Thirteen - Coming Clean!

We are having some wonderful rain these days, and we need it so badly! I had almost forgotten how comforting it is to fall asleep at night hearing the rain. So, Barker's (and our) morning golf course walk routine has been altered a bit, but that is ok! We can adjust, as long as it's for rain! When he and I finally got out there this morning, it was almost noon, but the temp was in the low 60s and it was delightful: shirtsleeve weather in January! We were just about finished with the course, when I walked past this lovely old tree and bluebird box:


Years ago there was an avid golfer who tended the bluebird houses, cleaning them out after each season and repairing them when necessary. He has since passed on and nobody has stepped up to the plate to take his place. It's too bad, but I do love all of the lichen growing not only on the tree but the house.


As I walked along the cart path, I was reminded of a post by Judy H about fossils, and the ones she had noticed on her sidewalk. I'm always looking and admiring the leaf prints along the cart paths, most made by the tannin in the oak leaves, but also a few lovelies from the pine needles. So, here are a few of my neighborhood 'fossils' (and I won't include me and C in these pics!):


our neighbors recently redid their driveway, and their youngest daughter left her fossil:


these last three are from our own driveway, up where it meets the road:

Show me your fossils!

coming clean:
1. well, I must admit that I have yet to finish my two last RR pieces, but I will work on them diligently tomorrow!!! I have a plan, and finding that plan, for me, is the most difficult part of the journey!

2. my house is clean!! WooHoo! Now I can play, er create, for the rest of the week!

PEACE

Complex Dyeing Days

I signed up to participate in a complex cloth round robin group in which the participants agreed to pass around approximately one yard of fabric (cotton, rayon, or silk) and each member would add another layer to the fabric, either by discharging, adding dye, adding paint, etc. I had hoped that I had retained a photo of my fabric (1 yard of rayon twill) when I sent it off on its journey, but I can't find one. Anyway, here it is when it returned to me today:

I am so thrilled with the results and I can't wait to participate in another round robin!!!

Here are some detail shots of my wonderful piece:



Now, the question is: what will I do with 1 yard of fabulous fabric? What would you do?????
Cut it up???? Shush your mouth child!! I can't do that!!! Hmmmmmm! My saving grace, at least for a while is that Michele, one of the groupies, has been ill and wasn't able to lay her hands on my fabric, so it will not be complete until she does so. So, I have time to contemplate the cloth! Get well soon Michele!!!

I bought some muslin to construct a 'sloper' of Susan Conn Italo's Wild Onion Jacket. While I was cutting out the pattern, a little voice kept telling me that surely I wasn't going to 'just make a muslin sloper'! "What if it fit fabulously?" "Muslin is so blahhhh". "Why waste the time to sew up plain old muslin???" So, after the muslin was cut, I soaked it in some soda ash and then poured on the dyes. I think that was last Thursday, but it may well have been Friday (I was trying to escape from dinner party preparations and you know how that is!!). We went away for the weekend and when I got out to the studio this afternoon: wooops, there it was! I had laid it out on some plexiglass and covered it with a dry cleaner bag, and it was still sopping wet! So, here it hangs, dripping and hopefully drying on the line. Can you see the little bit of sumac that is growing up below the lower right hand part of the jacket? It sort of blends with my dyes!

Hopefully it will be dry in the morning and I'll steam it a bit and then wash it and get busy with construction.
But alas: the lining!!! I soaked it in soda ash this afternoon and dyed it....so, tomorrow it will dry and then, only then, it will all be steamed and constructed!!! I am excited about this jacket, and will definitely keep you posted!

Yesterday afternoon we attended a beautiful organ recital at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, supported and funded by the Musica Sacra Atlanta. The organist was none other than David Burton-Brown, organist at our church, Grace Church Gainesville. David did a fabulous job and we were enthralled by his music. Afterwards C and I enjoyed some time in the Botanical Gardens with our friends Polly and Jeff, and later dinner at one of our favorite haunts: Top Flr. What fun!!!

Oh, and I voted today...........for whom? You Guessed It!!!

PEACE, HOPE CHANGE: OBAMA/BIDEN!!!