In the Black

I spent today making this nuno scarf: It is a gift.

I am still amazed at how much these shrink in the making - this one started out as nearly 70 inches long and shrunk 20, in addition to 6 inches of shrinkage on the sides.

Making one of these is really a work out. I think I'll need to let my shoulders recoup before my next one!

Securing Expansion

I decided I needed to start fastening all my bits down, today. And I filled some gaps like the lower right corner in this photo.

I attached these and cut off the bottom which had been hidden behind other fabrics.

And I basted half of this and am recovering alot of pins.

But the big news for me today is finding a table I can use for laying things out, cutting and sewing, with a storage shelf below! I don't have room for it yet, but I expect to set it up sometime in December.

Home Ground

I have been engrossed in designing Palace of the Soul. This is the right 'cornerstone'. And today I was deciding between straight

or curvy

and here's what I chose:

I have moved things on and off and around and varied directions - and I'm not done, yet . I have really been feeling into what wants to be included and where, listening closely and acting on that.

I love how this decaying log I saw today is integrating with the earth. Home ground. That feels like what I'm on and once I have all the fabrics chosen for 'Palace', I will work at unifying the whole.

Soul Reminder

Something was really brewing inside me yesterday. I went into the studio vaguely thinking I might do more handstitch or begin a gift but nope, that snow dyed piece I had previously unpicked didn't want to be put away and suddenly some hand pieced blocks declared they would be the perfect partners for it - on a large piece. So I played along and prepared a size and shape that felt right. I was curious as to when exactly did I do the snow dyeing, so I went back in my journals and discovered that I had made the first of these blocks the same day - and had an intention to make a larger piece. Well, at least my psyche remembered!

I proceeded to nearly cover the whole of this with other fabrics I've dyed and pieces that I've partially stitched, but I'm not at the stage yet where everything has found its place. This piece is going to be called 'Palace of the Soul' and I feel excited and know I will be spending alot of time with it.

Picking Up

While the wind outside picked up, rearranging leaves and branches, I was picking up fabrics and supplies in the studio after my creative whirlwind, so I can have room to work again! In normally hidden spaces, I found many partially completed projects and felt into what has energy for me now and found that many of them do and that I have lots of ideas for where to take them, next.

This fish still had pins in its fins - ouch! So I secured it with thread onto a background.

And I selected a backing for this unicorn and started to baste it down.

I am thinking about gift making, too.

Change For the Better

Some of this pond that I saw yesterday, had become ice. And the only sun to be seen was on this tree:

It felt like it could snow - and these snow berries added to that feel.

I did not get cold feet and took the plunge.

And I like this much better:

The snow dyed fabric will look better paired with hand dyed fabrics.

Back Road

More frost toned down the colours outside, yesterday morning. I had been working with tones - wanting to use one of my snow dyed pieces of fabric in a table topper.

But somehow, it wasn't working - the colours looked good together and matched ones in the snow dyed linen, but the contrast of their flat solid colour and geometric shapes was too great. So I decided to go for a walk.

Very cold and fresh and the tide was out.

And there were a few pops of bright colour still around. Back home I decided I would unpick my work.

Along the Lines of Imagination

There was a surprise on my car yesterday morning - frost feathers! And frost waves:

And frost fronds:

And more pathways and pattern in the spaces between have appeared on this, too.

Woman in the Moon

It was such a pleasure to be stitching, yesterday, and I'm eager to add more to this. I added tracks to the sand, as well, when I went to watch the waves surge in the wind.

I saw moons

but the dye in my pot at home must have seeped in, in spite of the resist,

So I ended up with a cloth awash in colour.

I know the moon is there, even if I can't see it.

Settling In

Over the weekend I made another nuno pre-felt and completed a bit of knitting, but mostly just slowed down, taking time to reflect. Today I stitched together a variety of fabrics and then dyed them with leaves, afterwards.

And I also sewed this, then dyed it with arbutus bark:

I like how the colour settles into the cracks of the stitching - I used white cotton thread.

Circling

Loving the Questions

I went back to stitching yesterday and answered some of my questions, as well. Could I nuno felt my Japanese Maple dyed scarf and maintain some of the prints? The leaf prints were faint to begin with and though I put very little wool and silk in the center and can see the marks, they are not really discernable. But I know they are there and will remember collecting the brilliant scarlet leaves from the lawn's green fringe and the excitement of later unrolling the scarf with the spent brownish leaves still beautiful, glistening and clinging to the silk. A scarf was quicker to nuno felt than a shawl because the area to design was smaller and I also put less materials on this one. I just love the delicate strength - and - the memory hidden in the folds.

And I wondered how this silk scarf would look overdyed with Japanese Maple - it had yellows and greens from other vegetation, previously. A surprise came with the black lines from a brown shoelace - which had never given colour before.

And when I was cleaning out my fridge, I found three shrivelled mushrooms with dark brown undersides and rather than just compost them, I wondered if they would make lovely rings. They did make black rings which washed out, leaving mostly browns from the peony leaves.

I will experiement with different mordants another time. And I made a black and white polka dotted nuno pre-felt, adding to my stash.

Show and Tell

Today I was at the opening of a group show I'm part of, at Satin Moon Quilt Shop. Here is Maya Brouwer with one of her lovely pieces:

I was also to the opening of the Fibres at the Hill show a few days ago, put on by the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association, which was a real pleasure to see, as was visiting with so many familiar faces.

Here I've used Japanese Maple leaves to add colour to this scarf I plan to nuno felt.

And I have started to make nuno pre-felts to build a palette to use in further work. This is some sari silk I got somewhere that really ran alot in the process. You can see the wool fibres have worked through the silk.