fruits of the birthday dyeday

well wouldn't you just know it?

this was the only piece that held my interest while  I was working on it (I really was absorbed by Elizabeth's machinations with calculator and scale, full on mad scientist stuff!) and now I can't find it in the batch that's come out of the washer and dryer.  For all I know it washed away entirely if the rest of the pieces are any measure of the lack of success. Although that dark was EB's Havana brown...ice chips in the dye is not conducive to strong colors, my guess. I think this one needs to be painted on a canvas. *

 My dyes were really played out and just didn't hang on leaving me with a batch of lovely pastel princesses with superwhite where the soy wax was dug in like a tick.

here are a few of them playing around on the design wall..this is going nowhere in a handbasket...

new eyes in the morning.The fun was in the doing.


*flash update! EB found it in a bag and will be sending it off to me when it's dry!!

birthday doings

Great doings for my birthday! Jimmy took me out for a birthday lunch on Saturday so I could spend all day Sunday torturing cloth with Elizabeth Barton at her studio.

Using up our leftover dyes in this way has become an annual event which I wouldn't miss.

Here she is at the magic dye isolation chamber, measuring and mixing dye powder while keeping all of our lungs intact and functioning. Her experiments for the day where about comparing two different yellows from Prochem and included weighing the dye powder and cloth with an electronic scale in an actual stab at following the dye manufacturer's instructions. Lo and behold...they were not just making those inserts up. See her results! 

From the other side of the brain, I was direct dye painting on cloth that already had soy wax applied but no soda ash. That didn't happen until this morning. Don't get too excited - you know how jazzy wet dye can dissappoint especially when it's several months old and has not been stored under optimal conditions. Everything is in the washing machine right now..now pictures until they are dry and ironed.

me and the supervisor

This is where you'll find me most sunny mornings at this time of year. It's a great way to mind the time when the sun gets up and the direct like goes away, it's time to rest my hands and eyes and move on to something else.

We are off to scout pumpkins, doughnuts and cider.

In the meantime...get delightfully lost in the Hermitage.

happy friday

After spending 45 minutes putting those pieced purple blocks together on the machine, it was nice to sit in the sewing chair and be with the sun for an hour. Good to get back to stitching.

There is more than a measure of peace in the making and this one is going to be a long time in the process..I will be dragging it out for my own pleasure.


Then, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Karma sleeping in the river grass basket. I knew it wasn't  her of course, but even the imagined shadow was a comfort. Those pieces of black and white cloth are calling me.

in here somewhere

it's kind of nice to walk into the studio and know what must be done.

I lost my cellphone yesterday - it's been turning itself off, going silent - and was ultimately found asleep in the bottom of a basket of scraps. so sensible.

shitfire

I was on my way to a friend's studio for a day of running amok with dye and cloth when my faithful green pony finally succumbed to the leaky radiator that I have been ignoring for a couple of months.

We'll try again later in the month..in the meantime I've gotten two large pieces stabilized and started stitching on this one. Twice I stitched for an hour and twice I picked it all out unhappy with the results. I think I need to sit with a book for while and remind myself of all that be done with needle and thread.

NEXT!

Well, at least the waiting is over and I can get back to "normal" life.

 None of the three pieces that I worked on most of this year and submitted were juried into Quilt National13  and slap me hard if I put myself through that again. Talk about taking the joy of  the process.  Now I am free to follow through with updating my website and posting the work I've had to keep under wraps all these months. Can anyone tell me it's worth it? I passed on two opportunities to exhibit these locally and wonder if I made a huge mistake. This is really not sour grapes just a personal assessment of cost vs. value.  I wonder how many artists have come to the same conclusion? All input is welcome.

and sincere and hearty congratulations to the hardy souls who made the cut!!

"Consolation" 2012  

saturday chores

I'm putting the rest of the dye equipment away for the season. The poly blankets are rinsed clean and dry. I can't bring myself to throw away this ironstone platter and will try one more time to mend it somehow. It's so big and heavy and the break so unbalanced that, so far, no glue has been strong enough. I'm willing to go the duct tape route if I can find white. It's been a good, useful friend.

I took the current utility quilt outside to see just how many chips I'd made and what the overall size would be.  Enought by far!

Now the trick is to sash them up and/or whack away with the rotary cutter until they are all the same dimensions.  Then comes the layout to please the eye and finally, the sandwiching and machine quilting. I am fresh out of purple!

season's end

Oh well damn.

The Braves have lost the wild card game, Chipper got a clutch hit one more time but our season is over. I won't go into the gross controversy because it will be in the news tomorrow and you'll be sick of it. I already am.

Time to turn the hourglass over and let the sands run until opening day next spring. My hat, glove,  and transistor radio go back into the ballpark bag until next year.  I don't know how some people "do" multiple sports. It's emotionally exhausting.

Meanwhile the studio is a hive of industry, if not heavy creativity. I'm just playing for a bit while heavier things brew. I've finally found a use for those little sharpie+alcohol scribblings. But I think I'll toss a few into the washer to confirm that this stuff stains for life.

I wish I knew what words to put into Sweetie's mouth here but basically it's a threat that if I try to sit there again today she's going to make me bleed.

jumping the day

Although I worked late and slept badly, Sweetie wasn't going to let me sleep past seven this morning so I was up and out early taking this basket to the park again. They finished the resurface of the walking trail around the pond so I was able to occupy a bench and stitch in the bright morning sun for while, mental wheels spinning on other things.

There was a new list of artist calls in the email this morning which caught my attention for the first time in ages. Yesterday I spent the morning tuning up both the sewing machines in preparation for turning out a series of small kid quilts that will go up to the new market in NY. It's nice to have a way to use up some of the good quality cotton that I dyed in seasons past but had gotten away from using in my own work. Each of these will be a gem in it's own right poised for years of service and love for some little person. Not just quickie baby blankets..my voice and mark will be on each and every one.   Are those aliens creeping around on your blankie? of course they are.

the resting stitch

After a long day at IKEA and an afternoon of Atlanta traffic in the pouring rain, all I wanted to do was curl up in bed with my sewing basket and a cat.

I had intended to start something new. Something small and stitcherly but instead, I  dug this little false start out of the bottom of the basket, set aside a few weeks back.

After a little picking out and relocating some elements it began to dawn on me how hard I have been fighting against the very nature of cloth, the warp and the weft, always crossing never meeting. I have been working hard at turning cloth into paint and will have to give that some more thought. How that idea might be a signpost, marker or warning.

On the other hand, the real paint arrived today, along with a barrel of new dyes, that will all have to wait until late April or May before the fun can begin again, but I knew all that when I placed the order.