- 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.

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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!

- 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.

- Birthday season begins

Today's patch is a bit of linen from Logan's great-grandmother, Nana Ruth ...

Patch #70

because just like Logan ...

Nana Ruth loved turquoise and the sea.

Hard to believe this picture was taken twelve years ago ...

Fortunately, some things never change ...

birthday season still lasts as long as there are celebrations
and cookie dough is still the ultimate celebration food.
Happy birthday LoLo ... I owe you a batch!

- Painting the hills

My favorite Texas wildflower color isn't bluebonnet blue ...

Patch #69

it's Indian paintbrush orange ...

Photo taken at the Wildflower Center,
after which G reminded me not to step off the path

G got a chance to look up wildflowers at the National Wildflower Center ...

And I got to make some IDs of my own, including this bitterweed ...

Tetraneuris scaposa var. scaposa

plus I got another shot at capturing an Edwards Plateau thimbleweed, aka Two-flower anemone ...

Anemone edwardsiana

with its tell-tale mid-stem ruffle ...