how lucky I am that green is a color I love...

the garden has so many wonderful greens...

click on the images....

a small garden but so very satisfying

lettuce, sweet potato plant & one little lemon squash

the leaves on this scarf have gone from gold to green to a berry color...

I couldn't resist this green and white yarn but I'm removing all the sequins scattered throughout...

it's taking longer than I expected to remove all the sequins

and last time I showed you a Korean paper making technique that I was experimenting with called Joomchi. I started embellishing the paper with a scrim backing, free motion embroidery with lace bits, etc. and then started hand embroidering. the paper is so fragile that I had to stop. I'll show you the finished piece next time. I did order the book (Joomchi and Beyond) and hopefully I'll learn the proper technique.

felted paper, scrim, fme, lace bits & hand embroidery

enjoy every minute of every day. see you next time.

I'd say it was a success....

that is, the dyeing in a jar with a copper pipe. Here are the results.
click on the images for close-ups...

the white trailing lines in the center are from the copper wire I used to wrap the bundle.

those fine lines throughout are from the slivers of steel wool spread over the cloth.

love this area

I used the same liquid that is now totally black from all the iron in the steel wool and prepared a bundle with rose petals, and rose leaves and  lilies and amaryllis flowers and coleus from the freezer. I used a linen/silk cloth this time. I added the turmeric and steel wool bits once again. I'll show you the results next time.

I did some more stitching on the blue gingham travel/sewing pillow and hope to have it finished by next week.

close-up of some of the stitching

this section has a strip of hand dyed wool for needles and pins.

I've been enjoying being out in the backyard during the early morning hours. Some of the garden seeds are coming up but are not doing as well as I expected. I fear it will soon be too hot out there. We went from some very cold mornings to very hot days. Spring seems to get shorter each year.

just a small 4x4 garden area. It's the only spot where I get 6-8 hours of sun.

Wishing you all a good weekend wherever you may be.

a week of many projects...

i traveled from one project to another this week...trying to get it all in...so just a little progress in each, but that's ok. eventually, each will be completed.
click on the images for close-ups.

a web stitch on a bit of lace. i'm told it looks like a dream catcher.

did a bit more stitching on this piece. i thought it would be some kind of a vessel but plans have changed.

  and then some dyeing using spent flowers that i bought and from the garden.

rose petals, rose leaves, cosmos

all bundled around a tin can and ready for the dye pot

the garden is growing since we had 4½" of rain last week. these orange bulbs went from nothing peeping out of the soil to full blooming flowers in 6 days. i could almost watch them growing, it happened so fast.

May 25th, after a day of rain

May 30th, in full bloom

and almost forgot about this granny square afghan i started with a lace, variegated yarn...

trying to keep the blocks in order for a variegated look when stitched together

we're hoping for some rain this evening. it's hot...in the 90s...and very humid. hope you're all having a good weekend and are out of harms way. lots of weather creating havoc these days.

some more rain magic...

we had a wonderful rain storm yesterday and it's still raining here today...a nice steady rain. my little  garden is oh so happy. look at the difference the rain has made in just 5 days.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR CLOSE-UPS...

this is what it looked like on Monday

 

and here it is today, Saturday...and it's still raining

i have enough projects going so that i don't ever get bored. still working on lace making with fabric as learned in Karen Ruane's class.

hand dyed cloth, knitted scrap, sheer fabric all joined and embellished with embroidery

close up of french knots and bullion knots and open blanket stitch above

Karen's Simply Stitch class starts on June 17th. check it out here.

a bobbin lace friend showed a quilt she made using the 'disappearing nine patch pattern' and i had to try it.

click the link above to see how this started out as a nine patch

 decided to use this pattern in the making of a quilt. i have had these redwork hat blocks for many years and have collected some fabric to use for the quilt and it seems this is the right time.

there are 2 each of 6 different hat stitchings

these are the fabrics i'll be using

it will take a while but i'll be making the blocks little by little. you already know that i like working on many different projects at once.

hope you are all enjoying your weekend and i know some of you are celebrating Memorial Day weekend with family and friends (here in the US), so enjoy.

this week has gone by too fast...

i'm really enjoying spinning with the drop spindle. i've been experimenting plying with a commercial lace yarn and i like the way it turned out. you can see from this picture that i'm getting better with practice.

i think this thinner yarn might be good for a pair of socks

i've cleaned out the small garden bed, added some new ingredients and planted lettuce, radishes, spinach and peas. the radishes are already up in record time.

added some trellis' to allow the pea vines to climb

i found this great idea for making market bags from old t-shirts on Instructables.com. there's no sewing involved and it takes about 15 minutes. here's the link if you want to try it.

just cut off the sleeves and part of the neck and fringe and tie the bottom edge

still working on the socks...not too crazy about the afterthought heel. i didn't like doing the Kitchener stitch...kind of fussy.

working on the second sock

and there are a couple of things waiting in the wings:

this crochet pattern from Piecework magazine---just for the challenge

and this shawlette pattern from craftsy.com.

i'm hoping this yarn will be the right weight

i also have several stitching projects in the works but haven't done much stitching this week. i ran out of time. wishing you all a good weekend.

finishing up and moving on...

the back of the jacket was finished yesterday...

stitched with some variegated threads and mixed some of that taupe and beige thread that was wonderful to work with. don't know what it is or where it came from but it was in my stash.

i know some of you like to see the back of the stitching.

stitched onto the jacket using a beige thread and stitched between the seems so it wouldn't show.

working on the pocket today...

i hand dyed all the fabric and a bit of tatting left over from the plackets.

UPDATE ON THE JACKET 5-31-2012:
the jacket is complete and i'm just adding the final pics so they will all be in the same place.

the only machine stitching done was when i added the pocket to the jacket. i added a stiffener within so the pocket wouldn't flop and it was too thick to hand stitch.

 

the completed front

the jacket is now hanging in the closet waiting for fall and cooler weather.
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i stopped in the thrift store this morning as all their clothing was 50% off. picked up a dress and a blouse that will be remade into something...the blouse is a large and the dress is a 2X so there's lots of cloth to work with.  got them both for $3.

cotton blouse with some nice cut work and cotton dress that will be perfect after some major alterations.

and the garden is doing really well...except of course for the indigo that is growing about 1/8" a week...but i'm not giving up just yet.

garden pickings for dyeing and...

i enjoyed being able to go to the garden for some cloth dyeing leaves and flowers. wasn't sure what would work so i tried a little of bit of quite a few plants. click on the images for close-ups.

lambs ear, basil, petunias, and more

stainless steel pot filled with rain water

and the results. some cloth wrapped around a tin can and some around a copper pipe.

all the cloth is part silk. this last one was wrapped around the tin can with a wide rubber band and some of the rubber is stuck to the cloth from being out in the sun. it has been washed but will still need some rubbing to get it all off. none of the leaves or flowers left any kind of detailed impression.

and i have started working on the back of my jacket. i'll start stitching on it tonight.

hand dyed silk, a crochet sample i did a while ago with some embroidery.

you never know...

who or what will send you love...

a double heart

the garden is doing well what with all the wonderful rain we have had in the past couple of weeks.

the cucumber plant is kind of taking over everything else

lots of little cucs...can't wait to eat the first one

and the Chikan Embroidery is finished and blocked. it's hard to photograph white. click on the images for a closer view.

love the texture and the shadow effect

Anita of Artistic Fingers did a great job of teaching the individual stitches. if you click on Chikan Embroidery on her side bar, all the lessons are there.

off to do some stitching before the day gets away from me.