Raven and Sparrow

In between the seasons

Cruising the flower offerings at my local Safeway looking for something promising for a centerpiece....the only ones I like are pink asiatic lilies. Hm, I could use the same pink cloth as a couple of weeks ago or the gray runner with the pink accents. Unfortunately when I get the flowers home three of the blossoms have broken off and they aren't full enough to look good alone in a vase. When I go outside looking for fill material the most compatible things I find are a japanese laceleaf maple just beginning its autumn turn, and rose hips. Now the tone of the centerpiece is quite different than I planned. The gray runner won't work and the pink cloth needs to be washed. I turn to my circling swans cloth which I had rejected earlier as being too autumnal; when I put the flowers on it the table comes into focus. Summer lilies, pink and sharp green, balance with the brown and cream cloth and the leaves in the process of turning red. My terra cotta colored plates and pink glasses play the same game with sharp green napkins. I wasn't expecting this combination but I think it reflects the time of year much better than anything I might have planned. We are at the point when summer, still warm and lovely but a little worn around the edges, begins its fall. The birds are still here, but are gathering into flocks, the fruit is beginning to ripen. The promise of harvest mingles with the melancholy of impending loss. Autumn is complicated and lovely and has begun its approach. It's definitely worth celebrating.

Same birds in another place

This is another version of the Under the Feeder runner. I made it by taping off the stripes, painting some of them with three different yellows, waxing some of the yellows to preserve them (having already waxed the birds) and then dipping the whole thing in indigo two or three times. I thought it turned out light-hearted and fun...I've always liked stripes. This one started out short. I didn't have to cut it down like the other bird runner. It would have been really useful this summer, except that I gave it away.

Revamped birds

Here is a runner that has been through the mill. It was one of the first ones I tried with my bird group (I call it Under the Feeder)...actually one of the first runners I ever made...and it was very long. On my table the birds were covered by the end place settings, with a long stretch of unornamented cloth between. The edges were plain hemmed, and all together it just didn't have enough going on. It sat in my embroidery basket for over a year while I worked on other things, but it had enough promise to keep me from giving up on it entirely. Recently I discovered it again and decided to take action. I cut it in half and removed a big hunk of material to make it shorter. I thought I could do it without disturbing the mitred corners, but that was a vain hope. Because of the trimming of the mitred corners I didn't have enough fabric to turn another hem so I used bias tape to finish the edges and that turned out to be what it needed. The troubling part is how hard it was to get that tape on straight. I don't know how I could have taken more care, but I am not satisfied with the quality of my own work. I used a precisely cut piece of freezer paper to stabilize the fabric as I cut and sewed the edges, but it still looks all wobbly. Does anyone have any suggestions? I added the bird tracks at the end and now I think they are my favorite part.

In the pink for summer

This has been a busy week. My cousin came for a three day visit full of fun activities, including a dinner party here Saturday night. Because of everything going on I had decided to stick with the blue striped cloth/daisy motif I used a couple of weeks ago for the table, but I couldn't get excited about it. I was hoping to find more interesting flowers than the white mums and daisies I used before, but as the day of the dinner came up there were none in the local stores that I thought would work. Then, at the farmer's market held the day of the dinner I came upon a gorgeous bouquet of lilies, dahlias, zinnias and crocosmia in intense hot pink and orange hues. It didn't go at all with the blue tablecloth, so at the last minute I changed my whole idea and the table went pink. I used my tablecloth with the pattern based on rue leaves and colored with the insect dye of southeast Asia...lac. (Its also the source of lacquer.) I worried that the pink cloth combined with pink plates and stemware might be too feminine, but when I put the bright arrangement on it and scattered some of the vivid crocosmia blossoms about I started thinking about ice cream instead of girly stuff. Changing to a dark vase instead of the glass one I started with also added weight and contrast to the scheme. It looked summery and that was what I wanted. The scene was set for what turned out to be an especially engaging party with lively conversation and lots of laughter. That is my idea of a good time.