the first sign of Fall...

CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR CLOSE-UPS

this was the only leaf lying on the ground. all the leaves on the Chinese Tallow tree are still green and in tact. the first one to fall...

such an unusual configuration of color

i did finish the small silk piece that i've been showing you. i'm now working on the edge...some crocheted dangly bits. hope they will be finished by my next post.

15" x 15" habotai silk squares with an embroidered cotton backing

another idea for a toggle and some ball buttons...

did some weaving on the back threads of the label and added some hand dyed silk edges

2 more ball buttons for my fun time cloth...with piping this time

i watched a very interesting video this week on the history of knitting in the UK. thought you might enjoy it. you will find it here. for some reason, it starts near the end, so just move the bar all the way to the beginning. it is worth watching the whole thing.

i did promise you another knitting sample. this one is for double knitting. the pattern shows up on both sides so it's a double thickness. there is no wrong side. and you will find the tutorial videos for double knitting here.

double knitting...i drew a graph for a checkerboard pattern

i'm doing black bean dyeing today so hope i can show you some results next time. the beans soaked for 24 hours and the liquid has been drained off. i'm getting ready to mordant the fabric with alum and cream of tartar and then into the dye bath.

 

the temperature has started to cool down so the days are much more comfortable. hope you are all having a great weekend.

blogger is not cooperating today so some words and images might be oddly placed.

working with watercolors....

i watched this video on facebook this week and it inspired me to take out my watercolors once again. i love the look of a watercolor painting but have not practiced enough to get good at using this medium. this video gave me some good pointers and i did something i hope to transfer to cloth....not in color but in white.

click on the images for close ups.

watercolors and inktense pencils

i'm still having fun with my pleater that i showed you in my last post. i'm trying out different fabrics and will probably make a sampler of some kind.

a double layer of cheesecloth through the pleater. the selvedged edge makes a nice finished ruffle.

this is cotton lawn with some iron on transfers applied and run through the pleater.

i decided to smock some of this to open up the pleats. this is 'my kind of smocking' i don't really know how to smock correctly.

i'm close to finishing the top of my nine patched irregular pleated piece. i have to decide on how to edge it and what type backing to use.

15" x 15" irregularly pleated squares with french knots and embroidered bands...all on habotai silk cloth.

so it's been a busy, enjoyable, productive week here. we finally got some good rain yesterday and things are looking green again. the temperature has cooled down. it was actually in the 60s this morning and delightful. hope you all have a good weekend.

meditative stitching continues...

since some of you asked...a bit more has been done on the meditative stitching. The needle weaving in those holes is very fiddly work. I pick up this work when I don't know where I want to go on my magic cloth or when I want to be able to work on something small. Looking at the picture here, I'm seeing that those crossed triangles are purple and not black, as I thought. Will have to change that.
Click on the images for a closer view.

there will be more holes, more needle weaving and more...

I'm also working on a needle felting project that I can't show yet but while gathering my supplies, I found some wonderful silks in my stash. I'm thinking there will some weaving, braiding and spinning coming from some of this in the near future.

lots of possibilities with this silk

And wanted to share this wonderful video that glennis posted on Facebook this morning. It is the first exhibit of mandalas created by patients of the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2012/02/19/pkg-sacred-circles.cnn#/video/living/2012/02/19/pkg-sacred-circles.cnn

and we're off...

Jude's Magic Diaries workshop started today. And, as usual, I'm off in a different direction than I planned. I did want to work on my moon quilt but I don't have as many pieces for that as I thought. I pulled out all my pieces and decided to go with the beasts and the very bright red/orange/yellow background. I'm hoping I can get all those pieces to work well together and plan to make some more beasts to add on. Also hoping I can tone down that bright background with lots of embellishments. If you want to join in, you can still sign on for this fabulous 6-month workshop here.
I'm back in here to say I just decided I'm going to onion skin dye that bright red/orange/yellow background before I do anything else. That should knock down that color.

the pieces I have so far

I came upon some silk scraps and just started playing with them and some cotton that was leaf bundle dyed. I was disappointed that the cotton was very hard to handstitch through so I wound up using the sewing machine for some of the stitching. I'm thinking the cotton and silk pieces will make a nice pouch and the nine-patches (hand stitched) will probably be used in the lining.

silk and cotton

The July/August issue of Piecework Magazine has a couple of great articles on Oya Lace with some instruction. It's a type of needle lace. I'm trying to learn. I'm using the edge of a vintage napkin.

the second one is a little better than the first.