Phew: What a Week!

It's been a wild and crazy week! That said, I'm pleased to say that both C and I have survived it all........you knew that Barker would!!

I will begin with the last (and best!) first: I've been playing around with Susan Conn Italo's Wild Onion Jacket. Susan's master pattern shows the jacket reversible and completed with its seams exposed and bound on the outsides. I wanted a jacket that was reversible but didn't have exposed seams. Not being a pattern planner person, I emailed Susan and we discussed my plan. She encouaged me to proceed, and so I did. After a few extra seams sewn and frogged, here's my completed jacket front:


back:

lining front:


lining front with 'real front' showing:

lining back
lining detail:

I was unsure as to the sizing and my construction ideas on this jacket, so I purchased some very inexpensive muslin from my local fabric store with the thought of making a sloper. Then I just couldn't resist playing around with the muslin, adding some dyes, discharging a few, waxing more, bleaching a little, printing more, etc.

I am pleased to report that the jacket pattern is totally reversible and that it fits me to a TEE!! I am so in love with the Wild Onion Jacket pattern!!! Thanks Susan!!

Scarves: I've been having a wonderful time dyeing silk scarves!! I was pleased to see that my friend Gerrie's gorgeous silk scarf donation to the Surface Design Association's online auction had done so well. Go Gerrie!! Next year, I plan to make my donation. In the mean time, here is one of this week's creations on silk charmeuse:


It is my interpretation of Autumn in Georgia, with the maize colored grasses and leaves and also the crimson Dogwood leaves. I LOVE Autumn in Georgia!

here's the detail of Maize:


The Silk Painters group that I belong to has a monthly challenge/theme and this month's is Autumn. I haven't submitted mine yet, but here it is:


I've rediscovered the love that I once had for free form painting on silk with acid dyes! This scarf was so much fun to create!!! It all began a week ago when Barker and I walked at sunset on the golf course. The setting sun against the autumn leaves and sky was breathtaking and very inspirational.

Another view

and a bit of detail:

Here's a tee that I've been tinkering with for a month or two:



Here's another tee that I have finished off for myself:


detail:
I am short on seasonal tees for myself, so I am finally getting a chance to stock up on a few for the cooler months!

Our friends John and Troy have opened a cute little shop just off of the square in GainesVegas: Creations by John and Troy. They do not have a website yet, but if you are in the area and you are in need of gorgeous cut flowers by the stem at a very reasonalbe price, check them out on Bradford Street. They are now carrying my one-of-a-kind hand-dyed silk scarves, plus many other lovely pieces by local artisans.

PEACE, HOPE, CHANGE:
OBAMA/BIDEN!

Hitting the Ground Running

We were up dark and early this morning (I cannot believe it is Fall again already, can you??), and Barker and I were out on the golf course even before the first golfers! I do enjoy the cooler temps, and also getting to watch the sun rise as we walk.

After breakfast I headed out to the studio and hung my batched Wild Onion jacket fabric out on the line to dry. Here are the two together:

I made some stamps and some screens later in the morning and when the jacket fabric was dry, I ironed it and then put a large batch of things into the steamer to cook their brains out for a while! The weather forecasters tell us that we may actually see some rain tomorrow, so I have finished up all of my outside work, and if there is time, I'll be working inside. However, my Mom has an appointment with the Dentist right after lunch, so my time will be cut short. Also, I'm getting together with Joanie, one of my best friends, for lunch at our favorite haunt!

Here is another Complexitee that I have just finished up for the November Festival of the Arts show at our church. I will have a little table of things for sale there. The neat thing is that at least 10% (and we can designate more) of the proceeds from our sales goes directly to the Quinlan Art Center as a scholarship for children to attend art camp!

front:

back:


detail:
For dinner, C is smoking a tuna steak and I am fixing some oven roasted sweet potatoes and okra (not together, but both oven-roasted!), plus a spinach salad. That and a little Pellagrino ought to tide us over!

I hope you will be joining me to watch the Presidential Debate this evening. I hope that Sen McCain will not get too nasty tonight, but if he does, I hope that Sen Obama will keep his cool and simply state the facts. Now that the polls are showing Obama in the lead, McCain probably needs to attack, but I just hate that conflict business!

PEACE, HOPE, CHANGE: OBAMA/BIDEN!

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!!!