Summer Flowers

A few rainy day flower photos with a sunny Asiatic Lily tossed into the mix....

Sun Printing Fabrics

That little side trip to Vermont whetted my appetite for fabric painting, so I squeezed a day of play into my busy retirement schedule. As is my habit, I gathered my supplies and tools needed to work on some prototypes for a larger piece I have in progress. And then I proceeded to set up for sun printing. I do that all the time..decide I am working in one technique and then change midstream and start another. This probably drives others (read: husband and offspring) a bit crazy, but it seems to work for me. I am running one process through my head, all the while getting another process set up.

Well, it turns out I picked an A-1 day for sun printing! The tools are basic and the process is easy and fast. I used PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabric, a couple of Setacolor Soleil Paints I had, some wide bristle and sponge brushes, a spray bottle, a piece of foamcore covered and sealed with plastic wrap, some painters tape and a handful of coarse salt.

Then all I needed were objects and materials to print. I collected some leaves, grasses, weeds, some plastic doilies that had been my Grandmother Robertson’s, some buttons, coins and chain.

After cutting my fabric to the size that would fit on the foamcore, I ironed it and taped it in a few strategic spots onto the board so that brushing paint on it  wouldn’t be tedious.

I sprayed my fabric to the extremely technical point of “very wet” and then started brushing paint on. If you don’t have Setacolor Soleil Paints, you can use Setacolor Transparent Paints watered down in a 1:1 ratio. 

If it is really sunny and hot, you need to do these steps fairly fast because your paint will dry quickly. This did happen to me several times and I just gave my fabric a spray of water and I got another effect doing so.

Once you have your paint on, then you pick your items to print, lay them on top of the painted fabric and press them into the fabric. This is also when you can toss the coarse salt over the fabric for added effect.

Then you wait for the paint to dry, which on a beautiful sunny day, doesn’t take any time at all.

Once your painted fabric is dry, remove the objects and materials you used to print, remove the tape and then using a hot dry iron, press your fabric. It’s now heat set, pressed and ready for use! Fun, fun!

Today at Blossom Bake and Create blogger Lynda has a great post with links to even more information about preserving botanicals for use in printing. It is an excellent post and I am anxious more now than ever to get collecting some grasses and leaves to preserve for future surface design sessions.

I am linking to The Needle and Thread Network.

Lament for Summer

It’s getting cold here in the Atlantic. Yesterday there were clumps of white flakes scattered around the ground cover of dry, wilted leaves. This can be a bitterly cold time on the east coast and these temperatures will flit in and out until the snow starts to fall steadily and accumulate. Once that happens, the temperature evens out and it becomes more comfortable. For now, winds off the water eat away at your resolve to embrace the outdoors. When you come inside again, your cheeks are red, your limbs are cold, and your body has to work hard to compensate and warm up again. If the sun is shining, it is all so much easier because a beautiful blue sky can make everything better! But, it is still cold and I for one miss beach weather.

So this is the time of year when I start cruisin’ through my collection of summer photos..and sighing wistfully...I wonder where the summer has gone..again...

Pressed flowers

I re-discovered a small flower press my Mom gave me years ago and realized it was still jam packed with a collection of wild flowers of the past.

I decided to press a few flowers I still have blooming away in my window boxes. Of course, now I am wondering about the possibility of pressing them with fabric.....I am sure I need to do some research on that idea.

For now we are enjoying amazingly warm temperatures for October days. Loving it!

October Heat

We have been enjoying the most amazing weather, especially the past three days! The temperature has been in the mid-20’s and our evenings are so beautiful and warm that you are tempted to sleep outdoors. Well, at least I am.

There are still lots of flowers in the window boxes and pots, and tomatoes are still growing in the heat of the day.

I would really like it to stay like this all year round.....please......

Stamping out those urges to clean!

I feel like my house is falling in ruins around me. I have piles of my “stuff”, my creative play tools and materials, everywhere. I have to be careful when I let this happen because eventually it eats at me and then I run in circles tidying and not accomplishing anything creative at all. I purposely refused to schedule any more paying work this week, just to let myself have some creative time. This is also the time when popcorn can be an entree.....

Although I am biting at the bit to finish a quilt on my longarm, I have been doing anything but. I have managed to fill my hallway with piles and piles and tubs and tubs of fabric, all in a feeble attempt to organize, or perhaps integrate the new fabric purchases. I like to mix my fabrics up. That way the newer is not playing so much on my conscience if I don’t see a stack of new stuff shining bright as a new penny (remember those? I loved pennies!). Maybe that is why I always rush to pre-wash my new pieces. Makes me feel like they have been here longer. For whatever reasons, I am organizing. Well, sort of. It should be organized when I am done. I hope.

I have sewn some bindings on so that I have some handwork, if I should happen to remember how to turn my TV on. Don’t ask. I am not technically savvy.

I also started some blocks that I have been wanting to try since my Mom gave me a lovely quilt book last summer. I have some 30’s prints and I love 30’s designs, so it seems I should get myself in gear. My biggest problem is that I am not so great at making repeat blocks. Case in point? I made one and stopped. BUT, I am planning on making more. Just not today.

I have also been sketching. I am a summer sketcher. Maybe it is the light. Maybe it is easier to sketch when you aren’t wearing 3 sweaters and gloves. Anyway, I am doing some of that. And when I was cruisin’ through my moleskin, I apparently was “drawn” to a little flower sketch I did two summers ago. Without really thinking about the process, I replicated it on a piece of Soft Kut and made a stamp. All of a sudden the morning had passed and I have a nice little stack of stamped bits and pieces.

I refined the stamp as I made prints until I was happy with my design. I decided to not carve the centre but will pop some little stamens in with paint later on. I know I drew this from a flower on my deck but it has a Hawaiian feel  to it to me. 

I also decided to try some other stamps that I had been carving in spare minutes. Good thing I did because sometimes I have a tendency to over carve my design and I had been considering taking the knife to them again. I learned I am happy with them just as they are. Well, for now at least.

Reminds me of a cartwheel. Must have been all that Americana influence on the weekend. And the one on the left is blurry because I overprinted it. The gold I used first was too light so I mixed some Green in and printed again. 

I really like using metallic fabric paints for stamping, especially on my hand dyed fabric. I tend to use two colors on each stamp although the ones above are just one. I used two with the odd star design.

I almost didn’t try this stamp, dismissing it as too simple. Ah, sometimes I need to step back and remind myself of that great creative advice: Simplify, Exaggerate, Repeat.....

Check out The Needle and Thread Network with me and see what’s up with Canadian fibre folk.

Watching tomatoes grow.....

You can’t imagine how much pleasure I get from watching my little pots of tomatoes grow! I am sure I drive everyone right round the bend when I ask repeatedly if they have checked on their growth from day to day! I spend a fair amount of time on the deck, fussing with them. As the sun moves, I move the pots to best advantage and I water, and I fertilize, and I water some more! My joke is that I will have such a huge crop, I will be opening a vegetable stand at the end of my driveway, when the truth is, I just hope I get enough for a couple of lettuce and tomato sandwiches! Ah, that would be bliss!!

I am also enjoying my flowers and although I know I have over crowded my window boxes and pots and beds, I don’t care. They are full of color and fragrance and I simply breathe it all and enjoy the festive atmosphere they create. And the calm.

Dandy pink rise ivy geranium

Pansy in the rain

I love how the rain pools in the petals of the marigolds!

Dandy white rose ivy geranium

I seem to spend entirely too much time taking photos of flowers. But, some days that is all the creativity I have time for. 

Not sure why, but this pansy reminds me of a little man....

Summer

In this part of the world, we take our summers seriously.

The East coast of Canada is a wonderful, spectacular place to live. Ask anyone who has visited and most will tell you that they will return soon, retire here, buy land here so they can retire here. They love the peace, tranquility and slower pace of living. Atlantic Canadians are friendly and welcoming. Proximity to the ocean is a therapeutic thing; ask anyone who grew up near it and then moved away. We all head to the shore as soon as we can and as we breathe in the salt air, we exhale our worries and stresses into the soft ocean breezes. We don’t even have to touch the waves to feel better; the promise of being able to is enough. 

But, not many outsiders visit in the winter.

Winters here can be harsh. And long. And although we try to embrace them, we are really just marking off the days on the calendar until summer arrives.

Summer is here. It arrived overnight, it seems. Although we watched spring carefully for signs summer would come soon, it still took us by surprise when it showed up with a brilliant sun, greens beyond description, blazing temperatures and that smell.....the one that means renewal and peace. 

My simple little flower boxes are blooming. I eat basil daily from pots on my kitchen deck and I have fragrant fresh rosemary in another if I should decide to ever cook again. I have several types of mint growing that I use for making delicious iced tea. This year I am trying to grow three types of tomatoes in pots on the living room deck where the raccoons do not have access. I am not really a gardener although I realize I am gradually learning bits and pieces as I go. I am trying to remember all those tips my Mom offered me over the years. 

I struggle to find time to create, beyond my bits of garden. But, for today, that is enough.

Flowery Eyecandy