- Golden

Retrospective (10/6)

Patch #264 Yellow indiangrass 

Original Post 

Some days are just perfect for picture walking, which is why I'm determined to find a way to record that in One Hill Country Year. Someday, somehow.

Today it was enough to capture the magic of early morning sun on yucca ...

The graceful arc of purpletop (https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=TRFL2) ...

Light caught in the beautiful, but invasive King Ranch bluestem (http://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=BOISS), which is as tall as it's ever been since we moved here six years ago. But there, rising above it, the unmistakeable plumes of Indiangrass (https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SONU2) ...

under a setting moon ...

which brought to mind our last night in St Louis when two year old Jace spotted the thinnest sliver of moon in the twilight. He is a moon-lover, much to my delight. Here's a screen shot of a recent FaceTime call with Jace rising above the couch in a game of peek-a-boo ...

Gotta love it!

Later, as I worked out, my eye caught on this thrifted cloth ...

The camera is far too kind, as it looks like nothing so much as an unfortunate meeting of Gulden's and French's mustards, with a bit of Grey Poupon thrown in for good measure. But a closer look revealed this ...

An Indiangrass patch is surely in my future ...

- Turning redux

Retrospective (10/6)

Patch #263 Almost Equinox

Original Post 

I just had to show this in response to Jude Hill's post entitled Turning (http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2016/09/turning.html) ...

It's an antique clock reel for winding skeins (which I mistakenly called a click reel for years because of the loud sound it makes every 40 revolutions) gifted by my parents back when I was the Needleworker at Colonial Williamsburg ...

Later ...

Three more patches ...

I'm slowly catching up with this month.  The patch for September 8th (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/never-say.html) started here with a print of the Hot Springs fountain and some indigo shibori that I made last year ...

the mirror imaging was too good to pass up, so I went with it ...

I originally planned to do a Celtic knot-like take on the GPS clover leaf in the September 9th post (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/drinking-kool-aid.html), but as I looked back at the Google search image collage of Magnolia Market near the end, my eye caught on the interior shot of the metal roof and light strings. It sure did remind me of the thrifted multi-color jacket I just got.

Sure enough, there were some patches of color that looked very similar to the metal roof panels. A few Jude Hill thread beads later, the lights came on ...

Interesting side note: my needle literally squeaked through the cloth, which I had hoped was linen since the fabric content label was cut out (my Cursillista readers in Tidewater Virginia will get a kick out of the maker's label that remained) ...

Looking more closely at the frayed edges of the patch, I realized I was working with wool. But hey, it made it through the wash, so onward!

The last patch for today came from cloth that I had been invited to bring to Deb McClintock's native natural dye workshop on September 10th (http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/2016/09/dye-stuff.html). It was originally a vintage linen tablecloth ...

that I dyed last year with Prairie Tea (Croton) gathered in the yard. Better yet, it bore a striking resemblance to the Texas Persimmon dyed linen blouse that Deb was wearing ...

Gotta love what the land gives us!

- 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).