The Quilt Continues

Before I rushed off to NC then TN I did a little work on the quilt.  Having finished the squares I laid them out on the floor in the living room.  (The studio floor being very dusty yet....but more on that later)

The color is not good....but the idea is emerging.  The gray spaces are actually my carpet of soft teal green.  They will be filled in with felt of green with leaves both nuno and stitched.  

The glare is from the skylight shinning and try as I might I couldn't get a complete picture without it.  I've trimmed off the curly bits of the sides (thinking Jude Hill weaving with silk strips I've saved them all) and re arranged the composition again.  

It is now pinned and ready to baste.  Whew...I have my first Friday off today (I decreased the time at my Day Job to Mon thru Thur....life is short don't you know!) but have several irons in the fire.  Not the least is the Studio.  The floor has been covered again with plywood to make it more rigid, sanded and now has it's primer coat of paint.  DH has been working steadily to move it forward.  We hope to get the waterproof flooring down this long weekend.  Wish me luck.  And enjoy your 4th of July if you celebrate.

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. 

Flowers and Weaving

I've been working in the garden and while I did I also walked behind the perennial bed and found 20 ... yes, twenty of these:

Too bad I didn't have this live model for my quilt square.  It looks a little different.

I also finished another Spring ephemeral.  The elusive Calypso.

I like it a bit better.  

Then...believe it or not...I finished the last of the squares.  The simple sunflower.

The style of this is different from the others because it was an early piece and an adaptation of a picture in a motif book.  But I like it and I may need a few "extras" to fill up the quilt.  

I also flew to California, rented a car and attended my granddaughter's High School graduation.  She was an honor student and is such fun.  I was very proud to see her on stage.

The on-line class with Jude Hill, called Cloth to Cloth, has been fun.  So many of my class mates have finished several squares and have posted.  So, I have been weaving silk, cotton and some synthetics....mostly scraps left over from previous dye experiments or old curtains, sheets.  After a few practice pieces I decided to felt some.  They are in the dryer....yes, the dryer...fulling.  Tomorrow...new squares developed from Jude's class.

Spring Flowers

I've been doing lots of gardening.  Lots and lots of gardening.  I've pulled weeds that have grown exponentially and planted things from the expanded driveway back into the flower beds.  I am still not finished...nor will I be soon.   

I spent a weekend with my friend, Diane.  

We have volunteered to work on our Guild's garland of felt flowers.  

I haven't felted in so long.  It was a good project for me to feel wool in my fingers again.  

We need to make a gazillion more.  

The next morning, despite our ideas of up early, we started a bit late but kept at it. 

 First we thickening some dye and I did some stenciling then some free-form painting.  

We also made some pots of horsetail ... or at least Diane made a pot full and I threw in a piece of silk. 

                   We also made a pot of eucalyptus leaves and simmered some silk in that too.

These are my results from the crock pots.  The yellow-green is the horsetail.  The soft taupe is from the eucalyptus.  I'm signed up for a class with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth and I think these may go into one of my pieces.  I have some rust dyed silk I did last year that will go perfect with these colors. 

Tomorrow is a long ride on the bikes.  It's off to bed for me tonight. 

 

Not Much Felt

Well, Spring is here and I find that I'm called to the outside rather than the basement studio.  The weather over the last week has been perfect.  Few clouds, temps in the 70s and a little breeze.  The DH and I have been riding .... after work and on the weekends.  When not riding the garden has been calling.  On Saturday...after bathing and grooming two large poodles I went out to the yard.  While planting bulbs and pulling weeds I looked at the lovely flowering cherry.  It's soft pink blossoms drooping downwards and new leaves reaching upwards.  And, what was that white thing in the branches.  OH!  The erosion project!  How could I have forgotten?  I cut it down and brought it in.  Today, after work, I unwrapped it.  I admit I really had forgotten all about it...and have not looked at very many bundles being unwrapped.  Mine did not look very impressive...it was still mostly white. 

I did wrap an all natural fiber bundle but it seems even with the floods of Biblical proportions little action was seen in my cherry tree. 

Pretty boring, I must admit.  

It really did sit out in the rain and the snow...as you can see one of the acorns actually sprouted.  But little else magic happened. 

The oak leaves refused to render up their tannins.

The thin silk being the only bit of color from onion skins in the overall packet.  Sigh.  I guess I needed more foresight in what should be in the bundle.  The lace is cotton but did not take.  

So instead I decided to read and look for inspiration for the Northeast Feltmakers Guild Exhibit in 2011 called  The Creation Myth.  

I've started with this:

And looking very carefully at things like this:

I just love the colors and line in these swamp maples seeds.  

In the meantime...I will be seen with this....my only bit of felt...my new backpack: