FIRST MONDAY STITCHERS

Today was our first Monday of the month stitch group. We have a great little group of women that meet (usually about six) and there's always good show and tell. Today we had a new stitcher -- Kristine Brooks, who was brave enough to venture up from San Diego in the rain.

Margie (our "Ma Belle") was stitching on some nuno felt that she made with me last week. After our felting session, we went foraging down near San Juan Creek for leafy materials. She left my house with rolled up bundles that, after a little simmering, produced some magic.

Kristine brought a sampler piece for a class that she will be teaching -- woven strips of silk fabric -- on which she stitched and embroidered.

I continued stitching on a sweater that I eco printed.

A little herringbone stitching and some blanket stitch. Another of my many "works in progress", scattered about.

Claudia was the hit of the day with her artistic and creative shirt -- which she said started out as a plain ole white shirt.

She used a lot of rusty old stuff for her dye job. And then she added wonderful appliques that she hand printed herself.

She also stitched on little appliques, added buttons and did lots of hand stitching all over the shirt.

The back was really great -- her handprint. Girlfriend, we were impressed! Job well done.

While on vacation recently, I brought along some of my handspun yarn ("Tiger Lily") and knit a pair of socks from Janel Laidman's "The Eclectic Sole" -- the "Simplicity" sock. I know it's hard to imagine, but I sat on a balmy tropical beach knitting merino/silk/angora socks.

And finally -- TOOT! TOOT! -- can I toot my own horn? I entered my handspun Helix scarf in the Spin Off call for entries, and it made it into the magazine.

I'm tickled pink.

Our next stitch group will be Monday, April 4th.

PROGRESS IN MOTION

Remember those pieces of nuno felt that I posted yesterday? Well, they have found themselves into a garment that I am working on. I have made great progress since yesterday and I am stoked!

Cutting out the pattern and piecing together panels of nuno felt.

Time for a little draping on my anatomically unreal dress form.

And voila, a long vest in very rough form -- indeed a work in progress.

And because this is made of nuno felt -- it is like being enveloped in a soft blanket.

Now, I am off for a walk on this most glorious day. I mustn't waste a day like this moldering inside.

FRESH FROM THE DYEPOT

As I listen to the weather channel talking about a major blizzard in the heartland -- 20"-25" of snow, the weather here has warmed up (70's) and we've got our Santa Ana winds so that means good dyeing weather. Yesterday, I made three pieces of nuno felt and then rolled them up with some plant materials and popped them into a dyepot.

This morning, I had magic.

Second beauty.

Third beauty.

Close up.

These are destined for a project I'm working on -- for which I needed more nuno felt.

FIRST MONDAY FEBRUARY FUN

Our small stitch group met yesterday and had a wonderful time. Again, we were so involved in our discussions and stitching that we almost forgot to eat our lunches. Margie arrived in her beautiful handknit sweater, the result of a fleece she bought at the Monterey County Fair fleece auction.

Close up of the little neck warmer she designed and knitted with her handspun yarn, on which she has done some beautiful stitching.

Michelle brought the quilt she is working on, using pieces of eco print fabrics that we dyed and exchanged.

Close up of her work.

My piece laid on top of Michelle's.

My project for the day was stitching on a piece of nuno felt I made and eco printed.

Michelle pieced together a duster she's working on.

View of the back.

Later, Michelle and I handpainted some 20/2 spun silk in variegated colors to use for stitching on some of our projects.

All dry and skeined out.

Perfect colors for the stitching I want to do on this silk jacket.

Note to self: remember New Year's resolution -- try to blog more.

TOO BUSY TO BLOG

Okay, the fact is . . . I have been too busy to blog. There's just not enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do. Been having too much fun dyeing, felting, stitching, spinning and knitting to sit myself down at the computer and update my blog, but the guilt finally got to me when all of a sudden it was February. Here are some of the fruits of my eco print dyeing from January.

Oh, and then there were the many forays to the local consignment clothing stores to find inexpensive treasures, like a beaded and embroidered linen top, that I deconstructed and began making into a dress, adding some of my dyed panels, doing decorative stitching along the seams of each of the five panels. My idea was to finish this before my trip to Maui in two weeks. Oh, well -- I'll take it along and stitch on it.

Another project -- a true labor of love -- is continuing to take shape. These were the various panels of eco printed fabric that Michelle and I exchanged in January. I finally pinned my shawl together and started hand stitching it together.

I began adding many new stitches, embroidery, and handmade appliques.

I decided I needed a backing, so I dyed some silk charmeuse in a brew of black tea bags. The result was a perfect beige piece of fabric which goes quite well with the eco printed pieces.

The final part of the construction was an edging. I took a panel of eco printed fabric and made long strips and hand stitched those around the entire shawl.

The whole idea here is to do the entire piece with hand stitching -- no machine involved.

Still a work in progress. Much more stitching to be done.

Can't wait for our little stitch group this Monday (Feb. 7th) to see what Michelle has done with her pieces.

Another thing that was on my mind for the longest time was to make some pieces of undyed nuno felt so that they could be used for some of my eco print bundles. I got around to this last week. And here are a couple of the results.

I've been up in the hills and down around the nearby creek collecting eucalyptus leaves and other plant materials. I'm sure people wonder who that weird woman is, because what could be so interesting about those dried up leaves on the ground.

And here's piece of wool that I bundled up the other day and put into the dyepot. I especially love this one.

Feel better for having blogged a bit. Now, back to spinning - a bag of luscious pygora calls to me, as does a new episode of Grey's.

JANUARY STITCHING

Haven't blogged for a while, still reeling from the pre-Christmas flooding in our house from the monster rains we had. It was good to have our little stitching group get together on January 3rd -- comforting to have friends around the table stitching and chatting, with a fire going in the fireplace. All snug, the four of us, having the best time, while the rest of my house is in disarray. At least this little part of my world is calm.

A couple weeks prior, Michelle and I had gotten together and shared some of our eco print fabrics.

I had begun stitching my pieces together.

I worked on my piece during our sewing circle, experimenting with some new embroidery stitches. This is a learning experience and every new stitch we try is such fun. Even these little stitches give you such a sense of accomplishment. I love when you get one of those "Ah-ha" moments - like, wow, I figured that one out.

Claudia brought lots of the eco printed garments she has been dyeing. Did I mention the word "obsessed". Here's a jacket she eco printed.

Some lovely stitching with beads she did on the front.

Karen used some rose leaves on one of her eco prints.

Margie stitched with her hand-dyed and handspun yarn on a felted scarf she made -- in which she used some merino fleece she had gotten on her trip to Australia.

Our next sewing circle is scheduled for Monday, February 7th. Can hardly wait to see what our stitchers are working on and creating.

So excited. My 2011 is shaping up for traveling. Shakerag in June to take felting from an awesome Scottish felter, Jeanette Sendler. And the other day, I sent in my application to Haystack Mountain on Deer Isle, Maine, for India Flint's week-long workshop at the end of August. Still waiting to see what Morgaine and Judith have in store for Golden Gate Fiber Institute. Despite the destructive results of the Pineapple Express that rolled through here in December, life still looks pretty good.