New... Summer/Autumn 2010

In the past 24 hours I've been stitching and thinking... tearing, and cutting... stitching and thinking... blah, blah, blah.

Now, you get to have a very early sneak preview of what I'm working on for the bainbridge & houseberg lines for Summer/Autumn 2010.

That's right, Summer/Autumn! Because I think they go better together. As do Winter/Spring.















You recognize this, right? The little leaf stamped cloth, but now embroidered. Same-color-on-same-color, I love that, as I've mentioned in previous posts.

So, this is the value of play. When I started playing, I wasn't planning that the soft pale cloth, of still no name, would be anything. I was just doodling with stitches, fabric paint and recycled cotton cloth. But you know how, something miraculous happens... a little shift... a faint glimmer.... and if you can capture that, it all falls into place, unforced. That's what happened! Of course... there are many hours of sweat and tears involved, before one reaches that moment. ;}



















So I took it all apart again. Lost that Wheatear stitched bit, that was becoming so problematic for me, (but don't worry, I haven't thrown it away, it always pays to stash stuff like that for a rainy day). Last night, I started working with this gorgeous scrap of chocolate and natural, printed linen, of which there is hardly any, and so I've been saving for "something special".



















I think this is it! ❥ A chikankari and dessert inspired piece! ❥ I'm being serious! You never know where inspiration can fall from.

I can't tell you how happy I'm feeling today!

I also want to share this because I enjoyed finding it and I think you will too. And, to give a warm welcome to the blogging community to a special lady called Tao, who is an amazing chef, and a neighbor of mine, here on the Osa Peninsula. Happy blogging Tao! :)

Sew exciting to me

The news sew far on the cloth with the repeating "eyes" pattern, that turned out to be so popular in my own small world ...



















Three down (well, more or less) and only six more to go! So, I should be done by... the end of March! And that's just the center piece of a larger cloth (which I still haven't mentioned in detail).

Yesterday, I finished cleaning up the remaining jars of cloth that I started solar dying at the end of last year, most of which didn't work that well, (this year, I am going to try harder, and use mordants). Still, I was pleased to find, in amongst all the cloth scraps, this bit of silk thread, which had previously been white - well, ecru really - but which has now turned...















... a sweet, rosey shade of biege (if you see what I mean). Veriegated and all! And that got me started!















Remember, an idea from the other day?... Well, I had been wanting of use paler tones to work on this. It's related to that idea I had a while back about trying out same-on-same color. In the image above you can see a dried inflorescence from a Bromeliad (Pineapple family), which caught my eye in the garden the other morning. I've been ruminating on it ever since, and on how I could stitch something like it.

This is sew exciting (to me, anyways!)... I have learnt a fancy new stitch!



















Wheatear Y'all! ;}

This fancy, yet ever-so-simple embriodery stitch, I taught myself using Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary, a comprehensive online Stitches for Dummies, including for stitch idiots such as myself. I will be adding the site link to my ever growing list over on the right-hand side there.



















Detail of my Wheatear stitching, using 1 strand of solar dyed DCM silk thread, mixed with 1 strand of milk coffee colored DCM silk thread (can't tell you which one, as I have typically lost the number band) on solar dyed cloth. I love the wholesome quality that is starting to appear. It's just what I had in mind. Rustic and simple... Rather like me ;}


"Oh, hello sweetie, where did you come from?"















A beautiful weevil with eye markations decided to visit my cloth.

Yesterday, I found the blog page of Hannah Lamb. WOW!

Hannah, (I know that you don't actually read my blog, but...) I think this is love! ;}

Mooning

One thing has led to another! I am getting to do my Blue Moon project... if a little later than everbody else.

I have been saving this dress for a long time. I bought it for $2 from a thrift store, about 300 years ago. Barely fitted me then. Sure doesn't fit me now! It's time has come!



















I have always guzjed over the combination of the sapphire velvet bodice and the bronze metallic skirt. But, let's face it, where in the heck would I have worn this anyways? I don't think it would've looked nearly so elegant with wellies!



















So off I go, starting with a small ring of... yep, you guessed it... buttonhole stitches (somebody please teach me to do something else!) on the sapphire velvet. Looks like a moon already with that wee chalk circle! Pretty much same color on same color stitching, so it's hard to see, but makes a nice texture.




















And... oh!... now there's a surprise! The bronze metallic thread fabric was hiding under there all along! (Sorry to say that the white patch over in the lower right-hand corner is actually my leg!)



















Shiny and hard to photograph well, but this is where those little metallic thread stitches have taken me... and only I know where they're going next ;)

Unrelated (if indeed anything ever can be): pebble beside pebble. Pebbles I spotted in the Rio Piro over the weekend. Great palette! Loved the fact that one of these little rocks was entirely covered in a lovely burnt sienna colored moss, but it's partner was stark naked... Mooning!

DO

Tomorrow we have to leave for the weekend. I'm looking forward to visiting the friends where we are going - although it's business, it will also be a pleaure - but I'm exhausted from always travelling, and being away from home so frequently. All three of us are. Makes it hard to be creative, consistant and productive. After this, I just want to stay at home, but will have to do another cross-country in the first week in February. Humph!

I'm starting small. Black stitches on black cloth. Black and Gold.















I've had this fabric remnant for months and didn't know why I'd bought it. Now I can do something with this. It's a strange cloth of metallic satin. It does this...















... and it also does this. (Oh! look at that, it's kind of like an eye!)















I'm doing layers...















and playing with that thing about same color on same color, changing the surface texture.



















Totally unrelated (apart from the black and gold that is), but fabulous nonetheless: A riotous rooster from the village. Isn't he splendid?