Happy Day!!

Hope you're having a great July 4th! I'm taking a day off from the dyeing and am kicking back to do some knitting and beading.

Over the past two weeks I've been trying out some new (to me) techniques with soy wax. After attending Jane Dunnewold's "Soy Wax Three Ways" demo in Kansas City, I came home enthused and inspired to dye some yardage using stencils that I cut from plastic. Here is a portion of my first endeavor:


This is 3 yards of a lovely silk linen blend. I waxed it, dyed it yellow, let it batch, washed it out, waxed it again, dyed it scarlet, batched it, washed it, waxed it (sounds like a car, doesn't it?), and dyed it with a bronze-ish hue. After completing this piece, I thought how silly I was to do all of that washing between waxing and dyeing. So I consulted my guru (Jane) and she suggested that results might be different and that I do a comparison study. Since I had another two yards of the same fabric, I decided to give it a try, but using a different stencil. Here's what I got:

Totally different, isn't it! So, I think it depends on what result you are wanting, which method you should use. The washing between layers certainly does mellow things out.....but it is labor intensive!

Here are the two pieces together:


I finally got around to foiling some of the scarves that I dyed last week:

I prepared a new Thermofax screen and got the results above with the foil. I liked the screen so much that I added textile paint to a round robin t-shirt that had arrived on my doorstep earlier in the week:


It kind of reminds me of fireworks, which makes it very appropo for today!

Enjoy your holiday, if you are celebrating, or just enjoy your day!

PEACE

Only Fifty!

I've been busy dyeing up a few things that I cannot show you just yet....some surprises for a few special people, and some projects not yet completed. While I was 'working' out in the studio, I had some scraps of scoured muslin left over from my Wild Onion Jacket, and decided to play around with one of my tjaps that had never behaved too well. I was batiking some other pieces, so I plopped the tjap into the soy wax and let it heat up. After the wax cooled on my muslin, I soaked it for a few minutes in soda ash and then barely wrung it out and spread it in an old wallpaper trough. I drizzled some Procion MX turquoise and teal over the fabric, and then put the trough and fabric in our furnace room for the night. Here's how it looked after ironing, washing, and ironing again:

This is the first time that I've had good results with that tjap, so I'm pretty happy. Also, the batching in the furnace room in the winter is a good plan here in north Georgia where the temps get pretty darned cold. I have no problem with fixing my Procion MX dyes in the microwave as long as the piece of fabric is small, but this was a rather large cut....and the wallpaper trough wasn't about to fit into the microwave!

Speaking of cold temps: we had snow today! Well, heck it is December first, right? But, this is Georgia! Oh well!!!

Remember the Noro Cashmere Island scarf I was knitting a few weeks back? Well, I finished it last Friday! WooHoo! Just in time for our cooler temps!

I love all of the colors in it......and it is sooooooooo soft! MMMMMMMMMMMM!

My latest knitting adventure is this:

This is Artyarns 5 Cashmere and the pattern is their Paneled Zigzag Scarf. I had serious doubts about whether I could knit this, but Dr Sock assured me that I was up to the task. Sure enough, she was correct, and I am well into it now! After all, she is the Dr!!

Speaking of good friends, R has shared his admiration for The New York Times' Minimalist with me. C had a board meeting in town tonight and wasn't getting out until 7, so his plan was to stop by Pollo Loco and pick up some of their delish chicken. My plan was to make Bittman's stir fried sweet potatoes, some green beans, and a spinach salad. It was delish. If you don't know about the Minimalist, try him: you'll like him!

So: Only Fifty???? I know that some of you are aware of the significance of my title, but if you are not, I am gleefully referring to the number of days until Barack Obama will be inaugurated as our next President of these United States!

PEACE!!!
YES, WE DID!!!

'Been A While

Lots has been going on around here, and it seems that I haven't been making time to blog. I fear that my faithful followers have deserted me. ARGH!!! Leave a comment if you're still hanging in there with me, just to boost my morale!

The morning after I last posted, with those lovely pictures of Barker frolicking on the golf course during our evening walk, he took the liberty to totally 'besmurch' himself with all sorts of hangers on! Take a gander:


He's a funny boy: he is eager to go out and hunt on the golf course, but he hates to look bad, so he wasn't too happy to have me take that picture! He was so embarrassed!!!!

The rule in this household is that he who allows Barker to become besmurched must also be the 'desmurcher'! I am pleased to report that while the boys had walked the golf course, I had done my yoga! So, here are my boys:

take special notice that Elsie, our kitty cat, is seated on one of the ottomans! She and Barker have a real love/hate relationship, and she was totally enjoying Barker's grooming session!

We had tickets to hear Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, speak at Brenau University last Thursday evening.

It was a wonderful evening, and I so enjoyed hearing Dr. Hosseini speak about his life and his writing. He said that when he is writing a book, 8 hours can pass by and he is astonished when he looks at the clock and realizes how the time has flown. (I can relate as I feel the same way when I am working in my dye studio!) He also expressed his displeasure with the ads of the Republican National Committee where they cite that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. Like so many of us here in these United States, Dr. Hosseini doesn't understand why the name Hussein is offensive, or why some think that a Muslim cannot also be a 'good' citizen of the United States. 'good' isn't the correct word, but I think you know where I'm going with this!

OK, enough on politics for tonight!!

We spent a hurried 48 hours in Midtown last weekend. Was it really 48 hours? We went to see Oliver Stone's "W" at Midtown Arts (there wasn't much in there that I didn't already know, but Josh Brolin did a great job and the gal who played Condalisa Rice was fantastic!) and we walked a lot, as usual! I snapped a few pictures on our walks around the 'hood. Here's how 'our collapsed house' is coming along:

I was so pleased to see that they had gotten the roof on since we last were in Midtown, because we actually had rain last week!

I love how the neighborhood decorates for the holidays! These guys always put on a great show:


I love the front porch on this house at the corner of Penn and 8th St:


Midtown is definitely Obama Country, and I feel so comfortable when we are there! Here are just a few of the many signs and bumper stickers in the neighborhood:




We rushed home to GainesVegas on Sunday morning, so that we could attend a few blessings. It seems that the last Sunday in October is a huge Blessing Day!

Our friends John and Troy were having their new shop, Occasions by John & Troy, blessed by Doug, our Episcopal Priest. Here they are after the Blessing:

John is an incredible flower designer and Troy is a fabulous baker. They also have many pieces of art on display and for sale in their lovely shop, including some of my scarves!!


Our friends Joan and Ed have recently built and moved into their dream home, and it is indeed a wonderful abode! They had invited us to their House Blessing later Sunday afternoon, and we were delighted to attend. Our church was also having the annual Blessing of the Animals at the same time, but we decided to give Barker the afternoon off, and opted to spend it with Joan and Ed, and many other of our mutual friends.

While in Atlanta last weekend, I went by Mingei World and picked up this beautiful tjap that I had ordered earlier in the week:

I just love it!! I spent several hours batiking today and will hopefully have some nice pieces to show for it. If so, I'll share them with you soon!

My usual lunch is a big salad with lots of spinach, aurugula, tomatoes, Feta cheese, sliced mushrooms, perhaps a cut-up apple, and a bit of whatever leftover cold meat we have on hand. Today's lunch looked particularly appealing, so I snapped this pic:


Well, that's it in a rather large nutshell. But, one last thing: if you are a U.S. citizen and haven't voted and you have the opportunity to vote early, please do so! I don't care which candidate you choose, I just want you to get out there and vote! It is so important!!!

Take a second and leave a comment..........I have!!

PEACE, HOPE, CHANGE:
OBAMA/BIDEN 08!!!

A Day of Beauty

Barker went to "Animal House", (the groomer's) yesterday, and "Brenda the wonderful" did him up splendidly, as usual. He looked so handsome when I picked him up that I had to share this shot with you...because boys will be boys, and he's already chased a number of squirrels and pretty much ruffed up his gorgeous locks.








I've been doing a bit of Rozome this week, trying to keep fresh in my mind all that I learned in the wonderful workshop at Pro Chem with Betsy Sterling Benjamin. Here's my favorite piece:

These are leaves that I picked up the other evening when C, Barker and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. I made a stencil with them when we got home. Here's a closeup of that top right leaf:

I am still using my soy wax, because I'm trying to find a thermostatically controlled tempura fryer (any ideas of sources?) for my bees wax and parrafin. I'm also finishing up some of my Tinfix dyes before I mix up my new acid fast dyes (there again, I'm on the lookout for a two burner hot plate for my studio, so that I don't have to mix the dyes in my kitchen).

Here's another scarf that I completed before I did the above leaves scarf:

While I had the soy wax heated up, I did a couple of pieces of childrens' clothing. This first little romper is for the new grandson of some friends of ours. Isn't it cute:

Here's a darling little girl's dress. Wonder where this is going?

Well, I'm on a roll now with the pics, so I may as well show you a couple more! Here's a special order scarf that I completed a few weeks back. I used black resist on it:

Here's one more scarf with black resist:

Durwood and I are taking part in the "One World Music and Arts Festival" at St. Bart's Episcopal Church in Atlanta tomorrow afternoon. If you're in the area, stop by and say hello!

PEACE