Tuesday, March 22, 2016

- Three in a row

After a day full of shopping and errands yesterday, I once again had some catching up to do ...

Patches 80-82

Sunday revisited ...


a late-night myopic view of Monday's waxing gibbous moon (courtesy of Deb Lacativa) ...


and the green grass growin' all around and around ....

Patch #82
with fingers crossed that Wednesday morning's lunar eclipse won't be clouded over ...

Monday, March 21, 2016

- Squint

Retrospective (4/29/2016, originally posted 3/22/2016)

You've really gotta squint to see this, but I promise you there is a gibbous moon in this linen damask dyed by Deb Lacativa ...

Patch #81

Sunday, March 20, 2016

- An artful day

 Retrospective (4/29/2016)


Patch #80 (revised with green split backstitch)
 Original Post

The Wildflower Center had an art show this weekend, so we met up with some friends for brunch this morning, then headed over.

Folk artist George Boutwell was actually the lure that got us there, as he captures quintessential Texas scenes ... and we did walk away with a copy of his 2009 calendar featuring Texas honky tonks.

However, the coup of the day came in making the acquaintance of Sue Foss, who makes clothing with shibori, batik, and indigo dyed cloth. She kindly told me about the Austin Fiber Artists who meet monthly just a few miles from our daughter's house. I've marked my calendar for the next meeting.

Better yet, I not only made the acquaintance of fiber and mixed media artist Jan Pomeroy (who also had a past connection to Austin Fiber Artists), I walked away with this delightful piece ...


that I pulled out of its frame as soon as we got home. I have commissioned a more suitable housing from Don, then I'll figure out where to put it on our rapidly diminishing wall space.

Last, but not least, I had a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with metal artist Laura Sturtz, whose copper "quilts" and "weaving" speak to a kindred aesthetic differentiated only by medium.

As we walked out, Don turned in his tracks, stopping in front of a plant we have long called "Spanish dagger." Wrong! 


Now we know: thorn-crested agave is what we've got, in abundance! Then again, it could be the  thorncrest century plant, which might actually be the same thing. I'm so confused.

Returning home, I went out to see what might have come up since my last picture walk and was rewarded with this lovely sight ...



Close up

I do believe you'll be seeing another patch of blue-eyed grass soon!

Saturday, March 19, 2016

- 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 ...

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)

Friday, March 18, 2016

- 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.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

- 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

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

- 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 ...

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

- 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.

Monday, March 14, 2016

- 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?

Sunday, March 13, 2016

- Time out

Addendum: Post from LEAF 2015.

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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!