- Baaaaad cabbage

Mo in Australia sent a couple of links to invasive species in the land down under, which was quite timely. As we drove around Austin today with grandson G, I spotted one of our invasives known as Baaaaad cabbage ...

Patch #25 from thrifted cotton/linen tablecloth

Well, it's actually called Bastard cabbage, but we try to mind our language when the grandkids are around.  You can read more it here. When we first moved to Texas we thought it was one of the much-heralded wildflowers, but soon learned that it actually crowds out the native bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes and others. With a leafy base the size of a dinner plate and its arrival early in the growing season (obviously), it is much despised by those in the know and pulled up whenever possible.

When we got back to the house, I also took on a ragged knee on G's jeans ...

basting a bit of indigo dyed linen onto the back ...

then stitching countless passes of backstitch until it seemed up to the task of protecting one sweet knee ...

Next time I'll ask G's mom if I can get a little crazy with colors ... you may recall orange is his favorite, but I thought some restraint was in order until I got the green light.

Oh, you want to see the back of the patch? Sure, why not ...

- Star gazing

I went out before dawn to get the paper, but I had an exterior motive: I wanted to see the planets aligned as they haven't been since 2005. I didn't even try to find Mercury in the trees, but I spotted Venus easily, caught a glimmer of red ... had to Mars, and Jupiter has been in my sights for a while. But where was Saturn?

In the end, I just wasn't sure which of the glimmering objects I was looking at was Saturn. What I really needed was a map. Now I have one ...

Patch #24
Planetary signs stitched over bleached dots on indigo dyed linen

And if that doesn't work, I'll use this one ...

But I still don't think I'll see Mercury.

- PM PJs

"Are you planning on getting out of your pajamas?"

"Probably ... eventually ... after all, we've only just had lunch."

That's how it goes when I'm well into something. Time flies by and I really couldn't care less about appearances (although in my defense, I will say I did brush my teeth this morning).

So what was all the fuss about? Well, I had two things in mind: yesterday's lantana patch and today's snow patch ...

Patch #22 and Patch #23

Because even though we are well out of the East Coast weather system, I remember what driving snow felt like. Not to mention Jude's post this morning, which reminded me what driving snow looks like, which was indeed like the B-side of Patch #10.

The snow was easily done. The lantana, on the other hand, took up most of the morning. First in tracing its outlines ...

A trick I learned from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
"trace" the visible outlines onto plexiglass using an erasable marker

transferring them to cloth ...

Drawn by eye using a permanent Pitt pen

looking closely at the colors in an attempt to find the right flosses ...

Look how much purple is in the leaves!

then finally committing to stitch ...

The leaves are okay, the flowers less so. I suppose I could call this an impression rather than a representation. Still, I learned along the way and didn't feel compelled to rip everything out in search of perfection. The patch records the reality of the process, which makes it good enough for me.

Finally, another weather week was added to the calendar ...

including a dark cloud seam on the horizon ...

Okay. Time to get dressed.

- Happily here

Before I begin today's post, I want to say thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. Because I know that blogging in a vacuum just isn't where it's at for me. So your presence and the time you give to reading and commenting, mean a lot. Thank you.

Onward: I'm actually kind of late posting today, but I made the deadline with this lantana-bloom purple patch ...

Patch #22

Since daylight is long gone, the color is hard to capture, even in this extended view ...

So, I'll post it again tomorrow after I add some stitch. I do have a legitimate reason  for posting late of course. I just started another project and as I gathered my DMC together this afternoon, I found this ...

and I realized I just had to have the missing 925. So off I went to Hobby Lobby where I discovered there is no such thing as DMC 925. Really? There should be.

Fortunately, the trip wasn't a total loss. I went to the library to get another Mo Willems' picture book to read with G (even if you don't have any little people of your own, if you have ever been present at a toddler meltdown you must read Knuffle Bunny ... just trust me and take a look next time you're at a library or bookstore).

And I picked up some fresh flour tortillas at the food store. Gotta love Texas.

I even had time to stitch a sample when I got home, even if it wasn't exactly the color I was hoping for ...

 But I can't tell you what it's for ... it's a secret

- Details, details

I'm here to say for the record that what Cindy Monte does at Handstories (aka Hazel), creating gossamer swaths of stars, is very, very hard to do (well). That being said, when I awoke this morning to green grasses glittering in the early morning sun, I had to try ...

Patch #21

It doesn't quite capture the magic of the scene outside my window, much as Christmas tree lights don't capture the magic of stars seen through evergreen branches. Nonetheless, having stitched it will help me remember this morning's magic and appreciate Cindy's creations all the more.

Likewise, I tried to capture the sense of an overnight wash of raindrops in the gauge. Though there was too little to measure, the rainfall was worthy of recording with a fringe of blue linen and tiny pricks of pale blue basting along the edges of the sunlit yellow patch  ...

Other details I've stitched are too subtle to see unless pointed out, like these two weather patches joined with orange thread, a recollection of driving into Austin at daybreak last week ...

I've also stitched some seams in gray, a nod to partially cloudy days. They are beneath notice unless one knows where to look. A stitcher's conceit ... and therein lies the explanation for the fun I'm having. [Later: I just recalled that software game developers who hide images in their work call the images "Easter eggs"]

By the way, today's green patch was the outcome of a thrift store binge yesterday ...

The three table cloths on the top left are finely woven cotton/linen blends ... all 55" x 55" square and there were four more I left behind (2 beige, 2 a rather bilious yellow). They undoubtedly came from the same home, from someone who loved to set tables, someone like Dana at Raven and Sparrow. At least, that's what I choose to believe ... it makes for a good story.The teal placemats on the lower left seem to be the same cotton/linen blend, but I confess to being a bit unsure, even after doing a burn test, as they could conceivably be rayon or a rayon blend.

The shirts, on the other hand, are 100% cotton (the one on the left) and 100% linen (the two on the right). The green shirt is a men's medium, so lots of cloth to be had. The two ladies' blouses are another story: my favorite colors ... for stitching or wearing? I can't decide. Don's Solomonic recommendation is to put them in the closet to see if I actually wear them before putting them on the cutting block. Works for me.

And to finish the thought thread that I started last night, here's the Kantha stitch that I ripped out of Land of Flood and Drought ...

Double-strand DMC

And here's what I stitched in its place ...

Single-strand DMC

Visibly the difference is subtle (there's that word again), but to the hand it made all the difference in the world. 

- Looking back

Dee Mallon has been an ongoing inspiration, most recently with her thoughts on gratitude realized after the fact. So today's patch is apt ...

Patch #20

It's a scrap from a trial piece of linen worked almost two years ago when I first stumbled onto the notion of slow cloth (which I first mentioned at the end of this post). It didn't take long for me to discover Jude Hill after that ... and all the Kindred Spirits began to appear after I took her interactive class Considering Weave.

The little blue stem outside my window on this mid-winter day is the only tall grass left, the others having fallen to ground and the Texas wintergrass not yet more than promising mounds of green. The blue stem isn't actually blue at this time of year ... having dried to a rusty red, it will continue to stand tall until next year's crop overtakes it. Wondrous stuff!

On another note, I've been meaning to mention that the daily patches aren't the only projects I'm playing with. I've been adding Kantha to Land of Flood and Drought ...

Two strands of DMC floss Kantha stitch on linen patches

And then taking it out again ... two steps forward, one step back. More on that tomorrow as it's now too dark to get a good picture of where things are headed.

- Why use one word when three will do?

Maroon is what I'd call it, but today's patch color is "Basque Red Pearl" to commemorate the return of our "new" Honda after repairs necessitated by a deer collision last month ...

Patch #19
Brazilwood dye on tannin and alum mordanted linen

Total repairs came to $5800 ... thank goodness for comprehensive auto insurance!

- The sun and the moon

Yesterday's waxing gibbous moon got its promised stitch makeover. Better yet, we we were treated to a spectacular sunset last night at G's house, so it too made it onto a patch ...

Things are warping a bit from all the split backstitch, even though the patches were backed with harem cloth ...

I'm not worried though. By the time the January strip of patches is stitched onto the February strip of patches, I'm thinking things will balance out. 

And if not, I'll just blame any wonkiness on gravitational forces beyond my control.

Nota Bene: Roxanne Lasky's blog has moved to a new address and I'm flattered that she included my KEEP patches in her most recent post: 

http://www.roxannelasky.com/#!Good-News-and-Other-Discoveries/usg29/569c11120cf21d4c94ee4d07

- Look up

There was something special in the mail ...

A souvenir from Ronnie Ayliffe in Australia, the better to remember being a small part of her year of looking up. As if watching her year of watching the sky wasn't enough. I'm delighted beyond words and all the more determined to see through my own year of patchplay days.

So I looked up ... not literally, as there were too many clouds. I used my moon phase app instead ...

Then made a patch to match ...

A bit hazy, but then again, so was the sky. Perhaps some stitches will bring clarity ... tomorrow.

- Retrospective gratitude

I have been pondering a recent post by Dee Mallon about gratitude realized in hindsight. It's a liberating concept and reminds me that I should be loath to push away memories of challenges when those are what make me who I am.

The theme was echoed in Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild, which I just finished. There are things in my life I would have thought I could never handle, but in hindsight, I did and I'm truly grateful that there have been more happy endings than not.

And so, as I contemplated the blank patches from yesterday and today, it seemed right to stitch the title of the Jody Alexander book KEEP that I just received ...

Patch #15 and Patch #16
You can read more about the book KEEP in this post

Keep all the memories ... keep looking for the silver linings ... keep being grateful in all things ... keep going. 

By the way, the white in today's patch was inspired by the white lantana blooming beside the breezeway ...

just as it was one year ago (with thanks to Don for pointing that out).

One last thing for today ...

My weather calendar with no dates
except for the first day of each month ... at least for now

I stitched on the next row of patches for the past week in weather, which has been mostly sunny and dry save for three drops in the bottom of the rain gauge this morning. I'm grateful for the sun, having thought the El Niño would be bringing gray skies ... although we can (almost) always use a little rain.

Nota Bene: I am in the process of editing my family blog with the result that I've moved some gardening posts from 2012 and 2013 over to this blog. The entries are headed with the statement "Originally posted by Don in On the Trail."