Blog entry
August 2020
The outside world is very strange and it's not so dependable right now. Routines have been obliterated, and the ordinary has been lost. In our city of Chicago, each day contains unwelcome surprises.
The backyard world of the garden is true and dependable. There are always changes, mostly gradual and sensible. Every year the garden is a little different, but always a delight.
These Japanese morning glories have just begun blooming. Since the days have been so hot here, the flowers don't last very long. They sort of melt in the hot morning sunshine.
March 5 2020
New batches of madder roots and onion skins soaking in the sunshine.
Checking the color of the madder brew
Hemp and indigo shibori
A bit of bloom
About to bloom!
November 26
Chinese lantern
The plants had to come in early this year. They don't love being indoors, but at least they're alive.
Mikweed pods have burst open.
A little indigo
Happy morning
Our youngest son is coming home today to vist after a really long time.
This is a very happy morning...:)
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In the midst of major tidy-ing up, I came across these little odds and ends of wool yarn. They were dyed with cochineal, indigo, and coreopsis flowers.
May
I dyed some hemp silk fabrics with madder roots and indigo. This is one of my very favorite,most intersting kinds of fabric.
This piece of hemp/silk dyed with madder seems to echo the tulip shades.
The madder patch is thriving
November 2
November has arrived suddenly! It's been gorgeous - chilly and fresh, and tonight there may be a little snow. I've been rushing to plant hundreds of tulip and daffodil bulbs before it gets really cold.
There's so much to be done that I can hardly begin. One thing I have gotten done is to sort through some of the giant collections of silk scraps. Above is a little of the walnut dyed vintage silk.
Scraps of indigo dyed silk
Inspiration on the ground.
October 30 2018
Several limbs of the beautiful old Kwanzan cherry had to be removed. The backyard is very different now. The light is harsher and when I go outdoors I feel more exposed.
At least the hickory tree out front is still full. A pair of downy woodpeckers visited yesterday. I don't know who made this giant nest = maybe squirrels?
Some of the day's work. Handspun wool and indigo.
Clearing out the boxes
For the last couple weeks I've been slowly emptying and sorting through boxes and baskets and stacks of fabrics. Many of them are leftovers from other projects. A lot are pieces that I didn't love at the time and put away, thinking I'd "fix" them someday...
Gathering linen
In the moments between visitors, phone calls and household chores, I sorted, washed, and ironed some odds and ends of indigo dyed linen fabric.
These are some of the leftovers from experiments and bits of fabrics I dyed and put away thinking I might use them in the future. They add up quickly.
Yellow and indigo moon.
None of these are "perfect", but they're still pretty good.
Id like to be able to mimic these patterns!
Greens
I often receive customer requests for more green silks. This is always a welcome excuse to experiment with shades of yellow and indigo
Sometimes the yellow comes from coreopsis flowers. Even the red ones give yellow dye.
Reaching naturally dyed green is intersting and challenging
It's so rewarding to see the different, (un-repeatable) shades!
Elsewhere