A Class with India

I have returned from my journey to Tennessee.  In a small rural town 90 miles outside of Nashville I attended a 5 day long class with India Flint. (My piece is featured on her mosaic of the class...upper left).  We learned to felt her way and dye with local plants.  She speaks so softly this tall woman with browned tattooed hands.  But she freely gives of her extensive knowledge that includes Latin names and chemical reactions.  Mostly she encourages you to find your own way while stepping softly on the earth. 

We made a simple scarf from a tube that was felted after sewing bits and bobs of silk and some cotton. 

They were dried but not dyed. 

We then made a sample piece of botanical dyed silk. She has us lay them out on the floor....they were wonderful. 

We went on a walk with a naturalist and India to discuss local flora and how to identify plants and those most likely to give colors.  Oak leaves were the primary source for the silk strips above.

The class then embroidered and sewed pieces that were dyed then felted together.  

Our dye pots were always full with everyone waiting excitedly to open their bundles.  

Many of us worked until the wee hours of the night.....arranging and piecing our landskin quilt. 

India cobbled a piece together for us to follow her process.  I think overall we did well.  

Thank you India.  It truly was an amazing experience. 

Here and There

I had a most wonderful vacation.  I drove through States I'd not seen before and arrived at Sylva North Carolina with smiles and excitement.  We had the Great Smokey Mountains off the deck and watched the sun spread it's rays through the leaves and spaces of the trees every morning. 

We had great meals, thanks to our companion, Jimmy, who likes to cook and the wonderful hospitality of the people in the small but great restaurants where we ate. 

We hiked to waterfalls and scenic views.  We even rode under a waterfall.  The wild flowers bloomed so the butterflies had places to rest and the birds sang everyday ... even in the rain.

The sun shone most of the time and when the torrential rains came we were having lunch viewing a lake and the owner encouraged us to stay until the storm passed. 

I took lots of pictures...but I have none to show. Sigh...I left my camera in a non-waterproof pocket of my jacket and when we returned after our longest ride in the rain it took it's revenge by peeing on my foot.  It hasn't been the same since.

So now I wait for a new camera ... hoping it arrives tomorrow before I leave for my next summer adventure.  My friend Diane and I will be flying to Tennessee to attend a class with India Flint.  Boy, are we excited!  Walking in the woods with India, then dyeing with our found treasures.  I'll have pictures then.  I leave you with a snap of a hydrangea ... they grew wild along the roads in NC .. but this is from my yard. 

Short Post Before I Go

I'll be leaving for vacation tomorrow... early.... very early...like before the sun gets up.  But we are headed to North Carolina and the Smokey Mountains and want to find the house before dark.  We are headed down with 2 other couples and the bikes.  We plan on riding around for several days and lazing around on the deck telling stories.  I may even drink a few glasses of wine.  I hope to sneak in some project time but not felting. I have been taking Jude Hill's class on Cloth to Cloth.  This is a What If class and my first experiments were following her simple ideas of weaving scraps of cloth into squares.  

These are mostly scraps of left over hand dyed silks with some old curtains and cross stitch fabric left overs from years ago.  

She also talked about weaving within the weave.  

After trying the scraps I went on to use silk on prefelt then did my own thing. 

The two yellow colored squares are my hand dyed paj.  The green colored squares are some polyester sheer left over from a long ago project.  I was pretty happy with the results and have several other What Ifs in my head.  

That's it for now.  I'm off to work then On Vacation.  I will be without internet (unless I find a cafe) for two whole weeks!  HA!  I'm pretty sure I'll survive but will have to catch up on everyone's blogs later.