Raven and Sparrow

Back to squares one

After setting my blue patch runner aside for a little while I decided to remove the lavender silk wisps and begin again. Hazel suggested I start with a smaller area and work from there, so I picked out a low contrast "moon" that I had dyed on very lightweight cotton and attached it with glue stitch. I went through the usual fret about turned or raw edges. The patch seemed to melt into the blue background better with frayed raw edges, so that is what I chose. I hope it will hold. Once sewed on and encircled by a corona (sorry) of running stitches, the moon asked for companions so more pale gray squares with faint circles on them will be added. I still want to put lavender wisps somewhere, but what size, what shape, and what kind of attachment has not so far been revealed. I am like the traveler that crossed the country driving only at night. All I can see is what is immediately within my headlights. I am not sure what my destination will look like.

My other project, Lisa's Summer, is making no demands on my tolerance for uncertainty, but does require patient, repetitive work. I am transferring the foxglove dragonfly drawing to my linen square with a Pitts pen (warm gray III). I find that the underlying drawing I made from my giant computer photographic collage still has some enigmatic areas that will trip me up when it comes time to add color, so I trace and modify as I go. I find that I can't do it for too long. I have more stamina for waxing (the next step), but there is something about the drawing/tracing that tires me out. Still, I am inching forward.

Discomfort

The patchwork base is attached to its backing and I am tacking some silk scraps to it. This cloudy lavender is meant to be the first layer of amorphous floaty shapes that break the strict grid behind them. It isn't very satisfying at this stage. I'm not sure it looks good (although it might just be too soon to judge), the silk is slippery and hard to handle and my stitches displease me. As I laboriously ply my needle my inner voices ask if other shapes would be better (easier), whether the colors are ugly, and how much effort is is being wasted. This is the quicksand of creativity. I'm out in the middle of the swamp, can't see very far ahead and the ground I am occupying doesn't want to hold me up. I don't know if I will continue or start again.

Evening blue

The patchwork base of my ad hoc table runner is now sewn together. I have pinned it to a piece of organdy and the next thing is to attach the two thoroughly enough to dispense with the pins (ouch). As I stitched my squares I was also dyeing some old silk scarves I had in my stash from my days working with Michele Wipplinger at Earthues. She used them in her dyeing classes because they made a finished product that students could take home with them. They have been languishing in my storage boxes for years and seemed perfect for collage, especially since I don't have too many patterned fabrics. I dyed them in log purple, log gray, cochineal and indigo and came up with various shades of purple, lavender and blue. My original guiding thought was to represent the warmth of home against the falling dusk, but as I have handled my fabrics and played with dyes my idea has softened to a more generic "Night Sky". It could still change.

I have also traced out the full size pattern for Lisa's summer tablecloth. Making a line drawing from my giant photos clarifies the flower stalks and helps me see where to put what color.  I have decided to draw them in with gray Pitts markers on white linen, wax them, dye them and then paint the leaves and flowers last. I am waiting for Dick Blick to send me more markers. The cloth sucks up the ink pretty quickly and they run out of color.

I have been trying to spend most of my time outside now that good weather has arrived, but I am making progress on my textiles.