Getting Ready

In preparation for Groundhog Day, which is coming right up on Wednesday...2/2/11...I thought I would spend some time contemplating my shadow.  I love this holiday because it affords us this possibility.  It need not be ONLY the groundhog who sees or doesn't see his shadow.

  The handyman at the church on the corner painted the yellow lines so people would stop tripping over the curb there...the yellow of the paint made the shadow look very violet in the late afternoon sun...alas this doesn't show in the photo.  Nevertheless.  This is a depiction of my shadow picking up signals from all over.  I am often incorrect in my interpretation of these signals.  Ha!  I can blame it on my shadow!

This is a little weaving (the white part) I made in Jude's boro class to put in a window, or maybe on a tree:

C'est tout pour maintenant!  

Mobile stitching

Trying to create a habit of taking projects to work on with me everywhere.  Sometimes I forget but yesterday I had a long wait in a waiting room and made good progress on the little Agnes cloth.  It's for Liam's quilt but hasn't been stitched down yet.  The second example is an experimental combining of 2 cloths.  Both pieces use techniques from Jude's workshops.  These are so light and manageable and fun to work on that it makes waiting into treasure time.

It's been pretty cool lately, perfect for walking; here's a scene from relatively nearby, Jewel Lake(perfect name):

Workshop cloths Report #2

I've been stitching away in Jude's cloth to cloth workshop and here's where my 2 cloths are now.  In the top one, I cut the circle from the background, rotated it, then replaced it inlay fashion. In the bottom piece, the blue birds shapes were cut into the pine needle cloth, exposing the blue fabric underneath.  It's fun to work this way; dynamic and ever challenging in the design sense.  I'm a little behind in the lessons because there is so much to explore and it's very satisfying to do so.

Sea Ranch

For four years, my dear friend Barbara and I have come to Sea Ranch on the Northern California coast for a week long work retreat/reunion.  We were high school friends many many years ago and this is a wonderful chance to catch up on life events;  work, and eat.  Her husband comes up for part of the time.  They do quite a lot of reading whilst I am upstairs working on projects.  I've brought 2 lap-robes to work on plus numerous smaller items.   One hope is to get started setting up an online shop.

Below is the lap-robe for my 95 year old farmer friend Alex.  It has tractors, asparagus and corn and later I'll add some embroidery.  I've been experimenting with Jude Hill's fabric weaving techniques on her video series.  I'm having a good time with this and really enjoyed ripping the denim! 

The other big project is below.  It doesn't have a name yet; it's silk and flannel.  The silk I dyed in the shibori class from Glennis.  It's growing from the inside out and I think will be another lap-robe.