SOUTHERN SOJOURN (PART 2)

We've been back in Mazatlan for almost 2 weeks now, and I have been busy with house cleaning, reaquainting myself with friends and neighbors, and finishing my journal pieces I began during our drive south. I produced at least one per day (minus the machine finishing and binding) and it was a great way to pass the time. I also became more aware of the landscape and signs along the way. I enjoyed it so much that I am continuing these little pieces... we'll see where that takes me.

Our Thanksgiving Day departure was well planned. We’d be up early, do our final bit of packing and put our little mobile home to rest for the winter. Two and half hours down the road a delicious meal was waiting for us at Mark and Michelle’s house (Tom’s niece). We’d also be breaking bread (and turkey, ham, stuffing, desserts, etc., etc., etc.,) with his sister Cathy and other family and friends.

Our car was about as packed as our tummies would be later on in the day. Spike-dog had her little nest of blankets in the back, and I had my provisions surrounding me in the passenger seat: my purse with essentials, water, a few small snacks, and my sewing basket, so carefully prepared for the next five days.

The weather was cooperative. Not only were the roads dry but the sky was clear, and provided a brilliant backdrop to massive Mt. Shasta, which guided us down I-5.

At one o’clock we pulled into Redding and joined our family for a lovely afternoon with an OUTDOOR Thanksgiving feast.  There is no Gratitude Avenue there, but in my mind it’s the journey I take every day…grateful for the freedom to travel, to have wonderful family and friends, and good health to boot.

The Hispanic population is large along this path of I-5 that we were driving on our way to Mexico, but the last thing I expected to see this day was a major billboard along the side of the road near Sacramento that shouted out to me “Vive Hoy”. It somehow was a pre-greeting to our winter home in Mazatlan. How fitting this message (live today!) was to us as we journeyed south: notice the changing landscape, take pleasure in each other’s company, pause along the way to stretch and refresh.

We were happy to be traveling back to Mexico, where “vive hoy” seems to be more of the norm, rather than the underlying feelings of stress and pressure and fear of "whatever" north of the border.

Vive hoy!

A long day of driving brought us down I-5, then east to Bakersfield and on to the town of Mojave before dark set in. We were in the land of a barren landscape except for the abundance of wind machines along the hillsides and horizon line. We overnighted at pet-friendly Motel 6 and were up before dawn to get an early start for the next leg of our journey. We hoped to get as far as Tucson, or better yet Nogales, before sunset.

As the sun rose that day, we found ourselves on the Pearblossom Highway located within the Antelope Valley of California. This was another long, lonesome stretch within a stark desert setting, but one small patch of yucca trees caught my attention with their balls of spikey greenery growing out of the branches. The name of the highway evoked more than spikey orbs, and I was wondering where I might find delicate pearblossoms in a place like this. They never appeared, and the yuccas also disappeared into the quiet of the desert landscape as it leads into Arizona.

Soon to come: Part 3 - South of the border!

SOUTHBOUND SOJOURN (PART 1)

Tomorrow we hit the road for our annual trek (this year by car) to our winter home in Mexico. We’ll arrive in about a week after passing through northern California, Nevada, and Arizona before hitting the border. In another fifteen hours in our little, overloaded car, we’ll arrive in Mazatlan.

My husband does most of the driving so I’m left to twiddle my thumbs and witness the scenes and scenery that we pass. Since I don’t “twiddle” very well, I’ve been thinking about what I can do to fill the time.

 Journal quilting, of course!

 Last week a bird on a road sign caught my attention, so I am going to TRY!!!! to put together a daily “bird on a sign” to document the journey. I’ve prepared a dozen background “sandwiches”, gathered a bag of scraps, and assembled all the necessary threads and needles in my sewing basket.  If I can just get a sign shape and bird on each cloth, then I can finish with stitching and bleaching when I land. My fingers are crossed with hopes that I can pull this off. After all, I call myself a “gypsy quilter” so I figure it’s about time to put my money where my mouth is.

My first piece reflects our transition home here in Jacksonville, Oregon. It’s within a beautiful landscape within the Rogue River valley, dotted with pear orchards and vineyards, and gorgeous colors this time of the year. I tried to choose colors that reflect the autumn scene.

Stay tuned to see the outcome of this little project.

DARK LIGHT, 1,2,3!

Here is a great crossover dye recipe that Cynthia showed us. I love the results and will be trying more of these. Thanks to Christine for writing down these directions.

(pagoda red with moss green)

2 Color Gradation with 5 Jars

Set out five empty jars labeled left to right: DARK LIGHT 1 2 3
Put a piece of wet fabric in each jar.

Color #1
If using fat quarters, use 1 tablespoon of a single dye concentrate in a yogurt cup filled with water for medium color. Adjust amount for lighter or darker results. 

Pour half of the first dye mixture into a second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into the "DARK" jar.

Refill the original remaining half filled yogurt cup with water. 

Pour half of this more diluted mixture into the second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 1.

Refill the original remaining half-filled yogurt cup with water. 

Pour half of this more diluted mixture into the second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 2.

Refill the original remaining half-filled yogurt cup with water.

Pour half of this even more diluted mixture into the 2nd yogurt cup. Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 3. 

Pour the remaining diluted mixture (1/2 c.) in the first yogurt cup into the "LIGHT" jar.

(chinese red with better black)

Color #2
Put 1 tablespoon (or the amount you have chosen for the desired intensity of color) of the next color of dye concentrate into a yogurt cup and fill with water.  Reverse the process above:

Pour half of the dye into a second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup of dye into the "DARK" jar.
Refill the first yogurt cup with water.  Pour half into the second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 3.

Refill the first yogurt cup with water.  Pour half into the second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 2.

Refill the first yogurt cup with water.  Pour half into the second yogurt cup.  Pour the second yogurt cup into jar 1.

Pour the remaining diluted mixture (1/2 c) in the first yogurt cup into the "LIGHT" jar. 
Add a half cup of soda ash to each jar. Stir or shake. Await the beautiful results!

MORE ICE DYEING

Earlier this summer I tried my hand at ice dyeing. My friend Pam was the one who mentioned it to me, so I looked it up and saw a brief description, which included using soda ashed fabric, ice, with powdered dye sprinkled on top. I decided to try something different and actually make ice out of liquid dye and also out of soda ash and put them together with soda ashed fabric in different combinations to see what effects could be achieved. Here is the link to see these results: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7501629057264755564#editor/target=post;postID=1044262122563520983

Recently I've seen a few amazing samples of ice dyes in which the powdered dye method was used so I decided to try this. In both cases I dyed meter sized pieces rather than fat quarters. For my brown-toned piece, I mixed powdered dye (deep orange and black, with pinches of chinese red, lemon yellow and navy) into a tiny jar, stirred up these granules and then proceeded to sprinkle over the ice cubes which covered the fabric.

In the green toned piece(which turned out more bluish), I sprinkled the powder separately; first lemon yellow, then a touch of golden yellow, on to turquoise, cerulean, navy, and finally black.

Lovely aren't they? Tomorrow I will visit fellow dyers and ask for some critiquing and also input on their experiences with ice dyes. More to follow...
UPDATE: After a gro9up discussion, we decided a few more variables needed to be checked out: 1)rate of melt (I left mine outside in the cold and there was still a lot of ice left in the morning), or 2)using shaved ice rather than cubes.
Some of the dyes have more color granules that split out. Cynthia has a set of samples where she sprinkled different powders on wet fabric and you can see the ones with more colors. Turquoise, lemon yellow and fuschia are pure colors so won't display a variety of color. Blacks will. This is certainly something to try with my powders...

DYE DAY #2

Another Monday session at Cynthia's produced these beautiful overdyes. I once again prepped and packed them into the pint canning jars and headed over to Ashland for a fun afternoon of dyeing.

I used lots of binder clips, coins, and some hair rollers today.

 

 

And I just finished the initial ladder stitching on a collage produced at Christine's class on Sunday.

 



 

DYE DAY #1 IN OREGON

I am so happy to be taken into the fold of local dyers here in the Rogue Valley. My good friend Christine, master dyer herself (and enthusiastic), invites me along on her Monday sessions with Cynthia and Lene, two other keen dyers. I'm always learning form one or all of them.

Last Monday I wasn't sure what to do, how to get started, etc., so I grabbed my fabric, a case of canning jars and headed to Cynthia's house. There I proceeded to cut my cotton into fat quarters and fold them into perfect little flag folds, just as my fellow Quadra quilter, Ellen, taught me to do. I popped each one in a jar, added the dye and soda ash, then tightened the lids for transportation home in my car. That night I rinsed and washed and ironed them all. Here are some of the lovely results.

MAPPING

One of the difficult things about my nomadic lifestyle is remembering and keeping track of what is where, how I left something (perhaps 8 months prior!), if I contacted or paid someone, etc..  I am not a diligent note keeper, and if I were, it would be such a hefty collection of scribbles that I then would have to organize that! My notes do consist of what I need in my dye studio and for my sewing stash (very important), what’s needed in my pantry, and a wish list. We just returned to Oregon and the note I left on the refrigerator that said “clean before plugging in” was ignored by my husband before I could catch it, and now I’ll have to write a BIGGER note (maybe with some bright tape involved) for when we return in April. Such is the life of this gypsy quilter!

Three weeks ago I was tucking away my Refuge Cove garden for the winter. I covered everything with cardboard (to hopefully keep out the mass of invasive weeds that tend to overtake it) except for one small patch for my garlic. I love fresh garlic! Some years I plant little bulbs from my last year’s crop, or pick up something from the Cortes Island Food Co-op. But this year I found I had a variety and I KNEW I’d never remember what was what, so this predicament became a perfect opportunity for a journal quilt. Yes, I know, little stakes would work too, but this sounded more fun and was perfect for the “mapping” theme.

So here you have it, my garlic map. I really learned a lot about placement in this piece. Some of my attempts worked and some didn’t, but I’m relatively happy with it and after all, I was working hard to finish it before we left (which I did except for the buttons…they kept me busy on my three ferry rides on the way home).

I can’t wait to see my garlic patch next year!