Stitching on a cold wet day

Sunday was cold, rainy and I was back in layers. Ne'er cast a clout till May be out, yes, definitely. 

But it was a great stitching day, with various YouTube channels chatting quietly in the background, Marion in particular sparking new ideas galore, not what she's doing, just the atmosphere of making and her quiet northern voice, my roots calling!

Here are the first two pages, one about chance, one about transparency 

And here's the next page, cut from the linen you saw yesterday, a soft peach pink, probably red onion dye 

Pinned so I can see the outer limits. Size, that is. No outer limits in making.

And here's the palette of colors I'm using for this one 

And the initial couching, roughing in the general idea 

The tree is only anchored with pins right now, and tomorrow I'll be working on it when I finish thinking about it. It anchors foreground, middle ground, background and sky, the usual convention of Western landscapes, which serves me well here.

This is barely begun, and once again the Indian quilting idea has to wait because I need to stitch shapes right now. But there are more pages where that can happen.

When I make the new project bag, the outside will be this linen, there's enough left, and the lining will be pale yellow linen from an old shirt. 

Come to think about it, maybe the bag would be a good place for the Indian quilting, using the linen as the base fabric and cheap and cheerful cotton printed pieces for the patches. Hm. Maybe. 

I'm sure this is wildly exciting to people who don't stitch and are waiting for discussion of the box scores. Happy day everyone, you're not legally required to stitch. They repealed that law a while ago. 

The spag and plantballs was just fine in this freezing weather. I'm making yogurt this evening, maybe soup tomorrow.

Great art making day, also spaghetti

Saturday was cold, later rainy, not a bit springlike, so there was a large bowl of spaghetti with spicy plant-based meatballs. 

Hot peppers, onions, butter and tomato paste, blended with diced tomatoes, made a great sauce, and it was all very welcome. Blueberries and yogurt for dessert.

The main good thing about the day was the number of art ideas jumping at me. This is related to sending artworks to good homes. It leaves space for new ideas which unfailingly show up 

One was how to complete the fabric page. I had a piece on the wall that I've been thinking about deconstructing for ages, and realized the embroidered motifs, natural dyed, stitched onto net, were a natural to overlay on the silk stars. It's about transparency. And yes, it's political. Art is.

So here, deconstructed, is a lovely piece of shibori dyed linen, several freestanding embroidered works, and cheesecloth which is new and clean and might get into the kitchen. The colored thread in the embroideries is also natural dyed. 

And here's where a couple of motifs found a new home.

Then I plan to make a hussif, using some cheap and cheerful cotton printed pieces I found among the stars,  round up my needles from various ragged needle books, and upstairs, and make  places in it for my scissors and useful stitching tools.

Also I'm going to ditch the nasty pink plastic project bag I've been using for knitting, and make something more interesting.

All this happening on an otherwise unpromising day. 

My mail-in primary ballot arrived, where I get to triumphantly vote for Andy Kim for Senate. This will help send a decent man to Washington to replace a shameful one. 

It's also a great effyew to the completely inept and inexperienced governor's wife who tried to run, and couldn't get arrested despite having all the party bosses working it. 

And who inadvertently helped abolish the infamous county Line, the very ballot position advantage the party bosses tried to leverage in her favor. What an own goal. Kim pursued his lawsuit to abolish it and won. 

She's trying to forget she ever tried, total humiliation, well deserved.  Someone who has never run for anything, anything, school board, HOA, library board,  wanting one of the three major key elected offices in the state? Please.

Happy day, everyone, you never know what good things might happen.

Sunday, lovely Sunday

 Not even lunchtime here and already great things happened. I had found straws, paper plates and cups on Freecycle, to add to my materials ready for my Art Shaped adventures. 

Ready to pick up this morning. Not only that, the location was near an indie hardware store I always prefer over Big Box Hardware. And open this morning, to get masking tape and glue.

Overnight it was very cold, so I alerted handsome Son in case I needed car starting help.

And the car started fine, ran fine and I made the pickup, got my masking tape and glue from the hardware store and, the center having been completely changed since I was last there, couldn't find my car to leave.

Eventually I realized the store was now across from its old location, so I'd left by the wrong exit. Since there's still construction everywhere confusing things, by the time I'd panted up to my car, I'd put in my quota of walking for the day. 

And got home to find, timing! that Art Shaped had arrived.

I'm saving the cardboard envelope for use. Good old Blackwell's, indie bookstore.

Even before I opened the book, I knew what I needed to make. So I'll use the book to study how to do the parts. 

This is how I've always made art, from first taking classes and being invited to work with artists who noticed my approach. I know in general the concept, and go in search of the skills, in classes or books, nowadays YouTube, wherever I can learn them. 

And this one is really exciting because I think I'm finally going to make something I've had in mind for years, considered various approaches, then discarded them. But this might be right.

Can't say more yet, but I'm stoked!

And yesterday my silk roving arrived. Unbelievably soft, and I expect to blend it with tougher fiber. In the course of trying to get a picture, I accidentally got an extreme closeup.

The inner artist still needs to be fed, so yesterday I made a pot of spaghetti and (turkey) meatballs. Loads of spice, berbere,  in the meatballs, turkey being a bit bland. Best organic ground turkey though, one pound makes nine large mbs. Rolled in potato flakes, no panko around 

And now there are four more meals like this in the freezer, plus extra meatballs for maybe sandwiches. And extra sauce, likewise.

Yesterday's winnowing yielded slim pickins, but it did involve finally emptying, sweeping and considering the cabinet under the sink.

Yield for rehoming:

Result:

We'll see what today's winnowing amounts to.

 So there's the story chez Boud. And in case you need a really, really haaaaard puzzle for Sunday, go here

 

Happy day everyone, sometimes things work out more easily than expected.

Holiday Weekend. Maybe.

 So this is the current weather. Third day. 

And indoors I've been attending to the downstairs plants a bit since the ficus went out.

This spider plant used to hang in the kitchen until it grew till  I wasn't able to lift it up and down for watering. Its growth pattern was not evident when it was up high, just looked luxuriant.

But at floor level the bald center looked obvious. Soooooo here's the after picture when it gets a botanical equivalent of a hairpiece.

It looks a ton better from across the room now.  And the philodendron likes the company.

The very last little ghosts of the white iris before she went out to feed the earth. Still beautiful, that architecture.

Outside everyone's happy despite being heavily rained on.  Bottom left the peppermint appearing from apparently dead cuttings.  Middle, the chives booming, and top the yellow potatoes leaping up. These are from just peelings, never had to give up a potato. Potatoes usually hate being waterlogged, but these are rising above it.

Then the Great Indoors, and I found a new thing to learn. Turns out you can do Mitered Squares in Tunisian crochet, too. Two obsessions meet! This is going to happen.

Speaking of Mitered Squares, when will she ever stop, make her stop 

here are the pockets finished, placed, yet to be stitched on. Little turnover tops, very sharp detail :)

But cold rainy weather demands comfort food. Spaghetti and meatballs. I had the sauce in the freezer from the last outing, so this was easy. Good parmigian cheese, hot pepper flakes, bit of Colby Longhorn added to thicken the sauce.

And there it is. Enough for tomorrow, too.

And a matinee is planned today, with tea and fig cake

We're all set. 

Have a good day and a good weekend and, blogistas in the US, remember to thank the troops we're honoring for Memorial Day.

Not exactly holiday fare, but good

Easter Sunday  still up and down. Active a couple of hours, then  shivery and chilled despite temp near 70s. Then active, then tired, headachy.  And repeat. 

Anyway I decided it would be good to cater to feeling cold and make spaghetti and meatballs.

I did the meatballs differently from usual, sauteed them in olive oil with a chunk of sage pesto I had in the freezer, and a chunk of tomato paste, some garlic, kosher salt, all sizzled together. Hot italian chicken sausage for the meatballs.

Meanwhile salted water boiling for the pasta. And bread with olive oil and crushed garlic toasted in a cast iron pan till juuust beginning to char a bit.

Great canned tomatoes from Misfits added in, and with the meatballs and flavoring added, simmered for 45 minutes.

Then pasta, eight minutes, then drained, into bowl, sauce added.

And served with a slice of the garlic bread. Ages since I had pasta, and it was great, very cheering.

More for tomorrow. And several more containers in the freezer. 

Between the celery and scallion soup I made on Friday, I'm set for the week, pretty much.

So I can rest and see whatever else happens, and hope the after effects soon pass. I did manage a walk Sunday, a good sign. Chills back in the evening, so I guess it's taking its sweet old time leaving. Could be worse than a few cancellations. 

So I'll enjoy what I can, then when I don't feel so well, enjoy a good grumble.