- 4 + 3 = the first week of September

Retrospective (9/29)

Patch #262 Grace's doorknob

inspired by this post:  http://windthread.typepad.com/windthread/2016/09/a-feeling.html

Original Post

Three more retrospective patches for September 5-7 ...

I especially liked making the tire swing from Labor Day (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/day-of-summer.html), which was always the last day of summer when I was growing up on Long Island. I love that the St Louis grandkids have a play structure that draws in all the kids in the neighborhood ...

At least it seems like that many kids.

And we have a well-established tradition of going to Fritz's frozen custard stand, just us and the grandkids (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/blue.html) ...

although it's always a little bittersweet, knowing that we'll soon be gone again.

We do try to make the 750 mile trip home a little more bearable by visiting new places. This time around we explored a bit of the Ozarks near the Buffalo National River (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/sweet-memories.html), taking scenic Route 7 as drawn by the owner of the Neighbors Mill Restaurant in Harrison, Arkansas ...

Although I would say the road wasn't quite as straight as the map implied, it was well-worth the extra half-hour of drive time.

- Strolling down memory lane

Retrospective (9/26)

Patch #261 Coat of many colors

Original Post

I managed to get four patches done today ...

and enjoyed reliving our recent trip to St. Louis as I stitched.

The first patch hailed back to September 1st (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/driven.html) and as I stitched it I thought how nice it would be if the interstate system actually provided a straight shot from here to there ...

No such luck!

The second patch for Semptember 2nd (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/what-we-do.html) was a take on the letters that Don painted for the playroom before Jace was even born ...

How do I not have a picture of that?

Speaking of Jace being born, September 3rd was his second birthday (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/happy-birthday-jace.html), so I used this awesome new thrift store find ...

to make a patch celebrating Jace's lightning fast feet ...

And the September 4th patch (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/repurposeful.html) reminded me yet again how impossibly hard it is to stitch through sheeting ...

I also got the weather patches caught up ...

and decided to close down One Hill Country Year ... again. I'm sure it will be back someday, but the ideal format still eludes me.

- Playin' around

Retrospective (9/26)

Patch #260 Pectens irradians

Original Post 

I told Deb Sposa I wanted to do the optional assignment that she gave her students here: http://artisun.blogspot.com/2016/08/jen-mullen.html

I started out by playing with Inktense pencils (in place of water colors) ...

rubbing the pencils on damp tea bags that were molded over sea shells ...

Then I played a bit with the ones I didn't like as much, just to see which background fabric might work best in place of batting (are you noticing how much I'm not following the rubric?) I also wanted to see how small and tight I could make stitches before the tea bags tore. I even tried using a coffee filter (middle right), but it didn't have as much personality as the tea bags (plus, there was the rubric to consider) ...

As I held one patch up to the window I thought, "Pojagi" ...

So we'll see where that goes (damn the rubric, full speed ahead) ...

I've also got this sunset ...

and this guitar from last night's Mystiquero serenade (with the lyric "I'm not leavin' 'til I'm done") rattling around in my brain ...

So many things to try, never enough hours in the day. And I'm still 14+ patches behind on Remember 2016, remember?

- Thanks to Dana

Retrospective (9/26)

Patch #259 Jigged

Original Post 

There's a lot of cross-pollination that happens in the corner of the blogging world I call home. Most recently, Dana mentioned some tools for making bias binding which she was using to turn the edges of cloth strips to prepare them for weaving (http://ravenandsparrow.typepad.com/raven_and_sparrow/2016/09/stripping.htm).

That was an "aha moment" since I currently turn the edges of cloth strips in preparation for my patchplay pieces. But my favorite working size is 1 3/4" inches and I wasn't surprised to come up empty when I looked for a tool in that size.

Thinking I could make my own, I googled my way around the internet until I landed on Melly Sews, where this post gave me the answer I sought:  http://mellysews.com/2013/05/how-to-make-and-sew-bias-tape.html

I already had strips of cloth torn to the width I needed and cover stock around which to press the edges. All I needed to add was a "jig" comprised of 140 lb. watercolor paper scored and folded 1/8" wider than my 1 3/4" cover stock ...

I laid the cloth into the jig ...

placed the 1 3/4" cover stock strip over that ...

folded in the edges of the jig and anchored the end of the cloth to the ironing board with pins ...

then I gently pulled on the jig and the edges of the cloth magically folded themselves around the cover stock ...

I ironed the folded edges every few inches ...

pulled the cover stock farther down the strip of cloth ...

and continued to "chase" it with the jig ...

In no time at all I had a two-foot length of cloth with perfectly turned edges ...

and yes, it's all 1 3/4" wide, but the camera angle makes it look tapered. I quickly made more strips and pinned them onto cards ...

Now they're ready to be cut to whatever length needed for my patch projects, like this new patch ...

made for a retrospective August 31 post (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/08/northbound-35.html).

- Life x 3

Retrospective (9/24)

Patch #258 And writing could be a sign

Original Post 

I recalled a quote that went "writers live life twice ... once for real and once on paper." Or something like that. So I googled it and the first attribution that came up was Natalie Goldberg, who authored a book we used in the EVWP (Eastern Virginia Writing Project) ...

I wondered if the quote was in my copy and, if so, whether I had highlighted it. I thought I hit pay dirt on page 44, given the marginal note ...

but I couldn't find her using those words on the page, so I kept looking and found this on page 48 ...

Well, I'm here to tell you that this stitcher lives life three times: for real, written on the blog, and stitched into patches.

And so, for the past three weeks I've been traveling, playing with grandkids, taking pictures and writing things down. Now I'm stitching my memories retrospectively by looking back at my posts and printing out pictures ...

Then pricking ...

and transferring lines to linen ...

backing with a bit of harem cloth ...

which at this scale can be held as I stitch ...

then trimmed once the stitching is complete ...

The edges of the patch are then pinched down, using a bit of cover stock to get a straight-ish edge ...

the edges are invisibly basted (thank you Jude Hill!) ...

and the patch is ready to add to the post for August 30th (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/08/snapshot.html). Now I just have to do 14 more patches (including today) and I'll be caught up.

I also have some awesome news about how I'm making my cloth strips for patching (thanks to Dana at Raven and Sparrow), but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

- Color my world

Retrospective (9/24)

Patch #257 How a tent could be a roof

Original Post

"Nana, what are the colors of the rainbow?" G asked.

We had just taken out a page to color and there was a bag with crayons and small colored pencils. I named each as I pulled them out. "Red ... orange, your favorite color ... yellow ... green ... blue ... and violet."

"What?"

"Um, purple."

"Okay."

Then wrapping his hand around the six colored pencils, G made rainbows ...

And later, as he played with his 'struction vehicles, I sat nearby stitching weather patches for the time we were out of town. Almost four, he understands that we each have our own way of playing, sometimes together, sometimes alone.

It's all good.

- Crow landing

Retrospective (9/23)

Patch #256 Mo's heart

To see more: https://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/working-into-the-heart-of-the-matter/

Original Post

It's here ...