feathers and pelicans!

we went

to the beach for a week without internet, cable, telephone..except the mobile whose number very few have... it was the best week ever... so many things to show. but i have to first talk about the pelicans... the brown pelican is not commonly seen along the northwest coast except near westport, wa. in the fall. they are not local breeders but are powerful flyers and travel great distances in search of food, especially after the breeding season is over. this is according to birds of the pacific northwest coast by nancy barron and john acorn.

we were lucky enough to see literally thousands of these fascinating birds. every night we would walk to the ocean and sit and watch as groups of fifty or more would come flying by, sometimes within inches of the ocean and sometimes diving down into the water. we were lucky when one night they were landed on a little spit in front of us so we wandered down to see if we could photograph some... neither of us have really long lenses but we were able to get some decent pictures. the brown feather is my inspiration for jude's feather project. anyone can contribute... she is making something that will go to benefit children.

printing on organza

tammy asked about using organza so i thought i would say a few words about my process which so far has been successful.

first use silk organza. soak it in bubble jet... you can reuse what is left over . just pour it back in the bottle. let it drip dry. you can dye your organza first if you want.

when its dry, iron it well. cut some freezer paper and organza to larger than the 8 1/2 X 11 or whatever size your computer takes. then trim it very carefully with a sharp rotary cutter to the preferred size for printing. take the paper carefully to the printer. what you are being so careful about is you do not want any frayed edges. i place it in the computer and i hold a thicker paper over it so it goes smoothly into the printer... this is where you are likely to get an error... then print... you can scan or print from your computer...

normally, after letting let the ink dry, you peel the backing off and rinse the fabric... i have eliminated this step when i am printing on organza because i have found by ironing it the ink is set. i have not printed anything with lots of ink. also i am not intending for the pieces i use this on to be washed. i usually keep the printed organza on the freezer paper until i need it because you can see by the example above, it tends to fray. i suppose some starch would help. i don't mind the fraying here as it fits with the nature of the piece. i used starch in another piece and so far it has held up with a minimum of fraying. i suppose you could fuse it but i don't do that because i like the hand of the fabric.

so it is really simple. hope this is clear enough...don't hesitate to ask questions... thanks for asking, tammy. i am always happy to tell anything i know!

many directions

these are the elements for my magic diaries piece. i took this inside but the sun was shining... there is a glare problem...sorry for the poor image. these will be made into a table runner. i will be adding circles as well in some way. the little pieces on the right are 2" squares that i am hand sewing into strips of threes.. it was going to be several 9 patches and it might go back to that but i am trying other formations too. i will do some more in larger sizes..but i want to figure out the measurements first... the middle strip of 2" squares were put into tea dye to see how the colors would interact... i may end up putting all the little squares in tea after they are sewn. i like how they muted. i have yet to decide on a ground cloth. these are all pinned on my design wall. those are pin cushions pinned so i can get to my pins easily.

next i have been working on my roots piece... needs to be done because i really should be onto the second in the series by now. this is for my independent study in august. again the photo isn't the best...i even took this one outside but the sun was just too strong. my normal place to shoot was occupied..... but you can see that there has been a lot of progress... the spiral is a fibonaci spiral which has a certain proportion that realtes to all growth on earth. i embroidered this by hand using three layers of back stitch. then i laced them all together with very fine gold thread to relate to the gold lines on the bottom piece of comercial fabric by lonni rossi. the rest of the fabric was hand dyed by me.... my photos were printed on organza.

before i embroidered i silk screened some lines using a thermofax with some gold paint that matches the lines in lonni's fabric. i was happy to find versatex paint because it has a very natural hand. you cannot tell that there is paint on the fabric. hooray! because i love the natural hand of the fabric.

these are some of the roots that have been redesigned and stitched ... not finished yet but you can see the direction i am taking. i have machine embroidered these . also did some reverse applique and couching. so... a bit more work on the roots and then i will be ready for quilting.

i have been working on this little one in between all the others. i tried to get a close up but for some reason blogger didn't add it... i hope that these will enlarge... not all of the others did last time. i think this little piece may get turned into a pillow or a bag.

i feel like i have been going six ways from seven. or whatever that expression is. in addition to these pieces of stitching, i have been getting the garden planted. we are lucky to have had an extended spring or a mild summer this year. but i am still watering like crazy so everyone will thrive. a lot is in bloom now... and the poppies are almost finished so i can get them out of there so i can continue with the plan. they were lovely but didn't come up in very convenient places... they were all volunteer so i guess i can't complain! pictures of the garden soon... tbc!

yesterday and tomorrow

yesterday i went over to visit my friend hermila, better known in jude's circle as herm. this is what i am stitching... and i have all but finished my sister's piece while stitching with her. she is making a nine patch with a moon in the center. she had some blocks already made from different patterns of blue indigo which will be beautiful when she is finished. she is doing well, very happy to be stitching and she is following a few blogs and misses everyone. her energy level is pretty good under the circumstances ... we chat non-stop and sometimes other people are there too.

tomorrow, jude's class magic diaries begins. we are all really looking forward to that...see grace's blog . the purpose of the class is to work on a long term project and share our progress and learn along the way. this class lasts six months. i will be working on two projects... one i have already begun... a large table runner which i have already started...see above... and a book. the idea for the book is still forming but i have always been inspired by louise bourgeois and when i found her making needle work projects in her later life i was truly touched. her parents had a tapestry business when she was young but she wasn't allowed to touch a needle. so finally in her later years she took up a needle and i am so glad she did.

experimenting in the sun!

its been sunny here and perfect for some tea dyeing. i am really happy with my results. i've got a couple more brewing as we speak! this is old silk from a scarf of my grandmothers it has plenty of tiny holes in it that need to be mended too. parts of it have embroidered butterflies which i am nervous about getting wet. the purpose of this was to find a good backing for the sun moon stars piece... this isn't what i had in mind though it is beautiful... i might try another dye... turmeric maybe. see you later and happy 4th!

continuing

i am back from a long absence....i have written here about my mother in law and my sister.... both very important people in my life.... both of whom are no longer with us here on earth. i am working through this transition. i am planting a garden ...i have some roses specially there for these two people i love...and some others too. gardening is therapeutic and so is stitching... i have a cloth for my sister and i will talk about that more when it is complete. i am starting magic diaries now with jude and a whole group of friends new and old. that is really comforting. and one of the pieces i will be working on is the last thing i posted before things got turned upside down! so i will continue with that. and another will be a book. i will be posting the progress of these two along with other projects. to start off i am posting photos of some flowers from the garden. you'll see a couple of garden friends poking in too! glad to be back.

color values can be difficult

here is my attempt at ombre but the aqua and light green at the end of the spectrum should probably be reversed. its hard for me to see some values... but in b&w it shows up better. i suppose i should change it.... ahhhh.