Stalled in First

There's too much cleaning and organizing going on here. All my projects to start the year off are in neat little piles with the threads, textiles and notes.

 All these blank pages. It is much too neat.

Normally, there is a huge mess on the floor and I step over it and mix things around and then pick things out and put them in a pile and then do it again. Eventually, I get a few main ingredients sorted and then the stitching begins. This pile has been growing incrementally over the fall and the messy process has taken place over a long time.

The first step hasn't been missed, but altered. So instead of having several messy piles, I have calmly found containers and even rearranged a shelf so projects can be neatly stored away when not in my hands.

Sheesh, it feels too administered, too closed down for improvisation. Knowing me, I'll kick out against it and toss things into a heap again.

All these neat little baskets and bowls are making it hard to begin though. Which one to start with, which one to put aside for a few weeks.

They feel equally important and not important.

I decided to begin with the orange and red colour palette.

Being winter, it helps to have a good brisk colour in my hands and by the time the spring comes, I'll be ready for some blues and greens and can move on to that project. I have been excited by the prospect of the two pillowslip edges and that is also started now. Today is the first day of a new Karen Ruane class, and I have watched the first day's videos.

I have pulled out a few fabrics I knew I would want for this class and prepared them. I believe this class will be mostly about stitching and embellishment.(here) Go to her shop for more information. Karen has figured out a few new approaches to embellishment and I am looking forward to once again stitching while watching her videos.

A new colour, light, lace and a question.

The amazing Steve (also known as St. Steve of Jubilee) has painted the dining room! I love the colours. It has taken us close to three years to agree that the walls needed a touch up, that a new colour would be refreshing and then what specifically that colour would be.

The spinach green is being replaced here with the white. My camera keeps capturing it as a pink. That is interesting because it is very white with a hint of pink, 'Marble White' yet no matter how I lit the room, the pink dominated. So pretend it is a clear white.

Steve likes to paint trim! I mean, if that isn't saintly, I don't know what is. For about two weeks now, he has puttered away on the trim and the walls. Luckily the entire dining room was finished before I entertained my Wednesday morning ladies group and everyone said out loud that they really liked the blue. In real life it is a dark tourquoise/azure. No comments on the trim colour, "Vintage Wine" a very dark purple/brown, but the overall comments were in favour. Good friends always tell each other the new paint jobs look spectacular.

The trim colour moves around the wall into the living room. The walls will remain the same red, only a fresh coat to brighten any fading and cover any cracks and knicks. Here the white looks white, despite any reflection from the red. Isn't light weird?

Steve manages to do this work with the Christmas tree in place. I feel that once the tree is in place, all work should come to a halt until January 5th, then clean up in time for my birthday cake.

In other colour news,

while we were in Montreal, I discovered  Marc Aurele Fortin.

These two above are the "Farm at Sainte Rose". Ordinarily I don't much enjoy a pastoral scene, however the red figures against the shadows and light blobby shapes caught my attention. I then looked at his other works that I had liked as I wandered by, but not paid attention to.

 From the pastoral nostalgic to the brutality of the waterfront, and still a wonderful sense of the light on the water. You probably can't see it but in the bottom right (your right) is a small figure doing something on the dock. It gives a perfect sense of scale of the objects as well as humanity against the machine. A narrative without being obvious.

Turn the corner and there is a 'Group of Seven-esque' piece. I was pooped and didn't read the accompanying statement. Maybe it is an homage to the gang, or maybe he found their techniques useful. I like the white mountain in the middle, it is a great contrast to the detail work of the foreground and water.
 

This last piece is not as inspiring but it shows an interesting blend of all the methods from above. A nice spatial quality, great scale, unusual point of view, lovely light everywhere and just enough shadow to give life to a simple narrative. The amount of wall space that Fortin took up suggests he's a pretty well respected artist in Quebec. I will wander over to Wikipedia and read a biography.

Finally, I am working on a lace piece.

Lace upon lace, stitching and beads. I'm about halfway done and love it. It is a nutty project.

Tell me what you think of this next bit. I was sewing while at a meeting, so as to not lose my mind and leap over long tables to murder anyone. At the end of the meeting a very nice lady came up to me and said, "Why are you doing all that?" I explained the purpose of the piece (I haven't shared it with you all yet) and she said "I don't know why you do that, It makes my stomach turn just to watch you. All that fiddly hand work." And she smiled to show she didn't mean to ... stab me in the heart. I felt the stab for only a moment though, I have come a long way from needing other people's endorsement of my work. But then I started to think (usually too much) I can fully understand someone not wanting to ever hold a needle and thread in their hands, just ask me about measuring cups and frying pans. But it just seemed a little too... personal. Maybe I need to ratchet back my "Oh God I hate cooking" remarks. Maybe I am hurting people who love to cook and think I'm a bitch for my joking comments? Maybe they aren't jokes after all? Do those sorts of comments about your passions hurt you, or are they funny? I could use a learning moment here.

It bloomed!

Years ago now a friend gave me a lovely little clivia plant. In fact, she gave one to each of my Bee (quilting, knitting, reading, art talk, arguing) and everyone has had tremendous success with this beauty. Except me. Of course, except me, or there wouldn't be any point in writing about it, would there?

I have tried three spots that were recommended and the thing just died a little bit each year, had a small spurt of life and hung on. For two years, our son was in charge of watering and all the plants had a bit of a tough go of it. The other day I realized that the clivia was as dusty as the dickens and needed a wipe down.

I discovered this... Today the flowers are a little taller and a little more coral in colour, but the camera is on vacation.

At this time of year, a lot of the blogs I visit are showing garden pictures. I find this a bit of a yawner. We all have the same flowers and shrubs it seems. However, I will show you one photo.

You might think it is an average forsythia, but this beast flowers once a decade. Whatever combination there was this spring, it worked. The forsythia bloomed, the ornamental crap apple to the right of the photo leafed out and is currently in bloom just as the yellow is disappearing and it was a lovely sequence. I deliberately call it a crap apple. After it's ruby purple blooms, it does its best to look like the inside of a sodden cigarette dish. It is the ugliest tree ever, ever, ever.

The bees, the Jay and the beekeeper continue to battle it out. Netting is keeping the Jay from the hive entrance, but he has figured out that there are other spots the bees congregate. On the other hand, the bees are flying in straight lines unlike last week, when they were circling. I suspect that means the Queen has mated and is busy ruling the roost, so to speak. Did I tell you that the Queen has a name? Queen Amalia. The bees are of Russian stock and Amalijia is a Russian royal name and the current heir in waiting to the Dutch throne is Catherina Amalia. I suggested the name to the beekeeper, who luckily liked it. Nice conjunction.

As I watch the bees out the dining room window, I am noticing that for all the space the net allows for entry and exit, there seems to still be a traffic jam on the North-east corner of the contraption. There is a lovely purple stake holding the net in place and it seems to be on the direct take-off and landing strip of the bees. A little bit ditzy on that detail.

Colour is a coming in

I don't know if it is my new glasses seeing the screen more clearly or if the font size has grown and darkened. It looks weird even though I've checked it out.

These are the last two of my copying compositions from DekaArt (see earlier post for link). It's pretty hard to mess up a bunch of 'U' shapes with leaves and being Dutch, I thought a tulip or two was appropriate appropriation. I'm pleased with this one because it is the first time the colours turned up where I wanted them and I like the saturation.

I believe this is also a DekaArt composition. I like the colours better. I ruined my pens here, they didn't like going over the acrylic/gesso combinations. I have these two pinned up on my design wall to let me know that one day I will be able to figure out my own compositions along with colours.

The last three weeks, I have been taking "Sumptuous Embroidery" online course with Sharon Boggin. I won't link to that site because this is the last online course she is offering. We are learning how to make a flat ground, a slightly raised ground and eventually, a really textured ground. I am behind in the course. We have moved on from the monochromatic study to the fully coloured one. Today I will sit and finish foxy (she is my own design for a change) and get those french knots and bullion knots layered all over the place. Then, perfume bottles need to be drawn and a composition format figured out and all the threads chosen. I love tossing my threads all around until the right combination comes up.

It has taken me ages to clear the debris from the chair. Ironing boards, coffee tables and looms are all terrific places to sit things on, until you can't see them any longer. Then it is hard to use them for their specific task. But the chair and ottoman are clear, the Ott light is plugged in and I have a nice documentary to watch while stitching.

Pattern

Do you ever have one of those days when the panty hose you were putting on already had a run in them or the cake you were so carefully carrying home from the bakery smooshed up anyways.

That's what kind of post this has turned out to be. What you see is all that remains of my attempts to do something different. Instead, I will try to work it up over the week for next Monday.

Above are two fabrics, the red one a true batik and the goldy/brown one a neuveau batik with gold paint being cut up for a reversible jacket.

In the meantime, I am up in the bathroom trying to tape the hair back onto my head.

Summer On-Line Camp - fun city

Hi All, I am going to take two classes from Carla Sonheim's Summer On-line Camp.

A sidewalk crack cat

Here is the link to excellent descriptions of what is available. Good prices, excellent instruction, lots of imaginative creations. Easy peasy because it is fun and silly and hardly anything can go wrong.

Except cats. Beware of what damage cats can do. The cat refused to pose for the camera, her dignity was wounded. Enough said.

I'm taking 'Blobimal' a one week course on how to make fun, crazy animals from blobs and paint. The other one I am taking is "Between Speech and Silence" with Diane Culhane. This one is about lines, shapes and colouring plus the spaces between them.

Take a look and have some fun.

I don't get anything for urging this, except maybe a funny animal drawing because I linked things up.

Rolling Pin Project continues

Johnson Blue Perrenniel geranium (left front), red dianthus (left back), blue flower, I forget (left back-most), Stella D'ora daylilly (right front), Lady's Mantle (right back)

Many people are putting leaves, twigs and fallen debris into water, and soaking cloth in the mixture for ages to see what they get in the way of dyes. That takes too long.

I've been taking the leaves and petals off plants in the garden, tossing them onto cloth and then rolling the hell out of them. Completely different work ethic (barely there), completely different colour results (there's colour instead of shades of brown) and completely different plant matter (twig/leaf vs flower/leaf)

What follows is a short photo essay on how I did things. I used a very hot, dry iron to set the colour when I was done. No washing at all. I haven't put anything in a window to test for colour fastness yet.

Dianthus petals and chopped stems, Mollis leaves. Lay on one half of textile.

Textile folded in half and rollered. The big purple blobs are from iris leaves done in the spring with the same method.

Neither the Dianthus petals nor the Mollis Leaves did anything noteworthy. Onwards.

Johnson's Blue Geranium petals.

Mirror images happen by laying the half of the textile without floral matter on top of the textile that does. It doesn't always come out this neatly, because things squish around a bit. If a mirror image is not what you are seeking, then lay the top half textile at an angle to the bottom layer.

Mollis before rolling pin.

Textile after rolling the Mollis.

Geraniums, Dianthus and stems.

After smooshing.

Day Lilly petals, torn.

Mollis added partly through Day Lilly layering.

Day Lilly and Mollis.  You can see from the (your) right side, that I folded the cloth on an angle, so as to avoid a mirror image.

The thinner the flower petal, the less colour will come out. Yet the thicker the leaf, the less colour will come out. Sometimes you can get more colour by snipping the leaf or petal with shears, rather than by using them whole.

This is my usual random, haphazard approach. Someone with more patience could try for pattern repeats or compositions. I dropped and rolled. Sort of the way they tell kids to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" when you are on fire.

Spinning lessons

This Sunday I took a spinning course with Elinor Crosby at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design. It was a three hour class and I learned several cool things.

Here's a beauty. If you can't establish enough tension through your brake belt or your drive belt, you can lead the newly spun yarn through a little maze via your guides. This is especially good for thinner yarns, such as laces which can be spun with only a couple of fibres at a time.

In order for this to work, your yarn guides need to be on the same side of the spindle. Mine are not, they are on the top and the bottom of the U shaped thing. It has a real name but I forget.

If you don't own a spinning wheel, you might not know that there are all kinds of whorls or pulleys and knobs to twist. When I am feeling adventurous, I twist a few knobs and see what happens. This weekend, the relationships between the knobs and whorls was revealed and several things happened.

I learned how to spin really thin yarn,

This can be plied two, three, four or even eight strands together, giving rounder and stronger yarns. This yarn belongs to that naughty sheep Floozy. If only I had known this three years ago, as I agonize spinning her up. By drawing the fibres out to a thin yarn, a lot of the garbage just drops out. I've been stopping and picking out debris and then starting again. It has been frustrating to not get a flow of spinning. Now the decision regarding Floozy is to continue as I was, or to switch strategies half way through. Hmm.

I learned how to spin a loftier yarn. This fleece is was not as well prepared as it could have been and is full of nubbins. It could be used to make a novelty yarn, or I could live with it and knit or weave something that looks cool with blumps. I have a very nice table mat made with bumpy yarn in the weft and linen in the warp. I could try that some day.

I learned how to figure out what yarn I want to spin, rather than spinning and hoping that what comes out at the end is useable. Both these yarns are a result of me making a decision ahead of time as to what diameter of single I wanted. These were spun on the middle whorl with medium tension on your left view and higher tension on the right view.

My fellow student was a nut for dying and there was a lot of talk about dying, batts, carding and strategies to get interesting colours. I brought out my recent colour disasters.

The skein on your right is from a door prize, I may have mentioned earlier, the skein on your left is a double ply. The colours get muddy and brown.

Here is where I tried mixing it with a strong pink and really. Ick. The spinning group helped me decide that the right view skein colour is better as a single, that I should wash it, see if the over spinning comes out and use it as a weft in something. Or donate it and let someone else figure it out. I like this idea best.

The spinning group helped me decide what to do with the pink. Here we've added a brown, about 2 parts pink to one part medium brown. I like it already. I have enough to make a small sample and head out shopping.