Decrease: I've decided to start this sweater over.
Increase: Just one more sleeve and the yoke on the solid green sweater.
Increase: Making flowers as patches.
Decrease: the scrap pile is a little smaller. Working hard on this.
Make one: more digital collage.
Decrease: less paper collage happening. Need to get back to that. Working on decreasing the paper stash too...
1. I was out on the porch when I heard a crow above me. It was sitting on the peak. It paused for a moment, long enough for me to take a few pictures and then flew off.
This is a combination of three layers and two filters.
2. Last weekend I found a post on NPR about how having a sense of purpose might extend life, protecting a person from cardiovascular diseases in particular. I love the connection of purpose and heart.
3. Ready to stitch:
"I thought about lines-the lines we draw, the lines we write, the lines we cross, the lines we cross out. An actor's lines, deadlines, headlines, borderlines-lines drawn in the sand; lines we never forget, the lines we leave behind. A circle is a line touching." Terry Tempest Williams, The Hour of Land
The take it outside basket.
Knitting, sewing, reading.
I am reading Mary Oliver's Upstream, and listening to Terry Tempest Williams. It's a kind of conversation to move back and forth between the two. A pairing.
After spending about a hour stitching the sleeves on to a shirt by hand, I spent less than 5 minutes cutting them off.
(I loved the way the pink seam showed through though.)
That's how it goes sometimes.
Silence In the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge (a rabbit hole Nancy, Pomegranate trail, sent me down). Book
Movie: "In Pursuit of Silence"
Gordon Hempton Interview
From my journal, when I feel/have felt silence:
1. September 11th… Seattle, in the garden, the planes grounded.
2. Boulevard park, sitting on a rock, rainy day when I was in college.
3. In Venice, Italy. Walking alone into a silent neighborhood, a little lost.
4. At the beach.
5. Early in the morning…like now.
6. Snow
7. Out on the boat, anchored up for night.
8. In Alaska, up the Stikine River, at a glacier (childhood memories)
9. When the power is out.
10. Vising the cathedral in Florence Italy.
Words to consider: quiet, noise, volume.
Thought: Silence isn't always an absence of sound.
Question: What does silence inspire?
What I've been stitching on both in silence and while listening to things about silence.
Loving that this piece has become a blending of things learned from multiple people/sources.
There's been a flock of robins in and out of the garden today. They are working on the neighbor's holly trees.
Five or six will perch at any given time in one of my fruit trees that are by the entry gate. They are fluffed out full, facing the wind.
It's supposed to snow part of the night and be windy...gusts up to 40 MPH. It's 7 F/-11 C with the wind chill right now. Not nearly as bad as other areas but cold for us.
This makes me think storm.
Collage + layering of two photos + filer.
I've been stitching today and, of course, watching the snow fall.
A few posts back in the comments I mentioned the idea of gathering a collection from the garden and processing it in a jar (India Flint style, Stuff, Steep +Store) once a month for a year. Starting next January 2020, I'll open one jar a month. Maybe I'll even make it continuous...open one jar and then process another.
Another form of field note....
Here it goes:
January's collection: a fern, some yarrow, fennel, sorrel, black berry, a few lingering rose leaves, dandelion, vinca, the last of the loganberry leaves, sage, st. john's wort and two different types of ivy.
A few of these things aren't usually around this time of year. We've had a few hard frosts but not enough to have them die down.
The water in the jar is a soft tea color so something certainly has color.
..........
Another project under construction:
As part of one of India's classes I was able to take part in a challenge offered by Beautiful Silks. For the cost of postage we were sent about 5 yards of silk to play with.
This includes some of all the silks that were sent except one. The last one I don't want to dye as I like it just the way it is. I'll be making a cowl that could be worn with this to "dress it up."
Something I've been considering a lot is how to make a wardrobe that is everyday but that something small could be added to a few items that would make it "special occasion." Part of my goal to have a sustainable wardrobe.
A little closer look at the bottom. The bright green is dye from the top piece of fabric that ran, the rest eucalyptus and onion skins. The two light fabrics were first dyed in my fresh indigo vat. A little bit of that turquoise remains.
I love the random flow of colors in this, a collage of color.
I've now made two sweatshirts using 100 Acts of Sewing's Dress No.2.
I have fabric for a third and would love to get some cotton velveteen to make another dressier "winter" version.
Sweatshirt number two.
I didn't bind the neckline on this one, just folded over and stitched down.
I also shortened the length.
One important considering for using this pattern with a knit is to change the neckline so that it is much shallower. I used the back neckline from my favorite tank top (altered enough at this point to be pretty much a self drafted pattern).
I lined up the shoulder seams on the two patterns so that they were even, cut the neckline and then removed the tank top pattern so that I could cut the dress arm hole.
My favorite patterns are on tag board now which makes using them much easier.
On the little less practical side. This is the tank top pattern cut out of silk and dyed with eucalyptus...
This is the first time that I've managed to get such good results with eucalyptus. Something that India Flint said in the conscious clothing class clicked for me and I realized what I needed to do!
I learned a lot in the conscious clothing class and have plans to do a lot of experimenting this next year with dyeing and altering/drafting patterns.
Here's a few more:
These having me thinking about the possibilities of mirrored images...
Blanket used as packaging.
I included diapers, wipes, and balm.
Blanket unfolded.
Good thing Mama-to-be doesn't need straight lines.
I'm incapable of making them...
Carrots left from last week and one orange beet cooked until soft.
A pinch of salt.
Pureed.
Topped with caramelized onions.
Gift for baby shower.
Mostly scraps leftover from other projects.
Leftovers are always useful.
I was going to cut it apart and use the wool for other things but I tried it on one more time and thought no...the only thing really wrong with it is the huge hole on the hip.
One patch later I'm wearing it again.
The hole was caused by my back pack rubbing on the side. It's a smaller one that I tend to sling over one shoulder.
Something to think about.