bee creative

#28

Dipping the tip of a pencil in ink makes nice thin lines.

Possible collage element...painted with acrylic paints that I am trying to use up. 

connections hold us

I finished listening to Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer today.  It's as beautiful as an audio book as when reading it page by page. 

Thinking about that...oral traditions and written.

As I listened I went back and forth between shelling beans, cleaning the kitchen and making ink.

This is the best crop of beans I've been able to grow.  I think because I was more careful to keep the soil moist as the seeds germinated.

I will eat some of them and save some to plant. 

I grow beans because it is a connection to one of my grandfathers.  Today I thought of watching him shell beans, of him sharing his collection of bean seeds with me and the stories that went with them. 

Also I grow beans because they are beautiful.

Two of the inks that I made today, one with onion skins and the other with coffee grounds.

The coffee sample on the right was made with coffee grounds still in the liquid.  I brushed them away once it was almost dry to have a better idea of the color.  The coffee sample on the left was diluted a bit. The coffee was roasted by Mom, another connection.

The onions came from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box.  I love these onions enough that I might need to grow some just be sure I have them. I love this ink because I know who grew the onions; I know where the onions were grown and that they are local.

The other ink I made was with indigo.  The indigo was purchased from a business I feel good supporting.  Not quite local, but not too far away either. 

Thinking about how a family tree of pigments could be created and about stories. 

About how stories and relationships lead to care...

 

kinda blue

Today I harvest almost all of my indigo and blended it up with an immersion blender.  Works way better than the blender I've been looking for and haven't been able to find.

This is a dish tub full of indigo and water. It was strained for dyeing and added to a larger tub.

I used this technique because I wanted to dye some yarn and there was a lot of yardage. I dyed about 5 yards of fabric and over dyed a jacket that I've been working on. All the fabric is silk or wool.

The first layer of color on the jacket was walnut.  The jacket seems darker but nothing is blue.

Along with another 2 yards of fabric that I dyed earlier this year, I now have enough fabric for a skirt and 2 tops plus a bit more for something else (maybe a vest?). My goal is to make a capsule wardrobe of clothing dyed with plants. So far I have a pair of pants dyed with walnut and a top dyed with indigo. They don't really go together though. I am hoping these projects will solve that problem.  

I am probably going to use the yarn to make a shawl I have a bit bigger (it was dyed with indigo as well) and make some wrist warmers.

Should keep me busy for awhile with everything else I've got going on.

It chases away that other kind of blues...

needed

It seemed like a safer option...

so I made a needle book.

with probably more pages than I need.

Room to add stories.

Found one on the back already; outlined so that I can remember.

Made with a Threadcrumb, Deb Lacativa thread, fabric that I dyed with some plant or another and a piece of paper inserted between the two pieces of fabric that make up the cover for a bit of stiffness.

field testing

Yesterday I started hand stitching this.  Only the zipper and thread were new. 

First time I've put a zipper in and actually enjoyed the process.

I filled it up with first aide supplies and tossed in my work bag. 

If it goes well there will be more.

Directions here (because sometimes those recommendations
can be helpful).

in a way these are all field notes

Yesterday's lunch break...cloud watching.

It feels like fall. 

It feels good, cooler. Just a little rain this morning.

The yellow shirt went into the walnut vat.  Yellow from the home garden, walnuts from the work garden.

A more wearable color. 

I am stitching up the sides now and considering a touch of the yellow somewhere.

Two new books:  Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and Wild Textiles by Alice Fox.

(How many books can I read at one time?)

Feedback Friday's presentation today was by Alice Fox.  For the first time I decided to watch it in "real time."  It was a great presentation and I have plans!  Tomorrow I am going to gather bindweed to save for a basket.  For today, I twined a flyer that was in the mail into paper yarn. Twined paper makes a great cat toy.

And then there was this, late afternoon...

There isn't supposed to be rain for the next 10 days.  The crocus will be beautiful as long as there isn't a downpour. I need to water.

Sunrise: 6:49 AM  Sunset: 7:20  

 

from the front porch: measuring fabric for quilt squares

Grace asked me to find the first post for my GOOD enough COVID 19 quilt. It's been a little over two years since it was started. 

Thinking about that.

I was hoping to be able to make one square a week...that didn't happen for the most part.  There were periods of time when I was distracted by other projects. 

There were times when I was distracted by everything that Covid has brought to our world.

The top is fairly close to done but a few more squares are needed to get to the 6 foot by 6 foot size I want, the recommended distance for social distancing.

Today I cut up the last of my cloth masks for the block I made today. When I need a mask I use what is recommended and is, unfortunately, disposable.

After cutting some more strips, with some assistance I stitched a block today....

 Sew

Flip

Snuggle a cat & move a cat.

Repeat.

And then go outside to make a tiny little video showing how I am cutting the strips.

There really is no rhyme or reason when I pick out strips for each square, just whatever appeals at the moment. I do sort by size a bit as one goal is to use up scraps. 

Hope that helps Grace. :)

creative housekeeping

I was tidying up a stack of things and found a can of paint...the blue used in my living room.  Wondering if there was something inside, I opened it and found about a cup of paint.  So I grabbed a paintbrush and finished the corner I hadn't painted blue in the living room and then did the trim on two windows. 

It is safe to say that I paint with more enthusiasm than talent. My favorite applicator is a sponge or a rag...what was used on the window trim.

 

from the front porch: how to repurpose a dress into a tank top

 

I am imagining everyone on my front porch with me...

and if you listen carefully you can hear one of the cats.

One thing that I didn't mention, to avoid having to sew the side seams over, the bottom of the arm hole needs to meet the edge of the piece of clothing when you cut.  For me if it's an article of clothing that already fits me, it works.  If it's larger the side seams would need to be resewn as well. Extending the arm hole out does not work unless you don't care if your bra shows. It is also the best reason to use a sleeveless shirt pattern for this.

This works well with skirts too.  An example of how I did this can be found here.  The pictures in this post also provide an example of what I mean by the side seams.

Two other things as I replayed the video:

-This dress has a dart.  To make a new neckline/arm hole for this I would have to go below the dart to cut.

-I think it's really funny that my verbal tick was "so."  If I were a perfectionist I'd probably have done the video over. But I am not so there you go!

P.S.  I've never tried this with something that has sleeves but I have some ideas now that I want to try...

 

recycle (redone)

This was originally posted with other words.

And then I read the news.

And so... something quieter.