Monthly Archives: August 2011

Looking For The Road

I really am not looking forward to the next class I am registered for. And I knew, that as my week passed, I really better have an attitude adjustment. It wasn’t the amount of work or the inability to want to stretch a little further. I kept thinking about what my problem was with the class and after quite a bit of time wasted on figuring out my dread really was, I finally figured it out. Two dreaded words: black and white.

I know the first exercise will be working in black and white. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. So, the only cure for my dread: get out the black and white fabric and get to work. I wear black all the time. So what is the problem?

With a black and white piece, you can see all the design flaws up close and personal.

Keep going. Keep going. Get it out anyway. Make a small piece and move on from there. So, I did.

Looking For The Road
12×20 , 2011

I even finished it. Just to remind myself that black and white isn’t so scary even though you can see all the design flaws. I see what I don’t like but I also see what I do like. It is a start.

Be creative, my friends.

Friday Finish:Looking Through the Lens :#2

Well , I guess maybe a finish. I struggled this week to just barely finish piecing this. I am not very excited about this because I felt so RUSTY.

Looking Through The Lens #2 2011 (unquilted)

I have learned something very important though. Never stop working. Just keep going with some part of the process. I kept justifying the dyeing as part of the process. It is. But the designing and actual production of my design is the part that must be done -for me. All the time. I see many things about this I don’t like but it’s a start and I will finish this one. And I will keep going with this series.

Just felt good to keep pushing through. In just fifteen minute increments this week, I was able to do it. My oldest is moved back to college and the younger kids go back to school on Monday. I am ready for a regular schedule as much as I have enjoyed my summer.

Be creative, my friends. I can hardly wait.

On My Summer Reading List

A few good books from my summer beach bag:

This is one of my favorite books: The Creative Habit by Twlya Tharp. This explains how hard you need to work and how disciplined you need to be to forge ahead. I wrote in it, marked it up and wrote things in my journal after I read each chapter. Now, I am not really good at being consistent about journal writing so it must have been convincing. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. ( I really detest self-help books because it just makes me mad I would need soo much help. 🙂 There is a difference between self-help and education, right?)

Another good book and reasonably priced. I didn’t move on to fabric with any of the principles in the book but I will. Black and white paper in my sketchbook worked just fine for some of these exercises. Notan by Dorr Bothwell and Marlys Mayfield .

The next and last book I conquered was Wild Color by Jenny Dean. THE BEST BOOK on natural dyeing.

I found this book in Vermont and it is the new updated edition of 2010. It has nice step by step directions, great explanations and gives you the ability to achieve specific colors by adding different mordants.

As lovely as other books are on natural dyeing, it has always remained a bit of a mystery. This book breaks it down into repeatable steps with the variable being your natural material. A very big variable but it made me want to keep trying small experiments of natural dyeing to add to my toolbox. And with fall coming it will be fun to try more natural dyeing.

Very specific instructions and great pictures. I am glad I purchased this as it will be a great reference book. Even though I didn’t make many pieces this summer , I kept pushing along! Also read many just for fun and my favorite leisure reading book had to be : Unbroken by Laura Hilldenbrand. I read it in less than 48hours.

So what are you reading ?

Be creative, my friends. No word on Mom yet-thanks for all your kind words and prayers!

Home and It’s a Good Thing

We came home late Wednesday. Lots to unpack and re-group. I was really anxious this year just to be home. To the point of not really sleeping well at the end and then almost packing up and coming home early. Very unsettled.

And now I know why: my mom’s cancer has returned. She had breast cancer ten years ago and now – not very good news. She just isn’t feeling well. But she will finish her fundraiser she is in charge with to raise money for the cancer center in the next week. She has had a big heart for volunteering all her life and she never quits giving of her time to fight cancer. I feel sick about the spots on her lungs- but am grateful I live in the same city now after all our years of living in different cities.

Spend time with those you love- I’ll be in and out next week but still here. My studio is unpacked and clean as of today. It was as if I needed to use all my nervous energy and nest when I got here and heard about my mom. Weird what we do when we are nervous.

Happy Stitching-

Trying Again With Natural Dyeing

I was rattling around in a cupboard and I found a lovely blue enamel pot. I looked inside of it and not a speck of rust or chip inside of it. Perfect for bundles I thought to myself. I forgot I had bought it last year at a yard sale. So, I scrounged around in one of my boxes I am packing up to send home and there was a perfect piece of white fabric. I chop it up into about six pieces-and went on a hunt.

“She is looking for things to wrap up in fabric. She is going to boil it and it will smell,”says one daughter.

“For real?” says the other daughter.

“Yes, for real,”says the mom.” It is called eco-dyeing. ” Lots of eye-rolling.

And after I wrapped and boiled some birch leaves, coreopsis, hydrangea leaves and flowers, onion skins and some alum, I ended up with this:

I was really hoping for some brighter leaf imprints but, of course, couldn’t find the book I needed. I think I already sent that home.

I really have trouble remembering where I leave things. And which light switches turn on which lights. No wonder they think I am crazy. But I ended up with some pretty yellow fabric which they thought was pretty as well but involved too much work. Buying it at a store was mentioned….but then it wouldn’t be mine, would it?

I like the marks the coreopsis made-nice and gentle. I thought I was all done with dyeing but I guess it wasn’t done with me.

Be creative, my friends!

A Better Meadow

I am trying in some small way trying to redeem myself from my last small piece. It didn’t really portray what I wanted it too. So I tried again- I just wanted a simple abstract piece which reflected the colors of my Vermont meadow. This is too simple for me so I guess I need to try again until I get it right.

Vermont Meadows
about 24×55 unquilted

I always resort to this simple design of strip piecing to jumpstart my design process again. Sure wish I didn’t have to. But , I do and I did. It bugs me to slide backwards. Kind of a warm-up? I don’t know but I just did it. But the best part about this piece-I am on my way back again to sewing. And it felt really good to sew again. I will take it home next week when we go back to Michigan and start quilting it. Ever onward.

Now that I see it here -I feel like it needs to be twice as wide and it’s missing the other half….Sometimes they just keep getting bigger.

I have another piece on my design wall which I would love to get pieced before I leave…. don’t know if that will be realistic but it is a good stretch goal.

Enjoy summer, my friends.

The Last Hurrah

I have finished fabric dyeing for the summer of 2011. Oh,what a great feeling that is to say! At least until I get home from Vermont , unpack and sort it all and see what I didn’t dye to fill out my stash. So, I will feel absolutely amazing and kind of like superwoman -until I get home. I think the final count is 250 yards since May-craziness.

This past week I dyed reds. And then an old friend from my Connecticut days, Lynne, came to spend a few days doing some dyeing and surface design with me. And it wasn’t just some, it was many yards of beautiful fabric that we created.

It was a hot day on Monday but our pieces dried nicely on the line. Lynne just didn’t stop and created lots of small pieces of fabric and I think her favorite technique was monoprinting using parchment paper.

Lynne’s beautiful hand dyed fabrics. My favorites were her top fabrics- deep rich overdyes.

I love these pieces that I clamped but should have used a higher concentration of dye to make the prints darker. Always learning something new each time I process a fabric.

Just playing ended up creating nice texture.

Using up the dyes on the last of my white cotton floss.

After many loads of laundry , caffeine, ice cream and lots of conversation, we created oodles of fabric to use the next year. Not much cooking got done but lots of fabric dyeing. Oh and my dog escaped to kill the neighbor’s chicken(not good). There is always a dog adventure whenever Lynne comes!