- Mark madness

Yesterday's riff on runes was ever so much fun ... ending in a patch that was totally random and unplanned. Not being willing to let go of the feeling, I looked for more marks and found them in some of my "dye" trials with metal ...

Patch #79:
Click here for more on rust dyeing

Sadly, I learned early on how tough it is to get a needle through rusted cloth. Tugging a needle through today's small patch cured me of going back to the rust stash anytime soon. But oh, I do love those marks!

Fortunately, I was able to add a measure from the rain gauge to this week's weather patches ...

I've also created enough 1.5" square patches to enable a little playing around ...

I have no idea where I'm headed, but I sure am having fun getting there ...

Addendum: Some of these patches ended up as bases for the Peace Pin Project (4/1/18)

- What does it all mean?

Yesterday we got confidential news that a dear friend's cancer had returned and spread. Today the news is out in the open, but my heart remains heavy.

I turned to my Kindred Spirits, finding a thread running from tree graffiti at Tanglewood Threads to glyphs at Paper Ponderings to runes at Tales from the Birdhut. 

I couldn't help but think of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings, replete with elves and dwarfs (dwarves?), hobbits and wizards ... all with their own languages. Once upon a time, I even re-imagined this in stitch ...

dated 1973, when I was seventeen ...

and never quite completed (see tree on the left)

So today I stitched a galaxy ...

Patch #78

with no other message than this: it's not always clear what the meaning of life might be ... we just have to keep going.

One last thing, to end on a hopeful note. Every so often I look at the stats for the blog, which include the top referring sites. Today I saw a new URL and found my way to Bluebonnet Girl Weaving. The seventeen year old who still lives inside me found a new Kindred Spirit and takes heart that some things change for the better.

- A private patch ...

We got confidential news that a dear friend's cancer had returned and spread. With dark clouds overhead and in my heart, all I could think was ...

Patch #77

- Caught up

The long-promised yellow evening primrose finally got done ...

Patch #75

And since today was G day, I decided to do an orange take on a floodplain turkey track ...

Close up

When I asked G what he thought this was ...

Patch #76

He said, "A T. rex footprint." Well, that was close. It's actually lichen dyed linen reverse appliqued over rust dyed muslin. Either way, turkeys and dinosaurs are all part of the Texas experience.

Who me? Political?

P.S. You might live near a city if you play "traffic jam" with your train set ...

- Flowers two ways

A minor touch up on the live oak leaf branch was followed by a mass of flowery knots and grassy stitches ...

White for Blackfoot daisies, yellow for bitterweed, orange for Indian paintbrush and blue for bluebonnets.

Only then did I remember Deb Lacativa's bit of dyed cloth ...

Flowers two ways.

And a peek at some 1.5" squares ...

to be continued.

- Works in progress

Well, I didn't have any preconceived notions when I began the daily Remember patches at the beginning of the year. What I've learned is an idea may begin to form on any given day, but not be fully realized until some time later. In light of that, I've decided to start featuring patches when they are finished, while still giving a hint of what I have in mind at the beginning.

For instance, here is the final stitch work on Patch #71 ...

which was begun last Friday, worked on Saturday, and completed today.

Likewise, Patch #72 ...

inspired by this live oak picture on Saturday ...

I'm glad I waited since it was only today that I saw a new knot stitch on Tanglewood Threads that was perfect for the knobbly live oak inflorescences.

A partially finished Patch #64 from two weeks ago is now complete ...

While yesterday's road trip inspired the beginning of Patch #73 ...

The road is a bit of felted gray wool
from a stuffy work skirt that I no longer have a need for

When I add its infusion of wildflowers, the stitching is sure to be accompanied by my inner soundtrack playing Robert Earl Keen's song The Road Goes on Forever (but the party never ends).

As for today's Patch #74, it's nothing more than a notion, but I hope to do a reprise of the vintage linen found on our road trip yesterday. Or not ... who knows?

- Time out

Addendum: Post from LEAF 2015.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was a play day, driving through the Hill Country wildflowers to the Llano Earth Art Festival, home of the National Rock Stacking Championships. Yeeeeee-haw!

Of course, we also stopped for an antique store or two along the way.  So in lieu of making a patch today, I found the inspiration for one ...

A rather worn, heavy linen, sorta vintage dust catcher ... um, dresser scarf. But what I loved (beside the $2 price tag) was this ...

The green stenciling has faded, but still ... it caught my fancy

We also scored a couple of copper pots. This lovely ...

beautiful hand-hammered copper ...

Although I'm a tad skeptical about the 1800s dating

And a double-wide copper washtub ...

Oh yes, we finally made it to the festival. Enjoy the sights ...

Notice the feldspar veins ...

which converge on the rock stack

And coming soon to the floodplain ...

Because really, I think we can find enough rocks!

- Abundance

After a week of rain ...

it was no great surprise to find a riotous unfolding. 

Dewberry (a wild blackberry in the Rose family which I have long called Briar Rose, incorrectly) ...

led me to revise yesterday's patch in silhouette, as Deb Sposa's students have recently done ...

Completed on March 14

Wandering the floodplain earlier in the day, there was ample evidence of yellow evening primroses, which opened as promised at sunset ...

with the moon as my witness ...

along with the Gaura ...

which also appeared at dusk

Also as promised (to Grace), here are the results of my spring organizing, both cloth ...

and floss, which is wrapped in cloth woven during Jude Hill's Considering Weave ...

And a cloth I dyed last summer using blanket flower at the Outer Banks of North Carolina ...

had faded to pale lilac and gray. But upon finally washing it out today, it blushed as softly green ...

The camera doesn't do this justice ... it's much greener

as this newly-leafed live oak ...

I think it's destined to be today's patch, but as with so many ideas flying through my fevered brain, it will have to wait for another day before being realized (I feel French knots coming on). Update: See March 14 for Patch #72.

- Blank slate

When I made the dye sampler on Monday, I was struck by how beautifully the linen patches worked up. So I went back to my notes from Maura's dye workshop to see where she sourced it.

Google quickly found "Pickering International" and I placed an order for the minimum ten yards of 54" organic linen at $9.80 per yard (with shipping and handling the total was actually closer to $12 per yard). It was an indulgence for sure, but I'm hoping it will also be a motivator for making more precise records of future dye trials by having a more consistent starting point. Not to mention the opportunity to make more dye samplers.

So today's patch is a blank slate ...

Patch #71

full of yet-to-be-realized potential!

There's more in the good new department: enough rain this week that we've already emptied the gauge once ...

and are hoping for a little bit more before it's all over.