Strange Bird

I spent a few moments looking through a pile of fabric scraps last night and this was the result. Stayed up late working on it and then a bit this morning and afternoon. I seem to always start something new when I am having trouble finding time to work on things I have already started.

Art Nouveau in the Garden

There has not been much stitching going on here - but we have been watching things grow all around us - plant and animal. My biggest boy has smoothly made the move into first grade and is loving it. A few last plants of the season are showing off their blooms - these anemones have the loveliest art nouveau curves and symmetry. I wanted to post them here for future inspiration...

Ripple Effect

This bloom is making waves. I am stitching patterns to hold the layers together as one - emphasizing the original elements. I had thought I would stitch to the edge of the brown base but am thinking now of letting the stitched circle shapes be the edge of the stitching.

Pssst....

I added a subscribe tool to the right-hand sidebar - all the way down. I hope to post in the next few days - we are squeezing in every last fun thing before back to school. I'll be back soon...

Camouflage

At home last Monday morning - when I was really missing the wild surroundings we had enjoyed on our trip - I discovered this lovely creature on our stone patio. I like it that this moth found it suitable to rest there. Our chair is not a tree - but he was shaded enough to rest there all day - and the grays of his surroundings suited him perfectly. My sons and I checked on him often throughout the day and even played near him and he stayed. He was gone the next morning.

I had wanted to see what the lower wings would look like if opened - but I hadn't had the heart to disturb him.

Return to Real Life

We were gone and now we are back. These are just a few photos - for a sense of the place. It is strange to be back to cars driving by outside our house and the heat and humidity. We are slowly adjusting.

The story cloth went with me and I worked on it here and there quite a bit - although the things I added seem as if they have always been there.

Offline

I will be offline for a week or so - but I expect to have much to post about when I am back! Happy Summer!

Avocado Impatience

Although I made the previous post about the avocado dyeing today I actually took that first piece of fabric out yesterday. So technically I waited one more day after I first saw what the fabrics were beginning to look like. This afternoon it (finally) rained and the hot sun went away for awhile so I just decided the fabrics had been in the jar long enough and took them all out. Total time in the jar - about 5 days. I used the skins from 4 avocados and one pit.

I had placed colored fabrics in the mix as well as some creamy colored cotton. None of them were white to begin with because I don't use pinks very often and that is often what is achieved from using avocado. I had hoped using some colors would give me something different and I am happy with how they turned out. The lightest cream dyed a beautiful shade - the photo does not represent the lighter colors very well - but it is not what I would call pink - it is much warmer than that - I really like it. I like the dark shapes that happened - maybe where the color migrated to the high spots that were sticking out of the liquid? The blue print in the center was very bright and the print on the right was bright yellow - so it toned them down quite a bit - in a nice way I think.

I am encouraged. It was lots of fun. Its' a good thing my six year old likes avocados so much.