Sand, Ashes and Roses

I had a long overdue day on the town with my buddy Janice yesterday. The world cooperated and sprung me sunshine and 60's. I ate off the chain at a food court - yeah there was bourbon chicken and a red velvet brownie - and then saw "Silver Lining Playbook" which was terrific. Halfway through the flick my stomach started  flipping like I was on a carnival ride. I'm sure it was a combination of the rich food and the onscreen emotional mayhem but I toughed it out, kept the lunch and was restored by a little more fresh air and sunshine. A good time was had by all.

Today, by several special requests I have put my nose back to the grindstone to update the inventory over at Random Acts of Dyeness. Seems like folks are in the mood for the muted, natural tones that some people work so hard to achieve using a variety of natural dye processes so I've put together a grouping titled "Sand, Ashes and Roses.

I tip my hat to the natural dyers but my colors all come from Procion MX dyes. This grouping comes from my "overdye" basket because I'm inclined to harder edged, more saturated colors and were destined for another dose of color.
 My loss is your gain!  More about it here

shift, grind, shift

I've been plodding away on this still just laying in  what I call the construction lines. My goodman has been stalled by what I hope is merely a cold (the things you will get when being out and about!) so I've had an ear out for him as he sleeps his way through it.

Mid morning I was called upon to write up a deposition for a child custody case - I can't go into any details  but suffice it to say that the mental place I had to go to to write this was ugly and I really hope that my words make a difference in court and the beast gets her just desserts. Pity the children involved.

commercial hang over

We are bleary-eyed and butt-dragging around here today having watched the entire Blackout Bowl. It was my first time actually watching (and trying to comprehend)  the whole game. I kept losing track of who had the ball which Jimmy says is the whole point of the action. I will be sticking with baseball.

Normally I only look up from reading or stitching when the commercials come on but my eyes have been tired so I rested them at 12 feet instead of 12 inches. What I really need is a distant horizon, preferably one over a beach somewhere.

After getting my annual dose of disappointment from the tax Preparer's office this morning, I spent some time at the machine stitching on this one.

Voodoo overturned a large box of prints in the studio and uncovered a set of pictures of magnolia blooms that I took years ago.

And look at this beauty...rescued from sure annihilation at the hands of scrap metal thieves by Grace of the West

K4 revisited while the machine operator rests.

I decided that C. was right about the orientation for this one. Horizontal won out over the possessed palm tree trip.

Two of the three chunks of school bus were pruned out and I cropped the entire piece back to it's black damask edge, lopping off the excess fleece.

I stayed true to the original shape when I cropped it so the wonkiness is intentional but the loss of overall size makes me kind of sad.  I'm thinking I'll grow it back to the original dimensions and keep it closer to rectangular. People who are not familiar with textile work in the first place have a hard enough time with that aspect of the work, let alone the unframed shape wandering off from the box they are so accustomed to.

its Janome time

Today we take Karma V under the needle. No hand work at all for this big bad boy. Enjoy your weekend. I know I will.

storm passed

(Detail from K4)

I thought I was finished with this one last night but this morning I'm finding things I want to change; some places that look waiting/wanting and a few that look overworked. This is what happens when I spend too much time with a large piece in my hands and not enough time looking at it from six feet away. 

I dashed out before the storm came through yesterday and had lunch with Jake and was happy to learn that the wedding he and Missy are planning is going to be fun and not all that formal - a party to remember. This is a shot of Jake & Pop from last June. Poppy is still in the hospital making a slow recovery from pneumonia.

color on hand

The big basket after I dumped and churned it.

The temps outside climbed to  70 today and the tree frogs started tuning up - prematurely I'm sure but all of this has conspired to get me  thinking about and planning out the first dyefest of 2013.

I have a whole host of new colors to work with and a growing stack of  vintage cotton and linen and a great swath of what I think is raw silk. No directions yet, just strong, complex color - a great cure for the blahs of January in Georgia.

unearthed and pending

I was digging through the large scrap basket yesterday, desperately trying to put together a neutral cloth burrito when I uncovered this little treasure. Here's the original post that explains it all.

For a little relief from the B&W series I'll finish it complete with the text somewhere on the panel. I may have to grow it a little to accommodate the word since it's only about 10x12.


My version of the prayer went like this:

we bring you an important interruption

I've been making very slow progress with the hand work on K4. It's taking a long time but I'm determined to finish this one before I commit to the intense machine work that I have planned for K5.

The goal is balancing the mechanical machine stitching with the organic and free flowing hand stitched lines.

 

But a certain feline codger has begun demanding that I devote my lap to his comfort. Somehow stitching can wait until he is back up to speed.

Voodoo anti-sketching

baste-orama

I like to baste. A piece that's had all its pins replaced by big running or laddered stitches is in a kind of transitional state, fixed but fluxable. Relieved of its steel burden, KV felt weightless.

I use a monster long needle and a single strand of king tut cotton thread. It has just enough "grab" to hold things together with minimal slippage. A few, small back stitches will pass for a knot.

Just like moving a mountain with a teaspoon, one spoonful, one stitch at a time...you look up, and it's done.

This is not me being all arty with Instagram here...it's me being all forgetful about what and how my big Canon is capable of. Point and shoot it's not. Time to dig out the manual, tinker a bit and take some notes.

Shopping around, it looks like this one is what I want to replace the camera that my brother and I  dissected last week.

Kv advanced

Some color comes creeping and someone else's orientation. 

working both brain halves

It still feels like Monday, with all that still needs to get done and all the things pending, good things.

I spent a little time updating the store this morning and, bit by bit, I'm tweaking KV...those splattery gray-green bits will have to go, no matter how much I love the cloth, they cannot play here.

That group of colors off to the left is called "Candy Bowl"

KV continues

Karma V

It's good to get back to work.

Although I brought something along to do some hand stitching on, nothing got done.

While I was in NY I paid a visit to the Benefit Shop in Bedford and met the owner Pam Stone. What an amazing place and great purpose.

 I scored several amazing pieces of vintage damask and a length of what I think is Shantung silk.

 I'm having it all shipped because I couldn't cram everything into the two little carryons that I made do with this trip. All of a sudden I realize that I have a bunch of very cool cloth gathering for the coming dye season.

Now I'm going to let this one rest a day and go downstairs with this one and catch up on Dowton Abbey. I think some tea is in order too.

the original