Yesterday the rains arrived to wash away the remnants of summer: petals and leaves finding their way to the ground, robins and hummingbirds no where to be seen, disappearing light more noticeable each day. Did you notice I said "rains"? I'm assuming today's rain is one of many to come. It's just how it is in October, inevitable, as right as rain, a sign of things to come. This is my month to get in those last "on my mind" projects. The garden is calling to be buttoned up before winter descends. Mexico looms above my consciousness, with reminders that I still have a little time to practice my elementary Spanish. Tom is busy on the sawmill with final cutting and loves to have a helping hand (me!). And my sewing room is scattered with bits and pieces of projects that happen to have quite a strong magnetic pull in my direction. I think a list is in order!
My first display is a piece of cloth measuring 45"x 45". After a play day in the dye studio with my friend Suzie, I wanted to try putting together many of the techniques we tried into one piece. I used only black dye on white cotton and I am quite pleased with the results. Gloomy, dismal, destructive...I already have a few ideas for it.
Next I move into my explorations in discharging, or the removal of color. I initially became interested in the sunburst designs, but then wanted to try some borders. Don't they work beautifully in the design above?
And here I tried a border of dog bones.... the colors worked out so well here.
With all of my thinking about designs and borders, I began to wonder about stitched and discharged overlays....for example, one design of stitching over another design of piecing. Here is a small sampler of two shapes pieced to represent a house, then "overlayed" in stitching with the shapes offset. I added an offset rectangle too which adds another dimension to the piece. 
Finally, I was inspired to try a scene from my surroundings. I love the abundance of birds here, and the red-breasted sapsucker (we just call him "woodie") is one of my favorite. Plus he eats the bugs! Tom loves the Spanish translation "pajaro carpintero"...how perfect! The spiral sun in the corner is discharged, as are the markings on the bright green border. I am pleased with the colors and textures, and don't those buttons at the bottom make a nice addition?
He's still around, working on his bugs. But for us, our migration is right around the corner.
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