- Potholder play: What it became

Mo asked some leading questions about Saturday's post, which led me to conclude I wasn't done with Trial 1. In truth, the potholder was too thin to deflect heat, too small to be doubled up, and too gnarly around the edges, where the purple-y grey wool looked ghastly next to the orange linen. Not to mention that it shrank unevenly during laundering, making the whole thing a bit too skewed for my taste.

So I trimmed the potholder down as much as I could without cutting into the edge stitching. Then I tore into another piece of rust-dyed muslin, basted on two layers of harem cloth, and began to attach it to the linen side of the potholder  ..

Lest this seem an inordinate amount of attention to bestow upon a humble potholder, I would note that it is hopefully a record of process that will help me avoid similar mis-steps in the future. Well, some of them anyway.

After securing the rust-dyed cloth in the middle, I turned the edges and hemmed the new B-side (note that the piece is still a bit out of kilter, even after the edge trimming) ...

then finished it with kantha around the perimeter of the A-side ...

Even with eight layers, it's still too thin and too stiff to be a proper potholder, so it's being repurposed as a cloth version of a trivet for the dining room table (put in the Table Series in August 2015).

Oh, and did I mention that the rusted cloth was taken from a cheese grater?

I think I feel a series coming on ...

- Talking through the process: Potholder take 1

I've been enjoying the detailed process posts contributed by some of the KINDRED SPIRITS of late. So here's a detailed look at the first of the potholder trials (now the Table Series) promised in yesterday's post ... laundered, air-dried and trimmed ...

As usual, there were some learning opportunities. I began with a piece of felted wool skirt sandwiched in muslin, which I would modify in the future by enclosing the wool completely in the muslin to keep it from muddling the edge ...

Since I intended to add layers, invisible baste wasn't needed from a visual perspective, but I like the stability of a small backstitch so I worked a row of Jude's invisible baste on one side and then, because I also like to work from right to left, flipped the cloth over to stitch the return row, with this result (which reminds me of the handwriting practice paper from elementary school days) ...

I added a layer of lichen-dyed linen (it started out orange, the lichen contributed the rusty brown spots that are more visible further down) ...

and basted it down perpendicular to the first basting pass, making all the invisible baste stitches on the linen side, with the long basting stitches visible on the muslin side ...  

The final layer of rust-dyed muslin was invisibly basted into the middle layers so the stitches wouldn't show on the linen. Then I trimmed down the cloth to the desired size, although now I know to be more careful with measuring next time so I can leave the torn edges as is ...

I had a decision to make since the pattern in the rust-dyed cloth wasn't in line with the selvedges. I chose to do a discontinuous back stitch with two strands of floss following the rust lines rather than the grain of the fabric. And because I was working through five layers of cloth, I began to appreciate that the Japanese term "sashiko" translates as "little stabs" ...

It was at this point I discovered that the linen was curling along the edges ...

so I invisibly basted down the edge on the linen side, stitching only into the middle layers, then did a discontinuous backstitch with two strands of floss through all five layers around the edge of the cloth, also on the linen side ...

The cloth steadily became firmer with each additional layer and stitching pass, so I decided to stop at five layers. Since the hard-trimmed edges weren't very pleasing, I pinked them, thinking that would rough them up more than snipping through the edges might have ...

Then I ran the potholder through a blue jeans wash cycle to be sure it got plenty of agitation, with the final result pictured at the beginning of the post.

It's a bit thin and more puckery than I had hoped. And I suppose I could try adding more layers, but I want to see if the cotton diaper gives a better result before investing more time in this trial.

The good news is the potholder does fold nicely in half, so the plan at this point is to give it some real life testing. On the menu tonight: fresh asparagus from the farmers market, rotisserie chicken, and homemade bread.

Life is good.

- Searching for a solution: A potholder poser

I love this old potholder, but even after laundering it looks pretty sad ...

One of a pair, it's almost perfect: the size and the thickness fit my hand to a tee and it keeps the heat at bay when I'm slinging pans in the oven.  However, I've never been wild about the heavy binding. And so, as my potholders got shabbier and shabbier, I kept an eye out for replacements ... thick terry cloth cotton in just the right size without a heavy binding. No luck.

Then I decided to try making my own and bought some "metalized polyester" insulating material. Hmmm ... wasn't really thrilled about that. On a mission, I looked through my fabric stash to see what else was on hand and came up with a felted wool skirt and a cotton diaper (unused). 

It was a short leap to the idea of a competition to see which would work best ...

I decided to use Japaese zokin (dust cloths composed of layers stitched together boro-style) as a model, which would eliminate the edge binding. Having made unbound burp cloths for the latest grandchild last summer, I checked in with my daughter who reports that the edges have held up well to repeated laundering. They have also held their shape better than the earlier bibs and burp cloths that were made with a turned edge ...

 Of course, those were machine sewn, so it will be interesting to see how hand-sewn edges hold up. 

Turning my thoughts to the outer layers, I decided to try rust-dyed cotton versus lichen dyed linen ...

But before I go too much further, I'm doing a reality check. Does anyone out there have any enlightening experiences to share?

- Remembering

My mom left the world seven years ago on April 7, 2008 and though the ache of that loss has long since receded, still I found myself looking through things today ... remembering.

In this picture of the two of us dated 1958, she is younger than my daughters are now and I am the same age as Jackson and Griffin ...

I still have some of her clothes, mostly skirts that I wear less and less these days, and her jacket that I wear whenever the temperature drops below fifty ...

her quilt, first written about here ...

and the sampler I made for my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary that hung in their dining room on Shelter Island until my dad passed away in 2012 ...

                                     

I uncapped a bottle of moisturizer, given to me by my dad when I helped go through mom's things and was transported by the scent that was a part of her for as long as I can remember ...

I also found my planner for 2008 --a year filled with sorrow and joy-- with lesson plans for school and wedding plans for our daughters interspersed with questions for doctors and lists of meals to cook and freeze at Shelter Island ... the last letter from my mom, when the neurological decline that had begun two years earlier was accelerating --stealing away her ability to speak and write and walk, but not her mind-- in which she wrote prophetically, "I'm not a very good patient and want to go out on my own" ... and the eulogy I delivered at her memorial service less than six months later ...

Re-reading those words, I realized once again it was cooking for others that was the essence of my mom and continues to be the best part of me. A mantra to live by: Food is love.

- Way finding: Triangulation continues

Triangulation definitely needed a compass rose and I also wanted to put a sun symbol over New Mexico. In the end, I melded the two notions into one ...

Sketched in permanent ink, it wasn't perfect, but I'm getting better at accepting that. 

So now that I've reached New Mexico, I'm pondering whether or not to use the Desert Sand DMC floss I picked out ...

Finally, having passed the half-way mark in Kantha stitching, I decided to try draping the cloth, which is really too large for a flat-on-the-floor shot ...

To be continued ...

- Easter traditions: Old and new

Lapsed churchgoer that I am, I feel slightly hypocritical participating in religious holidays, but when it comes to passing on traditions to kids I'm all in.

Last year we were invited to an Easter potluck and were delighted to be included in the festivities again this year. I sewed up some goodie bags for the kids, labeling them with pictures from last year's egg hunt (amazing how much they've changed) ...

And Don cooked up a wine bottle label using Kendall's "Stay Cheese-y" sign-off from the Antonelli's Cheese Shop newsletter ...

Since it's a potluck, I'm baking Simnel Cake, first written about in this post and finally photographed for posterity ...

Don also cooked up a smoked turkey, which we'll carve tomorrow to put on a triple-batch of warm Apple Onion Walnut Muffins pictured here.

Guess we're ready to let the good times (and the Easter eggs) roll ...

- Marking time

Don found a wonky piece of metal on our trip to Llano that has since become a clock for our back porch ...

He may embellish it further, but for now we'll enjoy it as is.

While he was putting the finishing touches on the the clock, I went in to check on my bread, which was a bit more exuberant than usual so I took a picture ...

And in looking at it, the little Kantha patch on the bread towel caught my eye ...

This towel gets used and laundered about once a week (which is why it had a hole in it to begin with), so I was pleased to see how well my mending from a year ago has held up ...

Last, but not least ... Don and I went to Austin yesterday to plant some feather grass, agaves, and Blackfoot daisies at our daughter's house in anticipation of it going on the market (anyone looking for a place in 78704?).

It's been exciting watching their new house go up, especially for two year old Griffin ...

So Don, aka PopPop, snagged some scrap wood and made "Griffin's house" to commemorate the framing of his soon-to-be new home ...

When G tried to open the door, which was glued on, he concluded, "It's locked ... need a key!"

All in good time, Griff.

- Of books and backs

Anne Lamott and Anna Quindlen are two of my all-time favorite authors (see links in the OTHER ARTISTS AND AUTHORS sidebar to the right). So, when I read a library copy of Anne Lamott's Stitches, I thought it would be cool to get my own copy and stitch the best passages, rather than underline them as I usually do. Initially unable to find a copy readily available, I decided to apply the same idea to Anna Quindlen's Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake ...

It's been interesting trying out backstitch ...

and double running stitch ...

versus plain running stitch ...

But honestly, at this point I'm not quite sure how I feel about it ... so I'm letting the idea compost for a while.

Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away on Triangulation (65 squares stitched, 95 to go). Taking a cue from Grace, I hung it in a window (which was only partially sunlit) and took some pictures of the back (so east is to the left and west is to the right) ...

Here's the B-side of the arch in St Louis, where the only thing holding the cloth strips together is running stitch and some embellishing stitches ...

This view shows intersecting horizontal and vertical running stitches - an attempt to better fill the gaps in the cloth weaving ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma at the intersection of I-44 and I-75

And this view shows how much more substantial the back stitch proved to be in stabilizing the cloth weaving (fortunately, I figured that out about a quarter of the way into the initial stitching) ...

The flip side of southbound 35, Austin and San Marcos

As I've mentioned before, never will I ever again cloth-weave sheeting and back it with Harem cloth. Besides which, what was I thinking tackling a piece this size to begin with? But I must say continues to be an interesting exercise in problem solving.

Postscript: Southbound 35 is what I slip in the CD player when we cross the Red River from Oklahoma into Texas ...

- Learning the hard way (as usual): The sheeting challenge

I looked back to check, and yes ... there in the very first comment of the very first post on Triangulation was this warning from Beth at Still Life Pond: "Sheeting can be difficult to hand stitch."

But did I listen? No! 

She was right of course and I have learned by doing that sheeting is a challenging cloth indeed. My needle test did not take into account the doubling effect of cloth weaving. Nor did my running stitch predict the challenge sheeting would pose to a fine back stitch.

Still, I'm too far in to give up now.

By the way, I somehow miscounted the squares (which are 1 1/2 to 2 inches to a side). There are 16 rows of 10, not 17 rows of 11. So, having now stitched 40 squares, I'm one quarter of the way through ...

- A window on my world: Walking the land

I begin most days here, sitting by the front window, my cup of thread ends and trusty Fiskars close at hand ...

However, with the tipping point of spring having been reached, I now find myself drawn outside earlier in the day, no longer needing to wait until afternoon for the sun to warm things up.Yesterday, I walked the land to take some pictures, like this agave for Mo who loves how the leaves imprint on one another ...

Right across from the agave, our crazy wind vane is a favorite perch for the Carolina wrens, so I left them some thread ends for their nests ...

Close by, Don's latest rusted bucket awaited a new tenant ...

while just beyond, the lichen-crusted driftwood anticipated the new crop of mealy blue sage growing up behind it ...

Everywhere I walked I smelled the soft honeyed scent of agarita ...

my eyes catching every so often on bright red Yaupon berries still left after a winter of critter foraging ...

I walked the new wood mulch trails ...

leading out to the flood plain ...

where wildflowers were already  rising up to greet the sun ...

and the bluebonnets showed the promise of more to come ...

Surveying the compost rows ...

I thought to look up ...

then heard the clarion call of sandhill cranes wheeling overhead in a thermal before reforming their northward-bound V ...

Lichen was growing ...

on rocks harvested from the floodplain and carefully placed in the succulent garden ...

although most of our flowers get planted by Mother Nature, like this stand of thimble flowers ...

The grasses were greening up so quickly I could almost see them grow ...

some racing ahead of the pack, already setting seed ...

And when I came at last to the breezeway, where Don was preparing the outdoor shower for the next three seasons ...

I startled one of our anoles into a brown funk ...

But after reconsidering me as friend rather than foe, he reverted to a relaxed green ...

and pulled up a chair ...

the better to enjoy the breezeway ...