the storm clouds gather. Oh well, what's one more rinse.

 I'm busy gathering bits and pieces for Jude's Contemporary Boro class that starts tomorrow. A thing on my mind will require some pieces of black and I have zero pieces of hand dyed black cloth, so, there's an experiment brewing out on the dyedeck right now. I mixed dry dye powders that no longer had readable lables...one said "JET something". Hope  it wasn't jet fuel. It looked black and got blacker as I blended in other things. Fingers crossed, results tomorrow.

bluebirds

Letting these drain off before a trip through the wash cycle. Out of superstition, I'll wash the yellow one separately, by hand.

Driving through the neighborhood yesterday I was reminded that we are infested with bluebirds here. If you take the time to notice, driving or walking, almost every little flit of wing is a flash of bright blue. It's a habitat thing -  there are older trees everywhere with lot's of nesting places and there must be something tasty out there that draws and keeps them.

And who knew that all these years we've been harboring an international film star  !!! He'll be starting his own blog before you know it.

back to balmy

Ever the deviant, I scared m'self a bit and had to interject a little wackiness. I'll just leave these outside today to soak up the heat. No doubt,  I will go upstairs to the studio and unearth a big basket of blues later today. But first, a nap..it's been a busy day and will be a very late night. With a nod to the natural dyers out there...these jars were full of rainwater that had some algae getting started and some things swimming around  I when added the dye stock and cloth wet with soda ash.

I think I may be making another ocean.

stalled and shivering

not my pictures...just the colors in my head.


After working on putting fabric sets together for the store, I find I'm woefully short on blues...unless there's a basket in here someplace that I've overlooked. The one bright blue I did find was a piece of silk..almost no damask. Oversight!

These are the colors I wanted to go after this weekend past but the whole dyefest is on hold until later in the week when the temps return to normal. It feels like February!

Instead, this morning I have a handful of entry calls to look at and hopefully act on. It's been too long since I've put my work out for public consumption. Short of draping a quilt over the trunk of my car and driving around town, no one would know what I do these days. Sometimes I wonder myself.

For those who have asked about  the writing- it is stalled because the story I was working on has come unmoored. I had no real plan in the first place and nothing annoys me more than a story that spins into dust and leaves me scratching my head and being pissed off.  I know I can think my way through the mystery maze to a satisfactory ending but there are so many distractions right now. I used to scoff at the notion that writers need to sequester themselves away, like a stint in stir, in order to get anything worthwhile written. No more.

 Which leads me to watching "Drive" yesterday afternoon which  I really liked on a lot of levels BUT..without spoiling it I'll say what I always tell my husband when we finish watching a film that didn't resolve well..."Hollywood- they musta ran out of money or coke."

out of the Wood

The day is fresh and breezy..too fresh to do anything on the dyedeck. I put a bunch of things into the soda ash solution last night in anticipation of a day spent working the colors but it's barely 70 and experience has taught me that I would be beyond aggravated with the results if I was expecting any thing other than pastels and I have Vivid and Exuberant colors on my mind.  I will abide. The summers in Georgia are long and hot and I have a few experiments in mind that call for dry fabric. Later I'll fish a few of the larger pieces out of the soup and hang them up to dry.

I'm finally taking a serious whack at getting the studio in order, drifts of finished work, UFOs and raw materials cavort unchecked. The guest bedroom will be opening up soon and I want to be ready to move.

 The morning task was to finishing re-photographing some older pieces and getting the store inventory in order. If I must say so, there are some inspired groupings and I re-cherry-picked the whole lot and kept a few more for my own purposes. That chore out of the way, and the big sewing machine unearthed, I pulled "The Wood" from the wall and faced it, envelope style, and while not completely sacrificing the wonkiness of the edges, it's ready for some quilting/embroidery.

Now I'm going to select some threads, load the little basket and find a comfy spot to sit and  stitch once the game comes on. 

a day in the fiber mine

 
You're in for it now!

Eleven new sets, each prettier than the next, up and available today over at Random Acts of Dyeness. 

Now it's time to chill with a new book "the Story of Edgar Sawtelle". So far it makes me think of Annie Dillard. I'm hooked.

Later I'll be hand tossing my own pizzas for dinner ..sorry no film, it's not a pretty sight but the results are always tasty. I do promise to sweep the floor and turn off the ceiling fan before I begin.

an art day

Wait wait...did they win?

 I fell asleep in the middle of the game last night. yes 9-1. good on ya Bravos. Now I can carry on with my day once I finish this cup of coffee.

Had to set this piece aside last night because I was stitching while tired and twice stabbed m'self bloody and didn't want to have to wash the thing half finished. There 's not enough light to stitch by yet this morning so there are two large baskets of hand dyes  beside me for divvying up into new cloth burritos since the store is about wiped out (thank you!)

Here's hoping the temps lift out of the sixties later because I'd also like to get a new batch of cloth into the dyepots.

I had the most realistic and complex dream last night - the kind of dream where a long forgotten unfinished piece of business comes together with a bow on it as if written by some master storyteller. In the morning the world looks different.

Yesterday I was moved to silliness and tears repeatedly by both of these videos here and here

great tool

When I took them up to the register and asked the price I can't recall if she said "69 or 88 cents each". All I could say was "I'll take them both!". I must have a half dozen measuring tapes snaking around the studio someplace not ever where I recall putting them.

A full 1.5" wide and .25" thick, this is an old school tool. If a teacher cut you a lick with one like this you would surely remember the lesson. These days, they would be jailed for assault.

With a tight, smooth grain I'll forgive the advertising and  store it over the door frame to keep it from warping or ask my resident carpenter to drill a hole so I can hang it up. 

Rush on down!

origins

This is what you do when you are trapped in place with nothing but a crochet needle and a ball of cotton string.

These are the originals. The softie on the left is my thread catcher and the one on the right was saturated with watery acrylic paint and now feels like a little wooden basket. I use it as a catch-all on my desk. These are a bit smaller than the ones I've been making lately.

Look what Deanna has done with hers!

a post full of grace...


and some pure joy
  

fixing a hole

It was supposed to be rainy today; a sit and stitch day, but sunshine and gardening took precedence. All the places that sell baby plants in the spring are now putting all the neglected leftovers on sale for half price. You should see them after a good watering in a permanent location!  Pictures will follow.

I picked this up this early and did one hole but couldn't stay with it. I'm a little down and anxious because my Mom is not doing well. I need to make a trip to see her soon.

dear gallery visitors

"Limbo"  (38"x68")

According to stats there's been quite the rush at my main gallery lately. Thanks for stopping by! Rumors of my passing or incarceration have been greatly exaggerated.  If anyone has any questions or would like additional images of any particular piece, please email me. I'd be delighted to take some detail shots..maybe even drag them out onto the lawn into the sun for some "live" shots.

housekeeping

This pre-cleaning view of the pool is becoming a tradition. The "after" pictures make me feel like a miracle worker...even if I'm only the team leader- I really couldn't do it without the help of my guys. My cheap thrill comes with the finally hosing and scrubbing when the blue is revealed.

Speaking of blue...do you think some very small bird might possible think this is a good place to make a nest? Maybe I should have made it in shades of brown.