regrouping

A small background piece is ready for "collaging."

 

The studio is about as organized as possible at this time. 

last week

cookies

more cookies

Christmas pudding and

 kitty under the tree

another whirled

as a respite from my own one of the things I've done has been to peek into India's whirled and so as a result took a look outside

at the last possible minute before they all blew off and away, I was inspired to gather

a few leaves from the ground and around

added the leaves . . . maple, Japanese maple, oak, serviceberry, for example, and some avocado peelings . . . to pots with bits of cotton, silk, doilies, some bundled, some not

and so have some slightly altered fiber pieces in a natural dye sort of way but nothing spectacular and no prints. nevertheless a good diversion

why stitching helps

No stitching yet but here are some good reasons why it would be a good thing to do. 

unraveling

just waiting. no stitching. no writing. just going back and forth  and waiting.

low tide

The stitching is now complete and a few new embellishments have been added. It has probably been about a year, working on this on and off, and I think it is finally finished.

Background fabrics are assorted shades, weights and textures and include blueberry-coffee dyed cheesecloth. Embellishments include:

lace bits and fiber scraps

yarn and yo-yo's

paperbeads under produce netting

buttons and beads

a decoupaged washer

shells from a North Carolina beach

“Eternity begins and ends with the ocean's tides.” ~ unknown

different stacks

Corrine posted hers here. I'm not a participant because mine are fabric and not paper but after looking at hers and after following the link to Seth's Stacks I noticed this little group of ATCs and other small fiber pieces I already had stacked on a shelf in my studio.

what I actually did

watched the sun rise

watched the sun set

and basked in moon glow

Despite intending to work on the log cabin blocks during the week, I did not sew a single stitch.

what I meant to do

I cut an assortment of dark and light fabric strips and background squares, and packed scissors and thread.

berries

These berries were from weeds pulled from my backyard and I have no idea what they are. Not having time to do anything with them before we left for vacation,  I left them out to dry.

They now look like this.

This aren't the same kind of berries she used, but these results are inspiring.

returning to the sea

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”  ~ Isak Dinesen

"For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one." ~ Khalil Gibran

“All loose things seem to drift down to the sea, and so did I.” ~ Louis L’Amour

sparkle

I've been away but am now home and trying to catch up. I did manage to create an inchie for this week's Every Inchie Monday word which is sparkle.


Sparkle Days Studio comes to mind when I think of sparkle.

feathers, rain and trees

It rains and rains and rains. 

Two trees are down and this one bounced off the house.

Two feathers are now on their way to jude.

first feather

Currently I'm working to contribute a block with an embroidered feather to jude's magic feather project. This is my first attempt. The top background piece is linen. I'm considering this one a practice feather. Next time I won't try to draw it while riding in a car. 

having fun

with Betty.  I found her last week at Goodwill and thought she might be a good portable display for some of my necklaces. I don't know why but for some reason I just think her name is Betty.


I left her on the dining room table (instead of taking her directly upstairs to my studio) and when I came downstairs the next morning this is what she looked like. 

2011 erosion bundle materials

became a scroll.

All of these papers, fabrics and embellishments came from the bundle set out in the elements earlier this year for the Erosion Bundle Project except for a few torn snippets of coffee-dyed fabric with a Parisian post motif and a couple of sticks found in the woods.

(diamonds and) rust

It's been awhile but finally . . . another inchie for Every Inchie Monday. This week's word is rust and was inspired by leftovers from my Erosion Bundle Project creation which will be posted soon. This piece is comprised of rust-stained paper, fiber and lace attached to a colored inchie square from inchie arts.


When I think about rust I also think about this.

contrasts

 so far it's been a summer of contrasts, with some stitching in between

wild sweet orange

This little work in progress is built around the gift of wild sweet tea received earlier this summer from a friend. Paper and fiber include the tea bag wrapper, candy wrappers, and Laurel Burch and Kaffe Fassett fabric. I've added a blue "jewel" that seems more appropriate here than on the blouse it came on, and I will be adding a beachtag from the one afternoon we spent at the shore.

not only this

but all of this. A lovely box, inside and out. Fiber confections rolled and tied with coordinated trim. Silk sari yarn. A felt flower brooch. A lavender heart.
I was the lucky recipient of Corrine's mystery box of goodies celebrating her blog's topping of 100 followers. Not only is her dosfishes blog inspiring and informational, she also has a studio blog Sparkle Day Studio featuring the studio of my dreams.

Since it arrived in a box, of course I had assistance opening it.
Many thanks to you Corrine for your generosity and as always, your encouragement.

now it looks different

It started out like this.

After the base was stitched down and the basting removed, I added cutouts from a variety of commercial fabrics, some dyed with coffee, bits of old lace and trim, some buttons.

weaving ways

This is the completed piece.