Thursday, May 25, 2017

Blueprinted leaves, kittens and stitching

I pulled out all of my blueprinted(cyanotype) leaves earlier this week and have spent quite bit of time arranging and rearranging them on the design board. I think I've narrowed one idea down to this.

I have several more pieces that will probably work together in another piece, but that one still needs a lot of tweaking. My table looks like this.

I have several indigo pieces in the pile also, and leaves that aren't blueprinted, all could possibly be combined into something.

The kittens are now just six weeks old and are starting to eat regular cat food, so it's about time for me to find homes for them all.
They have really been so much fun and adorable, I'm trying really hard to not get attached to them. We already have enough cats.

Weekly stitching
Signs of Life:The five universal shapes

This group of five are all Gelli printed. I spent some time playing and did all five at once, even the backing fabric.
Week #21




2017 Daily Stitching days #139-145

Some kitten footprints were added in.




I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching".

Thursday, May 18, 2017

2017 Total Solar Eclipse

The big news around Weiser is that we are in the center of the path of totality for the solar eclipse that is happening on August 21. Last week there was an informational meeting at the High School put on by a couple of professors in the field of astronomy, one from Boise and one from Berkeley. It was a very interesting meeting and the really big concern is the impact it will have on our area. Weiser is a small town on the very western edge of Idaho, our population is about 5500. The experts are expecting between 50 and 60 thousand people to come to the area to view the eclipse. That's a lot of people! We have two small motels, a couple of small campgrounds, a handful of small restaurants, a small temporary grocery store and the two roads in and out of Weiser are two lane roads. So naturally there is a lot of planning and preparation going on. The extra bedrooms at my house have already been claimed by some of my children and grandchildren. I have eight pairs of eclipse viewing glasses. You can get more eclipse information here.


Weekly Stitching
Signs of Life: the five universal shapes week #20




The first 20 weeks of the year

2017 daily stitching days #132-138

Back to french knots and background stitches



I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Thursday, May 11, 2017

SAQA auction donation done and mailed

Finished the stitching on the SAQA donation, put a facing and sleeve on, labeled it and mailed it.





I also finished dying the fabric for the chair reupholster, took it in and scheduled the process. It won't be started until mid August, but I'm okay with that since I've already procrastinated for a long time.

Weekly Stitching
Signs of Life: The five universal shapes  week #19




2017 Daily stitching days 125-131

More french knots and filler stitches.



I'll be linking up with a bunch of very creative people on "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday stitching"

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Upholstery fabric, stitching and a kitten update

My big comfy chair that I bought 25 years ago is starting to look its age. I've considered trying to reupholster it myself, but can't seem to get motivated. Lucky for me a young woman in town has started an upholstery business and I'd rather she do it. I have some very heavy weight hemp fabric in two different weaves, a herringbone and nubby almost basketweave. I've bought a piece of printed home dec fabric and have decided to dye the hemp to go with it. I've done samples that are close enough for me.

The hemp fabric frays a lot, so I had to dig out the serger and do the edges. Yesterday I did the mocha  color and I'm happy with it.

Today the blue is in the dye bath, almost ready for rinsing.

The feral kittens are about three weeks old now, eyes are open and they are moving around more, but still sleep huddled up together.

Weekly Stitching Update
Signs of Life: The five universal shapes week #18




This set so far.

2017 daily Stitching  days 117-124
 Lots more french knots



Finally a few more rows of stitching on the SAQA Auction piece.


I'll be linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching", check out what others are doing.