Unwrapping & Owl

I made Owl for SCRAP's Unfinished Art show. She started out as a partially embroidered tea towel...

These other photos are of the unwrapping of some bundles of linen and leaves which have been soaking in vinegar water with bits of iron for about four months. Following the unbundling photos are pictures of  excavating woolens from the depths of buckets of walnut hulls. These have also been soaking for a number of months.

I'm experimenting with posting from my iPad; the app is a bit clunky, but it's nice to be able to take these photos and do a blog post all with one machine.

A Home of Their Own

I found this nifty wooden play house at the thrift store. I was too lazy to take a "before" photo; it was pink and purple and covered with Tinkerbell stickers..slightly ghastly~! But it's a sturdy, well-made structure, so I re-habbed it to use as a display for my Plush. The walls are covered with indigo-dyed wool, and the floors with repurposed wool sweater fabric.

 I added some nice detail of embroidery, but made myself keep it subtle, as I don't want it to detract from my Plush!

I've been having fun doing photo shoots with it, and it's been working out well in my display.

Now I just need to sew some more creatures to inhabit it!

September Color

Some reasons why September is my favorite month:

 Cosmos sulphureus solar soaking in the greenhouse

Resulting color on wool and silk

Coriopsis tinctoria

Bundles solar soaking

Resulting flower print on silk and wool

Fermenting indigo vat (yep...in the greenhouse!)

Indigo dyed wool and Cosmos dyed wool

Indigo dyed wool and hemp-silk

Oak galls

Silk dyed with Oak galls and modified with iron

Eucalyptus leaves

Eucalyptus dyed wool and silk

Red Alder bark (currently fermenting in a bucket)

Rudbeckia

Summer Deck Happenin's

Stevia plant

Thai Basil

Solar dyeing with walnut & silk (actually, I should call it "cloud dyeing")

Fava bean shucking (mmmm...my favorite!)

Dinner-to-be

New Mitts design with buttons!

New Mitts design with Cuteness!

It's nice to have company

Everyone wants in on the action

More Cuteness

This morning I finished this Cutie.When I start making one of these crocheted creatures, I never know how they'll turn out. For this one, I made long, spindly legs, thinking it would look funny standing tall on skinny legs. But when I started to sew the pieces together, Cutie wanted to recline, instead.

Here's Sly Little Bro.

And shy Octopal.

I rewarded myself with a walk in the woods over accross the creek, exploring some new forest paths. The stroll was glorious, and I came home with some gourmet tidbits!

Sewin' & Farmin'

Here's what I've been up to these days:

Sewed a new batch of Mitts for Musing (getting ready for Fall/Winter sales).

Sewed a new batch of Pocket Buns.

Tested out a new furry fabric on a bunny...pretty darn cute!

Crocheted and felted; waiting for eyes.

Sewed a new batch of Buddha Bunnies.

Dye experiments with the madder root I grow in a bathtub in the garden. I accidentally boiled the batch on the left; luckily the fiber seems fine, and what a lovely color it turned out! I'm so thrilled to be able to grow a plant in my garden that will yeild such a gorgeous color.

I spun up this yummy yarn from the samples I received in Phat Fiber's May box. The theme was "Blossom and Bark" and there were quite a few samples that were in the pink family. I arranged all the samples in order by color, and just spun them up one after another into a long single. I decided to ply it with another single in green, to balance out all of that pink. This is my first multi-colored barber-pole type of yarn, and I just love it. I'm thinking to use it to make some squares for an afghan. Even though I wish I could spend all the days in the studio, the farm in August requires a bit of attention, mainly in the form of harvesting and food processing. Here's the labor of a recent weekend, left to right: boysenberry-honey jam; super chutney with squash, plums, apples, onions, and dried tomatoes (I know, I know...it's chutney enough for two years!); and sweet & sour Asian plum sauce. Last but not least, August's star....blueberries! (by the bushel!)