learning to pace

I was going to take advantage of the strong morning light and work on Wanderer for a while but after just a few minutes, it hurt too much to sit up. Coffee and drugs are necessary. Today will be a reading and writing day.

Sweetie and I wait for the Aleve to kick in.  Charlie and I had a great day yesterday, but I bit off more than I could choke down what with getting him in and out of a car seat in the back of a two-door eight times in two hours. Soon I'll be teaching him how to buckle himself in and my problem will be solved.

But - all scrap orders made it to the post office, and Charlie was properly entertained, napped, fed and exercised. Today I pay, but it was so worth it to be in his company doing fun stuff.

hard sun

I had a little time to kill this morning before Charlie arrived. The sun coming in over the birthday chair was fierce - the trees have barely budded so it will be like this for another ten days, give or take.

I'm appreciating how my hand-dyed threads have fast and furious color changes. It makes for interesting lines.

a Contest for the Whole Planet

(and nearby galaxies if you can send me a postage paid envelope!)

I was clipping and churning the Fat Baggy bucket this morning. I'm pulling cloth from the closet that dates back to when I first started experimenting with dyes.

Much of the really old stuff is good quality cotton - I used to buy cloth, can you imagine? There is a piece that's all swirls of red and yellow - it was crammed, dry, into a three-foot x 2-inch clear vinyl tubing and the dyes poured in the opposite ends while I watched the colors travel, meet and party!

Anyway, I dropped my big scissors into the tub and while rooting around for them, came up with the treasure below. No way to know how old or where it came from. The embroidery/embellishment is too perfect so it's probably manufactured. It's a hankie, a delicate cotton lawn, and it just went bananas for the color I was slinging this most recent dye season.

Send me an email with your mailing address from anywhere in the whole wide world and, at the end of the month, I'll have a drawing and will send this little treasure to the winner. I'll have the drawing on 3/31.

shreds!

Picking orders from this large tub of tasties today with my eyes closed so I won't be tempted to re-route any of this into the river basket.

Looks like an all-day rain today, dreary as hell, but I won't complain. Waiting on pictures of the spring snow headed for my friends in the northeast. Stay snug, y'all.

traveling vs wandering

I've never had a flight canceled out from under me and never lost a bag. Both in one day? I guess the two go hand in hand. This - now titled "Wanderer" was in my duffel along with all my favorite comfort clothing. It took an extra day, but everything is safe at home, hand-delivered by Delta. Who knows where this thing (and my clothes) has been? As Charlie told me, "It's a mystery."

It was an unexpectedly fast turnaround. In NY for only two days, I beat the storm out of town! Sorry for those left behind who are still without power.

just plain fun

I really need to record some of the conversations. He is so funny sometimes.

That's his Dad sneaking up behind us in the park today.

I'll be off to visit the sibs in NY for a short week. Change of scenery at this time of year? Bonus!

running

The week has been consumed by preparing to go.

I have this small clutch of scrap bundles ready to go. Three of them heavily blue as requested by another customer. If you order today, I will get them to the post office tomorrow! Then it will be a week before I'm back to shopkeeping as I'll be in NY for a short visit with the family.

a soft day

Warm and soft, windows and doors open this morning while I talk with family in NY about their half a foot of fresh snow.

I finally got a chance to use some of my own dirty thread. It does make me edgy to think that I only have one skein like this. Planning on making a big batch when I'm at FOF18 at the ACA in New Smryna Beach, FL in April.

I stitched while I waited for my lunch date. He's getting to be quite a conversationalist.

He's fond of large plastic eggs. Filling them with whatever small treasures. Hiding them, discovering and opening them as if they appeared spontaneously.

I asked him, "What's in this one?" ( the same one he's been playing with for an hour)

He replied, "It's a mystery!"

spring?

After days and days of cold and drear, the sun stopped by for tea. I opened all the doors and windows and turned off the furnace.

This was about 4pm in my living room. I hated to go.

Intention of line

Lines that define space, lead the eye, or both. Cloth and words.

it's a go for launch

blue Valentine

because someone asked, I made up a handful of fat baggies that are mostly blue.

as of this post, there are four left and one full-color campfire.

on the mend

And while I stitched, Charlie worked at catching up on the sleep he lost last night as he battled the flu.

A mild case of type A, he was fever free for this day.