Issue resolved, new visitors, new flowers

 Yesterday Gary brought over some houseplants to stay with me during his upcoming trip, whenever that happens, one family emergency needing him to stay here, another requiring his presence in Florida. Meanwhile it's improved the decor of the patio for now

This was after my walk to the pond and the jewelweed neighborhood

And finally I seem to have got ahead of the bounced and replaced check situation with the credit card people. They're very slow to process, and as of yesterday, the replacement payment had still not been credited. 

I got an email referring me to the secure messages area of their website, with an urgent request to send a replacement payment. Which I had done five days ago.  

Finally today my bank alerted me that the payment was completed. Still not showing on the credit card website. Talk about slow. Meanwhile of course, there's a large new charge for the second refrigerator. This too shall be paid.

While Gary was here we talked fridges and how he'd had to remodel his cabinets because his new one wouldn't fit in. He measured for me and decided I wouldn't have that problem. And explained they could always take off the fridge doors to get it in, then replace them. News to me. He'll probably be away when it arrives, otherwise he'd supervise the whole thing, knowing him.

And thanks to Caro and her latest weaving caper, I'm thinking about how to create a little rug for where I sit on the sofa, cold floor in winter, currently my bedside rug is there.

This rug is a cotton warp, roving weft, see her sparkling merlot blog for picture.

It's going to be a great way to use some beautiful organic cotton roving, very short staple, difficult to spin for that reason. Two experienced spinners tried and gave up, gave it to me to use in art. Spinning short staple cotton is niche.

I've stuffed art dolls with it, and the comfort dolls I used to make for ICross Canada. Clean material, fine for little children, unbleached, undyed. But I still have quite a bit. 

So maybe here's where it can go, along with wool roving. I have to figure out the logistics, since I don't have a big heddle. I might have to use a heddle stick and strings, not a favorite technique of mine, but maybe it's needed here. And maybe I need to fashion a new loom to size. All to come.

All this thinking is happening while I get breakfast wearing the lovely new robe, now complete with pockets.

And the Haggard Hawks solution is:

ELSEWHERE!

Happy day, everyone, here's your flowers

Indonesian weaving, patio find, and joy, it's cool!

Today brought the promised relief from heat, windows open to enjoy it

And yesterday there was an excellent online presentation about textiles from Indonesia. 

I was particularly glad they showed the simple looms these highly complex works are made on by master weavers, often members of the royal family. Where you see an inset photo, it's the weaver shown with her work.

I learned that mud dyeing, a common technique used in this area, means the river mud, an iron rich  material, is the mordant only, not,, as I had wondered, the dye. People who've been reading here will know the mordant is what enables the dye to bite into the fabric -- that's what mordant means. 

The dye material is found in the bark and inner fiber and roots of local trees. For other weavings, other dye sources.

The two funeral pictures show the dozens of textiles heaped onto the body as a mark of honor, to this day. And a line of mourners

This island was a Dutch colony until independence, and some of the earlier works show the Dutch coat of arms, now replaced with local symbols of their traditions.

And today's patio discovery, a purple butterfly bush, among the white, very welcome. 

Gary will probably want an offshoot, because he now only has white blossoms. Speaking of butterflies, I notice they're mainly interested in the zinnias, so I'll note that for future reference. Mainly white butterflies, with a single monarch recently and one dusky swallow tail. 

Happy day everyone, here's the current bouquet

Robe reveal, arpilleras, Suits and hot enough

 Today this is where we are in weather terms

The red bit where you see Trenton, is where I'm typing from. One more day and we hope for better temps.

In good news, I've located and ordered the fridge I wanted, delivery expected early. August. This is from the other suppliers I've used. They'll take away the old fridge, and were happy to hear this is a ground floor delivery.

And the robe is almost ready to wear. I need to add the pockets and belt loops and inside ties, but here's where we are. It's so soft, very comfortable. 

And Tatters, wonderful textile teaching group, is offering a class on constructing Chilean arpilleras in October in New York, well worth your attention if you're local enough.

Arpillera means burlap or buckram, the sturdy base fabric on which this form of textile art is done.

This form follows on the ancient women's tradition of subversive communication via textiles under repressive regimes, in this case that of Pinochet. 

A lot of the early creators were survivors of the disappeared ,  spent much time in government offices trying desperately to trace their men, husbands and sons, who had been disappeared by the regime. It became a form of samizdat, underground messaging,  as well as a record of the daily life of the people under Pinochet.

And since I don't have Netflix, and I'm interested in seeing what's the excitement about the revival of Suits, I'm borrowing it in DVD from the library. It's old enough to be on DVD!

Happy day everyone, whatever the weather.