Pathways

Late night stitching

blazing a trail of color

across the landscape of denims

...a patchwork garden.

Ragbag

I really had fun working on this project. It just popped into my head and omce I started on it I couldn't put it down. I like how it looks so far but I can't decide if I want to go any further on it. D thinks I should outline the star with some trim I have and I think it looks O.K. with it but I didn't just HAVE to do it. If you know what I mean... I think I will look at it for a few days to see if anything else pops into my head for it. Right now it still needs a strap.
Feeling a bit better today but still going slow.

Recuperation

Just a quick note to say...I am recovering. Slowly but surely. I knew I was feeling better when this idea popped into my head today. For the first time in days my hands picked up my scissors. I will survive...

Grumpy bunny longs for sunny beaches....

This is my favorite photo I have ever taken. Its old, bent and worn but still chereished. I have taken many more photos that I'm sure other people would say were much better than this one. I love the expression in this one though. The carefree spirit and triumphant feeling it speaks to me. Ah to be so young and free again eh?


I am a bit grumpy today. Woke up with a scratchy throat and a sniffly nose. I have been working non-stop now for three days on my MIL's rug and last night I finally finished it! I wish I could say I woke up this morning rarinng to get to work on something else but truthfully I just wanted to crawl back under the covers and stay there.


I did make some nice homemade pita bread and hummus and I'm afraid that drained me of what little energy I had. I am snuggling down on the couch to moan and groan my afternoon away. Maybe after a bit of a rest I may get inspired again. I hope you all are feeling better than I. Take care....

Raggedy

5456 strips...

It's been a bit of a hectic week here. We arrived back from Moirax Sunday evening, then to bed, then to class the next day. As soon as I arrived home from class Monday, D informed me that he had a job interview the next morning and we had to rush out to buy him an overcoat and dress shirt. Then to bed, then class the next day....My test was today so I spent yesterday studying and then when I went out to go to class this morning the bus drivers were on strike. All that worry over my test and now I cant take it. I also spent part of my day doing a little of this...


Yes finally I have enough strips to do this rug. This one is a gift for my MIL. She fell in love with mine and she really needs a nice rug in her bathroom. THe large one I am planning ot make for the livingroom here may take me forever. Over 25,000 strips and I still have 2/3 of them to cut. That will definitely be a long term project *hehe* I think I will be quite busy this month just trying to finish up Christmas presents. I still want to open an Etsy shop but I would like to have at least a few more items on hand before I do. I am in no big hurry to do that though. It will be nice when it happens but I'm not going to rush things. I tend to start feeling things are a burden if I feel rushed and I want to enjoy my creating not get bogged down.
As a parting note...look at the goodies my MIL gave me when I was there visiting!


I'm not sure what I will do with the yarns. I dont have a crochet hook or knitting needles but they are very pretty so Im sure I will come up with something. Besides the pieces of material here in the pic she also gave me several more pieces of white material for dying and more tshirts to cut for strips. Yay!

La Mandigote

My husband grew up in the tiny village Moirax in France, born and raised there. It is a quaint little village set atop a hill just outside of Agen. The main and ONLY attraction was L'église Sainte-Marie de Moirax, an almost 1000 yr old church whose construction began in 1080. A gorgeous structure to say the least.


Well move over, we now have a new attraction in town "La Mandigote". La Mandigote is a nice little tea shop/bar with a wide range of drinks offered. While perusing the menu I spotted not only several choices of white and red wine, champagne, and many interesting flavours of tea, but they also had many sodas and even hot chocolate. We ordered a glass of white wine for each of us (there were 6 of us) and it was served with a nice bowl of sliced sausages and another bowl of dates. A nice appero.


The interesting thing about this little bar though, is the fact that it is also a gallery! A free gallery at that. On all the walls throughout the structure hang a variety of paintings and other works of art. There were several sculptures and nice ceramic works also in evidence.


The proprietress has a great interest in the arts and has provided a warm, bright spot for the people of the village to congregate and enjoy some culture while they are at it. I encourage you to drop in and enjoy a glass and soak up some art. It is located on the same square as the church.

down Moirax way....

I am off for a visit this weekend so all activities are on hold. I am packing my french books and papers to study for my test while I am there (if I can possibly find time to squeeze that in) Also my latest purse and a few threads to work on some embroidery. I will be surprised if either see the light of day while I am there though. I love D's Family and look forward to our visits. I am truly blessed. Going from a meek and scared creature on my first step onto this land to a loved and at peace woman who has found a home.
And with my departure I leave you this. White Sesame Candy....YUM!!!!

A little pink...

...or purple, however you see it. I have finished my little bag and I think it's quite cute. It doesn't look quite as pink as I thought it would at first. The jeans material after washing took on more of a purple hue. I really love how all the colors flow into each other, the benefits of dying your own material! I have plans for another of these in a green blue combination. After I finished this one I decided maybe it would be fine as a gift for my friend. Not so girly-girl after all *grin*


Right now though, it's back to crazy quilting another jeans bag. I finished the piecing of it today and already had half of the front embroidery done on it. It is going so much faster than the first one.

Les Vacances

Sorry I have been a bit slack this week with posts. I have a week off from class and my MIL came in this weekend for a visit. As always we had a wonderful visit. We also took a trip up to Bordeaux-Lac. Now when I first came to France I thought they had no big stores. Everywhere I went there were tiny little shops dedicated to some of the most interesting merchandise. Shoelace shops...yes we have them and corset stores too. *hehe* Well yes, France does have big stores, they just hide them. They are usually built on the outskirts of the big towns and here it is a nice long drive. I live in the southwest suburb of Bordeaux called Talance. The stores are located in the far North suburb...Bordeaux-Lac. Since we dont own a car, D and I have never made a trip there. Upon arriving the first thing I saw was Ikea. Yes, we have an Ikea...not only that, We have a Toys R Us! Our destination was a little different though. We were going to Eurasie. A huge asian grocery store! Now I have to admit, it wasnt Uwajimaya's, but it was a sight for these poor eyes. I have been making do with the little asian lady's grocery store a bus ride from our house, who's store is as big as a closet. (here in the regular grocery stores you are lucky to find much beyond soy sauce, their foreign sections leave much to be desired) Eurasie was far from that, I was greeted with aisle after aisle of rice flour, black beans, palm sugar, etc. We loaded up on many sauces and various other sundries that I have needed to complete many a recipe. I think we will be eating Asian a lot this month *grin*
After leaving Eurasie we went in search of another place I have been wanting to visit. Alice. One thing I have been unable to find here is a lot of the things I need to complete my work. I had hoped this store would carry some of my missing items but unfortunately it didnt. It was still a great store and had many fun things in it. Some nice craft papers, beads, paints, even some DMC's (not the colors I needed though) So I left with only this...


but I was wanting to try my hand at this for awhile. I would like to make myself some buttons. Or possibly some beads. I spent yesterday watching a few tutorials on milliflori bead making with Fimo and it looks quite fun. I must aquire a razor knife first I think.
Also yesterday was my 1 year wedding anniversary. D had to work all day on a project for class but we were invited to go see a friend mix last night so he wrapped up early. It's the first time I've been out for quite awhile and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Good music and friends is a great combination! I was so happy I didnt have class this morning though!
I have also been working on completing the little purse I started. I dyed a piece of denim with the dark pink I have, and I completed the layer the will be under the front flap of the purse. It has several pockets fro credit cards and a nice clear pocket to hold an ID. I will try to finish this in the next day or so and show you all a pic. I had planned this one for a gift to a friend but I think it will be going on etsy instead. I have decided tis a little too pink for her. I think I have an idea of one I will mkae for her. Possibly a smaller coin purse or somesuch. Anyway...I am off to do more dying, sewing and such. Two more days of vacation so I must take advantage!

Building a stash

My MIL gave me this wonderful old sheet. Heavy. Not like the sheets you see back home. It had several holes and stains in it but it was such wonderful cloth! That is what I used to make my last two dye experiments. The sapphire blue and cotton candy mix, and the navy blue and emerald green mix. I had ripped the sheet into four pieces. I decided to dye the two remaining ones today. One a nice mix of stormy grey and old rose, the other a peach color combined with the cotton candy. I have never been a great lover of pink but I do love that deep hot shade. I cant wait to see what it looks like mixed with the creamy orangy peach color I used. Finally I am getting some color to use.
My husband asked me why I dont do more piece work. Why I dont cut shapes out with fabric and put them together to make a picture were his exact words *hehe* I explained to him that to do so requires the material to do it. The colors and fabrics to bring about the inspiration. Its not about "special" fabrics and costly laces. Its about ideas brought forward by the play of light on a surface. The glimpse of a face in the folds. The imagination springing to life in the lines and colors upon the surface of your work. And so now I play with color. Already my hands itch to cut into the pieces I have before me.

A wealth of stitches

I have finally finished my first purse! It took me a lot longer than I expected, but I attribute that to a LOT of hand stitching. Since I did a big part of the piecework by hand even before I started the embroidery it was a little more time consuming than it could have been. I know that the next one will go quicker. Mainly because YAY! I have a new machine but also because I wont take so long deciding which stitch to put where. I can be so silly worrying about what color to put next to another, and trying not to do the same stitch twice in one area. I think it turned out being really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.


I have already started a second one and I also did the front piece for a different type of purse, although after I put this together I realized I dont have any material to complete the body of this one. I am setting it aside till I can either pick up a piece of nice dark blue denim, or throw the lighter piece I have here into a dark blue dye bath.

P.S. I used pieces from two of the materials I just dyed. I just love the bright colors! I have the blue piece and the blue and green mix that I can also make into a block like this. I'm planning on doing some more dyeing experiments this week as after Thursday I have A WHOLE WEEK OFF from class! *big grin*