Monday, June 25, 2012

still on the wall


 


I'm kind of glad I didn't snatch this off the wall the instant it wasn't working. The blue part has something I want to pursue but don't know if I want it tussling with that gold piece.

"Consolation" is still in the hoops and I'm starting to be on guard for the stop signs.

It's brilliantly hot and bright outside, this late afternoon light bounces off the steep lawn and trees in the front yard...so different for the direct light in the morning.

I'm expecting some gift  cloth for dyeing sometime soon and am really looking forward to a dye day.


Sunday, June 24, 2012

L’Heure Bleue

  The sun is gone, the stars are holding their breath and one can reach back in time at will but I am hollow-eyed with introspection and melancholy. Blue? Why not. I'm told it's my best color.

I have been listening to Will Patton reading "Nightwoods" by Charles Frazier and it never ceases to amaze me how the emotions and revelations of good storytelling affect me.

A question about how we first came to stitchery was posed on the QuiltArt list and, in response, I dug back into a story of my own invention  and shared it  remarking that all fiction has it's roots in someone's history.

Writing with intent is emotionally exhausting and it's no surprise how many authors were seen as crazy to start with or wound up that way eventually.

A glass of Lazy Girl, cool sheets, and the pine needle sachet balanced over my third eye..all will be well in the morning.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

trying not doing


Nope..not happening. And I knew it wasn't happening when I first stuck that reconfigured chambray shirt up there when what I really want is another linen jacket to hack up. Wishful thinking won't get it done.
 I have recognized the difference between the work that  springs from a spontaneous confluence of mood, intent and materials, and the work that just tries too hard.

Looking back over stuff, I found perfect examples.
"Frida Brings Home the Bacon" literally fell out of the scrap jar when Jinx gave my glass fish bowl scrap jar a nudge and it smashed on the floor. I remember picking up the pieces one by one, shaking them over the trash basket for shards and laying them out on the table. 

I was really hooked on watching Frida and Diego on the Owl cam at the time, despite the tragedies,  I quickly wanted to follow up with another piece showing the chicks.  Contrived and studied is all I can see in the results, as cute as the little buggers are.

So the lesson for me today?  Fuhgeddaboudit trying to get from A directly to Z. Side trips, getting lost and stops along the way are mandatory.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

first day of summer




Really? It's seemed like summer here for a long time. A pool day for sure, I brought "Ocean Homes" outside to check the color of the water  and it's perfect. This one is going to be for sale as soon as I can get some good detail shots. If you want it for the wall, I'll make a sleeve for it. Right now, it's bedware.




Colin captured one of the first recruits at my dragonfly training camp. The Braves are busy loving the heat and humidity at Yankee Stadium and I am going to be missing my nap.
Oh well, there's always coffee.
I miss my lifeguard.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

lone find

When I went to Goodwill this morning I was looking for another linen blouse or jacket to dismember and reassemble as a base for my next piece. Instead, I found this dress. It's lightweight linen and flawless, as if never worn.

 I cackled gleefully when the clerk told me that it was 50% off today, $3.79 please! At that moment I still intended on taking it all apart, starting with picking off all the mother of pearl chips sewn to the bodice. She was appalled.

Once I got it home I made the mistake of putting it on.
 It's so Not Me that it might as well be a Chanel suit but looking at myself in the mirror wearing it was a surprise. I started imagining what I could do to make it right.

I have so few occassions to dress up that I need the yardage (and there are acres of it - it comes down to within inches of my ankles and all those pleats!) more than I need another dress. There are enormous shoulder pads tacked in that will be gone before the beads. I'll be taking that schoolmarm neckline to dizzying depths and maybe cutting out the tops of the sleeves. Those points on the bodice could be extended and the pleats stictched down to the hip maybe...I checked and linen will take the dye ...hmm, deep purple, teal, golden brown... What makes me think I'm a dressmaker? If it goes down in flames it can still be part of the Art.