Daily Notes- May 17th

Taken last night as I finished stitching.  What you see as golden yellow is actually lime green.  More like the colors of yesterday's image because it's cut from the left side of that image.  I took the photo as I sat in the "golden glow" of the side table lamp.  The actual piece is about four or five inches square- I have no ruler handy--and if I get  up to go find one--I might not remember to come back and finish this post.  I might decide to make breakfast.

The little heart  was appliquéd on a small child's jacket I purchased-maybe five or more years ago at Goodwill.  Made in India.  Lots of tiny elephants and other animals.  Shapes.  I took it apart last week. Made a pile of scraps.  Added it to the piles I have made on the floor in the sewing room.  By color.  Not really a "pile".  They are small collections of cloth that isn't commercially made.  Some are things I have made myself with simple paints from the craft store- acrylics very diluted.  Colors that don't fade or wash out.  Large abstract patterns in yellowy green, grey and pinks. A few very light blue.

The dog is keeping me company-asleep on his quilt covered bed.  He prefers to nap beside one of us. When I get up to actually make my breakfast--it's nearly time for lunch-- he'll wake and walk to his other bed in the kitchen/ dining room.  A room with a ceiling two stories high.  So much light in there on sunny days.  Not today.  Cold again and dark.  Rain.

I found another tick--it woke me up.  Embedded so I need to call the doctor for a dose of doxy.

I have India Flint's first book on Eco Color from the library and am reading and taking notes as I go. I liked the suggestion of making "tea" with any plant material to see if it releases color-as tea does when boiling water is added.  I collected plant material (and the tick) and set up a line of 6 jelly jars and added material and then boiled water.  Out of six-I got one winner.  Ajuga.  What I consider a pest/weed but which we sold at work as a shade ground cover.  The "weed" that grows in my garden has bright blue flowers and reddish leaves.  I collected the flowers that were blooming closest to the house where it is warm enough for flowers.  And, the water turned a lovely blue.  It will dye grey but that's okay. I don't have a soft blue grey.

I had some of the cloth from my steaming experiments out..... sorted with my piles.  And took one very pale blue piece (nearly white) and rolled the wet, hot blue flowers into the cloth and then tucked the roll back into the jelly jar.  I think we could call this process- slow cloth.  I haven't decided if I will re-heat the jar and it's contents or let it just sit.  I would have set it out on the deck today if the sun was shining.  The deck surface gets very hot.  And the jelly jar is very small.  Time will  Tell.