Indigo-a-go-go

 In preparation for an indigo dyeing workshop at the last CQFA meeting, I managed to stitch-resist exactly four lines of stitching. And obsessively rubber-banded the remainder of that piece of fabric. I tried to be fairly regular with where the rubber bands were placed but of course that got harder as the space between the rubber bands disappeared.  I was very intrigued to see how this one would turn out.

 In Maureen's sunny backyard, she'd set up a great space for us to get to work, dipping and sloshing the indigo all over with abandon. Our workshop teacher, Zoe Umholtz was wonderful, clear instructions, presented with a lot of energy. She does does a regular drop-in indigo workshop at the New Museum of Los Gatos. I might just have to head over there and join in, because this was very fun having everything set up, so we could just play.

 Here's how the pieces I dipped and dyed in the indigo buckets looked after a week of drying in a plastic tub. The instructions were to keep everything still bound up and clipped. We were warned not to forget about it and let it get molded/mildewed. No way, was I forgetting, I was dyeing (no dying!) to see how it would turn out.
  I wish I could have taken an in-process picture of how it all looked as the indigo dye soaked up the oxygen and went from green to blue, it was super pretty, but my hands were rather messy at the time. I dipped each item at least three times, some were probably four times.

 The clothespins got very nicely dyed, huh? The raw birch wood just soaked up the indigo. And the clean-up paper towels as well. Those will get used in collage at some point I'd imagine.

So I ended up dyeing three lengths of fabric, and one t-shirt that Rhonda so very nicely gave me at the workshop. I did a lot of folding and binding with clothespins, popsicle sticks and rubber bands.

It was a long wait to see how it would all turn out...a whole week, but you'll just have to wait a day to see how it all turned out once I opened it up and washed it out....

New ATCs

 Another 4 lovelies added to my ATC collection at the last CQFA meeting. Aren't these great?

 Maureen Lardie made this one using indigo dyed fabric and lace.

 I really like the stem stitching on this one by Jaye Lapachet.

 Beautiful painting from Nancy Riffle.

Angela Obeso has been working on this stitch-sketching technique, love how cute and happy this one looks.

Continuing With ICAD

 Nearing the end of the ICAD (Index Card A Day) and I let myself go into a more collage direction. But first there was some playing with pearlescent watercolors. They're hard to photograph to show off the shine but I managed it a bit in this first photo.

From the Archive Binder

 When I was filing away my ATCs, I found these two pieces from way back when. The first is a 4" square quilt let (yes I've always been making these!) that I'd stamped with a wooden stamp. Thought it was interesting how well this sentiment fits the current political zeitgeist.

This rubber stamp of the smiling woman I always called "Marge" not sure why, but that's the name that stuck. I also found this political sentiment to be something to re-consider.

August ATCs

The ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that I made for CQFA this time were a mixed-media collage process as usual.


I started out with a mottled dark green fabric and stitched it to a batting/backing in parallel lines.

Then I started changing the fabric, first with big dots of Tee Juice in gray.

Then using the fine point Tee Juice I connected the dots.

 I then added some dots of gold with a Zig leafing pen and lighter green splotches with a Seta Skrib marker. I liked the overall look especially when chopped up into ATC size (2.5 x 3.5")

 Here's all 6 that I made.

 Measuring tape printed cotton knit ribbon was chopped up to show one number in each section.

 I dug through my button stash and found a bunch of brownish buttons that looked good with the green fabric.

 Lastly I stitched some X's on by hand with lime green cotton thread.

 There were a lot of buttons in my stash that worked, plastic, wood, metal, leather.

This wonky-edged one with the messed-up button was the one I kept for my collection.

Hot Hot Hot

 No seriously, it's been much too hot enough lately.

 My newest drink concotion for cooling off, a small amount of this fresh blood orange juice, maybe a 1/3 of a cup, mixed with a limonata Pellegrino and lots of ice. Very refreshing, and pretty too. When it's cocktail hour, then you can put in some vodka too.

Wow, so much cooler. Hard to tell the difference from 111F.

Summer POV

Meg vs. The Bacon! She's been trying to work on her levitation powers here. But as she was patient she got a bit because she wasn't rude and actually stealing from the table.

 Why, why, why do they BOTH want to cuddle up with me when it's more than 100F??

 They really do soak up the sun. Spike's new-found friend the lizard. Note the lizard still has his entire tail here. Spike would normally would be hunting the little guy, but maybe it was too hot.

Meg, always on alert to any deer activity. We actually both saw a fox recently during the afternoon on our hillside. At first I thought it was an enormous squirrel, but then realized it was bigger than Meg. It moved too fast to capture on camera though.

Mid-Summer Garden

 Our mimosa tree has never had so many blossoms, it's so beautiful.

Same with the pomegranate bush.

 Who knows, we might actually get an actual pomegranate off of this plant!

 I love the central part of the blossom, that texture is so beautiful.

 This would be a cool image to make into a carved stamp.

 Catching the roses at the right time of day when the sun is shining through.

 Ooh the camera can't take alllll the intense reds.

More ICAD

More ICAD (Index Card A Day) work for mid-July. It's continuing to be quite fun to work on these small pieces, they're all on 4x6" index cards. This first one is my favorite of this bunch. I wish I could have this printed on a light-weight challis and make a blouse out of it to wear all summer.

I tried to keep away from collage, I really did, but I just couldn't resist.

 This one looks better in person. It's very subtle.