White: A Work in Progress

     I have been wanting to sing up for an online workshop with Jude Hill for quite a while now. I have been a huge fan of hers for even longer. Well, I finally treated myself to "What If Diaries 1". This month we are exploring white.
     This piece was born from consideration of all the hands that lovingly stitched pieces that I now treasure. Many of the stitchers are with me only in spirit--Aunt Virgie, Mammaw Inscoe, Mama Williams. Some of the pieces have faded, developed spots, grown threadbare and worn. But they are still precious. And they will be precious to my children. And their children as well. And so, this piece, "A Work in Progress" is a tribute to them. To the legacy they have left me--a love of pieces stitched together by loving hands.
    

(Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. Still no internet at home, but it is coming soon. And, in case you wonder, the maple is still there; we just went with another provider thus the dish will be in a different location.)    : D
 

Seven Moons

on the edge today,

working with some of my indigo shibori

to create reverse appliqué moons,

inspired by Judy's work...

playing around with confining the edges...

ready to dive back into the water this evening...

I Made the Nice List

Since I spent several days with my daughter's family over Christmas my husband and I exchanged gifts yesterday evening after we returned home. I must have been on the nice list, because I got the only thing I asked for,a Brother 1034D serger, plus a related book.



I had looked at several sergers online, and read customer reviews before deciding which one i wanted. This machine received the highest ratings for ease of threading, reliability, and value. I am waiting on an order of thread, and then I just need lots of practice to learn to use it.

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sassafras wall hanging

i promised someone a bit ago that i would post images of this leaf pounded wall hanging

 done as a demo piece for my appalachian arts students a few years ago

 

young tender sassafrass leaves

 a single-, a double- and a triple-lobed

 were pounded onto a piece of prewashed muslin

after the piece dried it was soaked in salt water for about an hour then rinsed

a micron pen was used to add details to the leaf pounding

everything was ironded to heat set the colors

 a patchwork border of stash fabrics was sewn around the leaf pounding

 and then the entire panel was hand quilted

both the leaf contours

and concentric pattern around them

the color has survived

several years hanging on my hearth

as well as hand washing

and line drying

with no signs of fading

Magic Feathers Flying Away to Jude

our magic feathers are ready to fly off to jude...



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Location:School

Carolina Wren--coming to life

last night I spent some time with the wren

working in long and short staggered stitches

filling in color

brush strokes interpetted in thread

enjoying the meditation of quiet work

after a long day

with busy teens

on a full moon

I really need this right now

Stitching Again--One for Me

over the weekend I started a new piece of stitching

feather tree backdrop

for one of my favorite visitors

carolina wren

barred russet tail

cocked in the air

this time right side up

though he usually creeps other way around

chittering and churring

making a general fuss

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magic feathers--2 down

just completed a second Magic Feather

for jude at Spirit Cloth

worked while kids stitched

repetitive filler stitches in negative space

very meditative

Progress Report--Magic Feathers

busy working on feathers

applique and embroidery

needles in and out of fabric

sometimes into fingers as well

learning as they go

experience is the best teacher

One Down for Magic Feathers

finished my first feather Friday while the kids worked...



....closer detail...



...second feather in progress...brighter...different but similar...

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and the fun begins..

...and the fun begins...

...from paper to fabric...

...piecing ideas together...

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Location:school

Ideas MadeVisible

today the kids were thinking in paper, marker, colored pencil...

watching thoughts become tangible is fascinating stuff....

some think very literally.....

some examine relationships....

others tell stories...

while a few examine their culture symbolically...

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School, in Natural Color

Again this year I am mentoring a student's Senior Exit Project. Jordan, the young lady I am working with, is studying Natural Dyes. The week before school started we met in the classroom with a friend and fellow crafter, Cassie Dixon, to begin working on the physical product component of her project. Using hot plates and camping stoves, we did several dye pots, including cochineal, brazilwood, logwood, marigold, walnut, broom sedge, turmeric, annetto, osage orange, and indigo. She treated wool yarn samples from our homespun with various mordants before dyeing to see the effects they produced on color. Vinegar and ammonia after baths were also investigated. Jordan also dyed cotton, linen and silk in one of the dye baths to see the difference in how the fibers take the dye.

At the end of the first two days she had a nice collection of dye samples to include in her product. Jordan was excited with the results she got, and Cassie and I had a fun day working with a student who was both enthusiastic and eager to learn. I think we learned as well.

This week, Jordan helped me teach indigo dyeing to her classmates in my Appalachian Arts & Crafts class. Working in the courtyard that adjoins the room so we didn't ruin the newly waxed floors, we worked most of two class periods. Some students brought in cotton t-shirts to dye and others used cotton muslin I had on hand in the classroom. They used traditional tie dyeing techniques to create resist areas in their fabric. 

"Cool" and "Awesome" reactions to the magic of indigo oxidizing from green to blue were such fun. Jordan did a good job explaining the process to the remainder of the class; peer teaching is wonderful! 

Everything dried overnight, and the kids were really proud of their results (one student was absent for the photo).

This week Jordan is continuing to experiment with dyestuffs. She currently has coreopsis and goldenrod pots ready for fibers. On Friday we also put in some more walnuts brought in from another students trees, and on Monday we will be making a bloodroot dyebath as well. These will be used to dye reed for baskets.

Needless to say this is my favorite class.

I get to teach and learn alongside my kids.

School just doesn't get much better than this.

Tidy Tiny Treasure

Preface: First, let me apologize for the quality of these photos. I am trying to master Photoshop Elements, and trust me, it is not the same as CS4. I think I am will be doing my photo editing at the desktop rather than on my laptop from now on, just so I can use CS4.

This tidy tiny little treasure was gifted to me

 by my daughter and son-in-law.

 Both Amber and David are talented craftspersons.

After I had admired a small wooden box he had made for Amber,

 they created one for me.

At a diminutive 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 inches it boasts

 a walnut base joined at mitered corners and an inlaid bottom with a sliding maple lid.

The entire box is finished to a fine handrubbed luster with David's own wax formula.

The lid opens to reveal a well appointed traveling sewing kit...

complete with tape measure,

 tiny stork embroidery scissors and

a handmade wool needle book crafted by Amber

 featuring vintage buttons from her collection...

 an assortment of the most commonly used needles...

and of course a handy dandy needle threader...

because everyone knows that after a certain age

 one simply cannot see eyes,

 in needles that is.

The entire thing fits neatly in a purse or totebag.

It surely came in handy during my graduate studies

when I was working on this and this.

David and Amber have an Etsy shop with a varying inventory of his hand crafted fiber tools.

 At the moment they have a nice selection of nostepinnes. He also takes custom orders.

 I have a nice collection of crochet hooks, drop spindles and a nostepinne.

You can look for a review of each of these on this site in the near future.

Rag Rug Roundup

     Even though I am back at work and no longer snowed in progress on the rag rug continues. Initially I had intended to use only stashed fabrics, but I ran out of large pieces much sooner than I thought I would, so I gave in and bought some cotton fabric at Hobby Lobby. It was on sale though, at 30% off, so all in all it wasn't too bad. I probably could have done without buying fabric, but I realllly wanted some red and black in it, so there. I have confessed! In its current state the rug measures 35 1/2 x 43 inches. I am hoping to get it to about 4 x 6 feet without having to purchase more fabric; I have been hitting the thrift stores with my eyes peeled. As I was ripping the fabric, there were some peices that were not as wide as they needed to be. I saved all of these narrower strips and am in the process of making potholders with them. The peice on the left is made from strips of the blue fabric leftover from the center of the rug. I edged it with some bits of a red floral print from my stash.

     My Appalachian Arts & Crafts students wanted to try their had at rug making, so I found some sheets at the thrift store...a whole box full for $3 (special price for the school). They thoroughly enjoyed tearing the fabric! I started a smaller lighter weight rug (on the right in the photo) to demonstrate how to begin the rug, and continued working on it while they were busy with their own pieces. In general, they made potholders, although one boy had trouble keeping his flat and decided to just make a bowl instead. I didn't manage to get any photos before they took them home to their mothers.

What do you do when you get snowed in?

A lot of the people I know don't like to get snowed in.

Mainly I think because they don't know what to do with themselves.

They get bored.

Not me.

I can always find something to keep my hands and mind busy.

 Yesterday was a pretty productive day.

In addition to laundry and cleaning the kitchen and dining room floors I

hemmed 3 pairs of new jeans that have been waiting since summer

made 16 napkins from prewashed muslin in my fabric stash

(one day I will get around to making some of these,

but for now plain muslin beats paper)

mended my husband's favorite camo shirt

and worked on Jonathan's vest

 The shirt had several small holes in it.

I mended them with the darning stich on the machine.

This is the worst one, at the base of the chest pocket, barely visible now

 Unless you look closely.

 This is the inspiration for Jonathan's vest, in the latest issue of knitsimple magazine.

He chose the yarn colors from knitpicks.com and

asked for no buttons, so

I am modifying the pattern to pullover style.

The stripes will begin this evening or tomorrow.

 Today I am working on this, a rag rug,

while looking at blogs and doing more laundry.

 Last Monday at crafts night one of the ladies was making a toothbrush rug.

I watched and thought I could figure this out on my own.

I'm not sure if I am doing it the same way she did, but it is working.

A bit wonky, but a good first effort.

She was using a beautiful wooden needle,

which I think my wonderful s-i-l can make, but

since this plastic tapestry needle is what I had on hand it is what I used.

The technique is basically a buttonhole stitch.

I worked around a core of an additional strip of fabric

(donated by a friend a couple of years ago,

 indigo with white broken stripes and anchors,

I like the way the pattern gets broken up in the stitching process).

The rug looks similar to one I crocheted a few years ago.

But this technique is easier on my hands and shoulder.

This first one will be a small rug I think

because I don't have a lot of this fabric.

But then maybe I can find something that will work with it.

A good reason to hit the thrift stores.

So, what do you do when you get snowed in?