- May days

The end of May marks a G day, so orange it is for Patch #152 ...

- All over the place

Retrospective (6/3/2016)

I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that dyeing with plants yields organic forms. Even so, Patch #150 and Patch #151 delight me with their earthiness ...

I was of two minds about whether to embellish them with stitch or leave well enough alone, so I decided to have it both ways.

Original Post

I've been really scattered today ... too many projects, too little time. So what did I do? Started another project, of course.

Here's my first stab at some mending inspired by Junko Oki ...

I really like the look, but I'm going to have to call this agita stitch because it made me extremely jittery as I worked it. Or maybe I just drank too much coffee.

So I settled myself down with a seam-stitching project, since I (finally) finished the strip of April patches ...

Now I just have to figure out how to make weather patches for rainy nights followed by sunny days. However, I can't count on enlightenment from the forecasters or the weather apps ...

I'm going back to weather watching the old fashioned way: looking out the front door ...

and reading the thermometer myself ...

- Subtle

I'm pretty sure I didn't notice these sweet stars when I pulled the cloth out of the dye pot last year ...

I have no idea what they are/were, but they are destined to be Patch #150.

Note to self: Take notes!

- In the company of friends

I wonder sometimes about blogging. Is it too self-ish (as in, too much about self)?

Then something in the ether becomes real and I understand. Today it was this ...

Velma Bolyard's incredible little book about shifu and botanical printing, within which was this unique treasure, front ...

and back ...

And as I peered closely at the colors, fingering the fold and sniffing to catch a whiff (which wasn't there), I thought I really should do some more dyeing. Which led to thoughts about these neglected gifts from the land, cooked up last summer ...

And so I was off and running (stitching). 

Patch #149 is Salvia amistad ...

about which you can read more by clicking the "Dyestuff: Salvia" link in the Index (right side-bar).

And if you look back over the past few days, you will find I've added other dyed patches as well.

- A rose by any other name

Or in this case, a Mexican Hat ...

also known as thimble flower or prairie coneflower. Which is why Latin names for plants can be helpful.

Patch #148 was stitched on indigo cotton over-dyed with Mexican hat petals ...

Last year when I dyed this I was at the very beginning stages of contributing to Dee Mallon's Hearts for Charleston quilt. With the anniversary of that tragic day coming next month, I find our field of flowers to be a poignant reminder ...

- Return to the Land of Flood and Drought

Retrospective (5/28/2016)

Patch #147 ...

comes from a piece of muslin dyed with Mountain Pinks ...

last summer ...

And there's still plenty left to work that landscape piece that Grace suggested.

Original Post

Inspired by Judy Martin's recent post and armed with variegated floss, I returned to stitching on the Land of Flood and Drought ...

Plus Don's latest before ...

and after ...

Addendum: as sun streamed through the windows, we were amazed to learn on the evening news that 9" of rain fell 50 miles north of us in Austin today. 

- Doomed

Retrospective (5/28/2016)

Patch #146 ...

is a patch of muslin dyed last year with windfall lichen ...

The stitching was done with one of the new flosses below, which perfectly matched the original color of the lichen, although sadly my camera failed to capture its subtlety.

Original Post

Montana Joe posted a basket-full of floss, which led me to ask where he got it.

That in turn led me to a needlework store in Austin which I've been meaning to explore. In truth, I hadn't yet done so as I knew what would happen.

"If I win the lottery, I'll just take one of each," I muttered to myself.

But I haven't won the lottery (yet), so I stuck to my self-imposed limit of ten ...

Until the next time ...

- He loves me

Retrospective (5/28/2016)

Patch #145 is a loose rendition of the Zexmenia pictured in the Original Post below ...

Pronounced zeh-MAIN-yah (according to a friend who speaks fluent Spanish), it is known to us as Floodplain Daisy. Don has successfully transplanted a number of them to our rock garden where they happily propagate themselves from year to year ...

In stitching this, I decided to sketch just the center axis of each petal, then free-hand a split backstitch in variegated floss ...

I debated putting veins into each petal, but in the end decided to keep it simple.

Original Post

There's hardly a visit that goes by without a flower gifted by G ...

- The color of worry

Green is my favorite color. Offspring of warm yellow sun and cool blue water, it is the hopeful blush of trees in spring, the deep richness of summer foliage, the tawny tinge of harvest grain, and the steadfast color of pine and agave.

Green is the changing face of the sea, reflecting the sky's blues and grays, revealing the golden grains of sand caught in its wash, channeling the magical light of evening into liquid gems.

Green is the color of my daughter's eyes.

But for all its beauty, green has a darker side. It is the funk of fungal growth, the slimy scum of algae, the bitter bile of nausea and the ghastly pallor of illness.

Yesterday I worried and then I wondered, "What is the color of worry?" My eyes ran over the folded piles of cloth on my stitching table and stopped on a gray green. Once part of a dress I often wore and very much liked, still it somehow fit.

It was the perfect patch to reflect my angst. And so I drew one strand of floss after another, invisibly stitching from the inside out, trying to manifest the nervous energy that ricocheted within the box of my fevered mind ... imagining the things I imagine, most of which never come to pass.

Worry is such a pointless, fruitless, worthless, futile activity. It changes nothing, its only creation being a tangle of negative emotions.

What a waste ...

Patch #144

- Picturing process

Patch #143 I love you

I was absent on Mother's Day this year, off strolling about New Orleans. So my card, made by Meg and Griffin, was not received until Tuesday ...

Written across the bottom in orange crayon were the letters "NANA" ... and all I could think was how much love and effort went into forming each one.

Having recently revisited a technique I used (and then forgot) on Triangulation (see Index in side bar), I decided to document the process this time lest I forget again.

First I chose the fabrics I wanted to use for my patches and ironed them into 1 3/4" strips (using cover stock cut to size) ...

Next I photocopied the text and cut out the letters. Using a large needle to poke holes in the text, I transferred the marks to linen by going over each hole with water-erasable marker  ...

I cut the patch to size and finger-pressed the ends ...

inserted a bit of harem cloth inside the patch ...

and used Jude Hill's invisible basting stitch (aka glue stitch) to secure the edges ...

The actual stitching, with two strands of floss worked in Jude's split back stitch, gave me the chance to experience the path that G took in forming each letter ...

In the end, I made three patches in our favorite colors ...

orange for G, blue for Don (aka Pop Pop) and green for me. 

N.B. The individual patches can be viewed in the Retrospective posts for 

May 10-12.

- Weaving it all together

First off, thanks to Dana, whose comment inspired today's Patch #142 ...

This needle-woven bit of silk on linen (Montana Joe please note: this may have been Waterlilies variegated silk from Caron) was created during Jude Hill's Considering Weave ... which brought me into contact with many of the Kindred Spirits listed in the right side-bar and began my own journey with "What if?"

In addition to echoing the green needle weaving in yesterday's post, today's patch also recalls the weave in my newest kitchen gadget ...

I'm not at all sure how I lived nearly 60 years without a bamboo steamer, but I'm very much enjoying the belated addition of steamed dumplings to our menu rotation.

I also tackled a couple of Retrospective patches for April 20 and April 29. Since dewberries made appearances on those two dates, I decided to do unripe ...

and ripe versions ...

A quick sketch or two, rendered first in pencil, then white marking pen (which disappears when ironed) ...

led to two very different results ...

both of which made significant use of Newcomb-style darning stitch. 

And of course, it being Saturday, yet another weather-patch week has been completed ...

- Darn it

Patch #141 is a second attempt at darning stitch inspired by our trip to New Orleans to see the Newcomb Collection at Tulane ...

In reading Sally Main's essay in The Arts and Crafts of Newcomb Pottery, I learned that needlework production was similar to pottery production in that each piece began with a watercolor sketch ...

followed by a pointilistic stitch style (which this photo of a photo doesn't capture very well) ...

In doing a take-off on a small segment of this piece, I wanted to replicate the appearance of the backs I viewed at Newcomb. Happily, I succeeded ...

Last, but not least, I found confirmation of my technique in this reprint ...

first published in 1906. In it is this description of darning as a decorative fill ...

which syncs up quite nicely with what I observed. By the way, I did make a first attempt using a coarser linen, which you can see here: http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/05/laissez-les-bon-temps-rouller.html