To Dye For

 Simply stated, my holiday weekend has been a 

long-awaited natural dyeing marathon. Woo-Hoo! 

(French Marigolds, above, are now drying.

More on this later in the summer!)

Have a look at my weekend:

(and if you have any questions about natural dyeing, etc.

 please leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!)

My dear friend Vickie once gifted me a handful 

of the softest white Romney.

It was destined for a big pot of Logwood.

Following Vickie's Romney was Cathy Sovocool's 

squoooshy Alpaca yarn. Because the yarn went into 

the second generation of the Logwood dye bath, 

the result was paler than what I was hoping for.

So, I overdyed the Alpaca in Lac.

Now this makes me happy!

A closer look at a few more:

Vickie's white Romney dyed in Logwood (top right)

Foxwood's white Cormo roving dyed in Lac (middle)

Christine Johnson's black Romney dyed in 

3rd generation Logwood (back)

I can't wait to dye again, and then knit and spin 

all of these beautiful fibers! 

 

Amidst the whirlwind of dye pots and fiber, 

I realized that I know each Shepardess, 

or have at least met her, and that by dyeing every thing

myself using only green dyes is all very satisfying. 

(BTW, we grew those strawberries!)

Moving on to cotton, here are my Dad's old dress shirts.

The laundromat misspelled his name.... 

Pre-mordanting took all three days so I'll follow up   

with dye results in a future post.

 If you're unfamiliar with dyeing cellulose materials, 

like cotton, the first step is to soak the cotton in 

a tannin bath, and then an alum bath, 

thus allowing the fiber to absorb the dye. 

It sounds tedious, but gathering sumac early in 

the morning to boil and make my own tannin solution 

was kind of fun. Otherwise, the pre-mordanting process 

was just many hours of soaking in one pot and then the next.

Between pots of pre-mordants and pots of dye, 

some spinning took place. That lovely ball of natural white  

wool is a gift from my dear friend Lara in Virginia. 

Gorgeous weather, irresistible colors, fresh food from the garden -

what a great start to summer!

And at the end of each day there's Stanley, one cool cat.

Thanks for checking out my natural dye adventures.

Stay tuned for more as the summer unfolds!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Lucky me, we're spending the day in Buffalo

with Alyssa & Meagan! 

Rather than posting my usual LIVE Studio update,  

today I'm sharing inspiration for an upcoming project 

that not only captures my desire to fabricate, 

but appeals to my love of all things cozy & sweet.

Inspiration struck when I found a coverlet on Pinterest.

While the instructions are in Japanese, 

the pictures spell out the process so clearly that 

you don't need to read anything to  

 make a pile of these flowers. 

Still, I found another flower tutorial 

by Pink Paper Peppermints 

and wanted to include it as well.

Either link below should have you whipping up 

scrappy fabric flowers in no time!     

4-5 petal fabric flower tutorial

for sewing together into a sweet coverlet.

Perhaps a smaller scale project is your speed.

How about a cheery garland strung over your head board 

or across an open shelf? Napkin rings. Gift toppers. 

An endless list of adorable uses.

I will keep you posted on my own progress right here.

Until then, enjoy this wonderful day with 

the ones you love, and stitch on! 

 

Creativity Unleashed

 At long, long last I've gotten started on making my own clothing.

If you follow this blog, you may recall that I'm a huge fan 

of Alabama Chanin, (founder/owner Natalie Chanin,) 

as well as Cal Patch and Rebecca Ringquist. 

I must have channeled all 3 of them at once in the Studio

this morning because I managed to draft 3 garment patterns, 

cut two garments, and begin sewing one, 

a long sleeve T-shirt shown above & below.

This detail is the tulip stitch embroidered on the 

center back seam of my T-shirt. Because it took me an hour 

to embroider about 6 inches, I decided to get a move on 

and just do a running stitch down each side of 

the rest of the seam. I like it so far! Stay tuned....

Yesterday, my favorite Girl In the World 

sent me an e-mail titled "A Must", and I agree.

Check out this man's photography project:

https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork

And to round out this ultra creative day, I found this 

amazing work of harmony from 

The Civil Wars.

This week, give yourself the gift of doing something creative. 

I promise to do the same!  

Give Me Color

After a few days of Pinning traditional 

Folk style clothing I realized I must be 

in the mood for these colors - they're all around me -

blooming in the garden, blossoming on our trees,

spinning onto bobbins...

...and even buzzing at our (very) nearby bee hives. 

Come One, Come All!

2012 SPRING CRAFT FAIR! 

Sunday April 29th

Noon - 4:00

FREE ADMISSION

Cortland Foundations Building 

75 East Court St., Cortland NY 13045

Support local artists and shop for 

Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grads

and of course, yourself! 

You'll find pottery, hand made soaps, 

fresh maple syrup,

one of a kind jewelry & so much more.

Spun Right Round

is having a sale that day only: 

15% off all yarns (stock up!)

Beads & Beyond

will have a fantastic special 

running for that day only, too!

Join the FUN and support LOCAL!

After being sick for nearly two weeks, 

I feel much better today and even took 

my camera to the edge of the lawn for this:

I will no longer wonder how a pine cone grows. 

Drifting Off

(Apologies for the darling illustration that keeps disappearing!)

Dearest Reader, 

I am sorry to say that I'm under the weather today. 

Trust that I'm curled up with a few of my favorite 

children's books admiring charming illustrations 

and visiting some familiar old friends.

There's the call of myths & legends, so off I go 

armed with hot tea, tissues & fluffy pillows.

 - T.

The Writing's On the Wall

Welcome Spring!

 Yesterday, my dear friend Tracy invited me 

to join her for a drive. She mentioned she was 

bringing her camera, so of course I brought mine. 

(If you've visited her remarkable blog you're acquainted with 

her gifts for photography and writing, to name a few.)

Well we were driving along, chatting away, enjoying 

a beautiful blue sky morning, when suddenly Tracy pulled into 

the driveway of our knitting friend, Ginny Space. 

Tracy making friends.

Stretching along a main road in our town, 

the Space family farm always entertains passers-by 

with its flock of grazing sheep, playful goats 

and as I saw today, excitable pink pigs running amuck!

Thanks to Tracy, this spontaneous stop brought 

this girl and her camera much joy and delight.  

I just had to share these little fellas with you. 

What other discoveries are being made this weekend? 

 George, as in Washington.

Can you spot Paul Revere? Benjamin Franklin?

This, my friends, is what remains of the first (very 
patriotic) wall paper my parents put on the walls of 
the same house my husband, A. and I presently call home.

Wanting to freshen up our first floor, this weekend 
Hubby & I are stripping wallpaper and painting. 
What we uncovered isn't old wallpaper stuck to the wall. 

No. Let's go back, shall we?

 When my two brothers were 5 and 3 years old 

(I'm innocent! I hadn't arrived on the scene yet) 

they managed one morning to quietly come down

the stairs of this brand new home without 
waking Mom or Dad. They proceeded to open 

a large tub of Crisco, dug in their little hands 

and began "painting" the walls. 
And then the cabinets, a few door knobs, 
the toilet seat...any and every thing at their height!

Uncovered 43 years later, it seems the Crisco 
transferred the ink from the wallpaper onto the sheetrock.

Seeing this lettering instantly brought back many 
happy childhood memories. Because I'll be painting 

over it I regret that I won't see this writing on the wall again. 

Well, at least I'll have these photos.

 ***

I sure wish I had a photo of the look on my Mom's face 

when she came downstairs that morning!