Mellow Yellow Inspiration

I am a part of this great little stitch and swap group hosted by my friend, Deb Taylor.

Our next stitch theme is the color scheme of turquoise, coral red and yellow.

(image by Sarah Hearts)

Yum !

I don’t have a lot of yellow fabric

so I decided to try out an eco-dyeing technique that I have been wanting to try for awhile.

I researched dyeing cloth with turmeric, knowing that I would achieve some bright and cheery yellows.

It was a fun and easy way to spend an afternoon.

First I gathered some bits of different fabrics, including wool, silk, cotton, and even a few crocheted circles in bamboo.

I chose mostly white or natural fabrics but also included a couple of rust and eucalyptus dyed pieces that I had around.

In preparation, I did some stitching here and there on some of the pieces and also did some tie dye knots, or shibori techniques, if you want to use the fancy term !

Then I got a pot of water with turmeric and salt simmering on my handy dandy hot plate out on the lanai.

The turmeric has a pleasant smell but it gets over powering when its simmering,

plus having the heat outside helped save my ac a little indoors.

I just guessed at amounts of water and turmeric, using the info. I read on-line. I think there was about 10 cups of water and 3 tbsp of ground turmeric. I added a 1/4 cup of salt to set the color.

Once the pot had simmered for about an hour, I added in the fabrics.

I was not worried about perfectly even dyeing as some might be, so I packed the pieces in there, just making sure it was all covered with liquid.

I stirred them around occasionally as well.

The yellow color appeared pretty immediately ! Especially on the silks in the pot.

Chica and I waited as I  left the fabric simmering on low for about 20 minutes.

Then I rinsed out all the pieces in cool water until the water ran clear.

I used some mild dish soap as well, to get any of the powdery residue off and to take away the turmeric smell.

Then I used my make shift clothes line to dry all the pieces in the sun.

I am pretty thrilled with the results !

The cotton stayed a nice mellow yellow, and took the tie dye marks beautifully.

The silk definitely became the most saturated with the bright yellow, almost golden color.

The previously dyed wool, silk and cotton bits turned this lovely warm brown color, and I love how the eucalyptus details still remain visible.

 

And I now have a great stash of mellow yellow fabrics to play with!

Quite rightly !

I hope you have a creative and sunshiny weekend, Beautiful Ones.

We have arrived !

I am here !

I have been down here in Apollo Beach for just over two weeks now.

The move went very well, in spite of the extreme stresses involved in moving us and our furry kids across country.

My friend Suzanne and I had a very successful road trip down with the dog and two cats.

I will forever be grateful to Suzie for making that trip with me !

David and I and the animals are settling in to our new home.

The house is big, airy and starting to feel more and more comfortable as we unpack and make it ours.

Most of the furniture is in place but there are still a lot of boxes with knick knacks and paintings and decor items that need to be dealt with.

I have kind of run out of steam this week.

Which totally makes sense if I think back and realize that I have been living in limbo land and chaos for quite a few months now.

My body and spirit are reminding me of what I have been through, and I have had to slow down a bit.

The heat of Florida summer is no joke either.

That is helping me slow down too!

This morning at 9:30, it is 85 degrees with 77% humidity which makes it feel like 96.

It means I spend a lot of time indoors in the lovely AC cooled air.

It wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t just leave behind a cruel long winter where I spent a lot of time indoors in the lovely heated warmth of the NH house.

I am craving the outdoors and missing Northern early summer greenery and growth.

But there are things about FL that I love already.

Number 1 is the beach !!!!

David and I have committed to going to the beach as often as we can, like every weekend, maybe ? Please ?!

Last weekend we went to our beloved Fort De Soto, and this weekend we are going to explore the Anna Maria Island beaches near Braedenton.

Even though it is overwhelmingly hot right now, once you get to the gulf waters, the breeze takes over and those turquoise waters are the perfect temp to frolick in all day !

Butter me up with sunscreen and sit me under that umbrella. I am in heaven !

My studio is starting to be a favorite thing in the house too.

I have unpacked a lot of my treasured toys and set them up in my new space.

I still need to find a rug or something to cover the carpet in the room so I can get as messy as I want with paint.

For now I have started back to stitching which doesn’t risk the carpet but gets my create juices flowing again.

I am stitching “quillows” again for a swap with Deb Taylor and other sweet stitching hearts.

Our theme for this swap is “Circles”.

The yoyos in the pic are vintage ones created by my grandmother.

I am including one on each of the 11 quillows I am making,

wanting to spread the circle treasures around, instead of hoarding them in a box just unused.

I hope to get back to blogging more now that things are settling in here.

I miss connections with my artist friends and love seeing what others are working on, and sharing bits of our life loving through photos and words.

For now, from my new home in hot and humid Florida,

Happy Summer, Beautiful Ones !

Rock Fairy, Rock Fairy, Where have you been ? And where are you going ?

Oh, Kimbo, where have you been ?

I haven’t been blogging very much since 2014 was rung in.

That is because the beginning of the year was taken up spending a lot of time with this little Monkey.

Helping his Momma, my niece Amanda, out with caring for him, watching him grow every day,

and falling madly, and completely in love with him.

Jayden and his mom have moved on to another home now,

but our time together was one of the most precious life experiences I have ever had.

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
-Winnie the Pooh

Love you guys !

Spring is finally, finally, slowly arriving here in New Hampshire.

The wearing of the parka is being let go in favor of the lighter coat and pretty scarves,

and best of all, the snow has melted enough to allow the Chucks to reappear !!!

Creatively, I have been focused in stitch love,

making these little stitched pillows for a swap with my amazing friend Deb Taylor, and a bunch of other stitch happy artists.

We each had to make 16 pillows in a shabby chic style.

These are some of my favs in my batch.

That was a whole lot of stitch love in lots of little packages !

Other than my swap contributions,

my creative time has been kind of limited of another important reason.

The Queen of Arts Studio and the Rock Fairy are on the move !

Along with everything we are keeping from the yellow house on Orange Street!

David and I and our furry babies are purging and packing up to move

way down south

to Tampa, Florida !

Yes, Beautiful Ones, the Rock Fairy has just lived through the last New England winter she will see for a good long while!

David has been transferred to the Tampa offices of the company he works for,

and in June, we are off to start a whole new life

in sunny and warm Florida !

Of course, we are very excited, though we are going through the huge stresses of packing up and arranging things here in NH, finding a new home in the Tampa area from a long distance away, and dealing with the details of getting all of our belongings moved about a 1000 miles away.

The other hard part is leaving my family and friends in Montreal really far behind.

It will mean less frequent trips north to spend time with them, but hopefully longer and special times together in the Sunshine State to make up for it!

So time for blogging may be still kind of scarce until we get settled in our new home down south. I look forward to reconnecting and diving back in from there, and sharing my new arty adventures from tropical locales !

Big love, Beautiful Ones,

and may your living be full of things that make you feel ALIVE !

Springing forward...

I am feeling the pull of spring.

Renewal, rebirth, changes, big ones...

But the momentum feels good and right.

When I am not spending time loving on this little monkey loving 4 month old,

I am decluttering, streamlining, making space for the new.

I haven't been creating nearly as much as I would like to, but I joined in this awesome Stitch and Swap project with my bud, Deb Taylor. (http://diddebdoit.blogspot.com/)

I really got started last night, listening to tunes and hanging out with my fabric bits and thread.

And this morning, at 9:30 that feels like 8:30, I hurried back to the studio for Sunday morning sunlight stitching!

The birds are singing that "it's almost time" song out there. 

Let's joyfully spring forward, beautiful Ones!

Haiku My Heart - September arrived.

 

Subtle light changes

Cool sleeps, long sleeves, maybe socks ?

My September blues.

 

 

Yes, folks, September has arrived.

 

Most of you are already fully aware of this and coping, or possibly even enjoying !.

 

I have somehow just become clued into it this morning as I shivered in my own kitchen for the first time in a very long time.

 

It was 46 degrees outside and the windows were all open in summertime mode.

 

Brrr....

 

 

I have had a really good summer.

 

But it feels like I just got started !

 

 

I do love Fall very much, but it seems to have been sprung on me somehow.

 

Ah well...

 

I will take comfort in my stitching and creative juicy stuff,

 

and maybe just a few too many of these new found treasures.

 

I am enjoying play time this month with Deb Taylor and her awesome Mish Mash gang.

 

Plus no more flipflops will mean it's time for red cowgirl boots !

 

Hope your September 2013 is treating you well, Beautiful Ones.

Big love !

 

 

 

for more haiku beauty, visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon