Life Returns to Normal

It's been a long hectic summer and I have had little time to think, rest or create. Returning from vacation was a great relief but things did not slow down after that. We have had house guests for a week and although our activities were much more low key we still did quite a bit. I found myself having a hard time keeping up with everyone and had to just sit and rest often. I think I have just exhausted myself and plan on taking the next few weeks to recuperate.
I still plan on doing some dyeing but I am not planning anything outside of the house except needed errands. I want to spend long evenings curled in my chair, watching tv and stitching away. I still have this stack of scarves needing to be stitched for their shibori dyeing.
I am readying my fabrics and threads for a big dye bath this week. I plan on doing much velvet, silk and floss. That is all I have planned. It feels good to have some empty time stretching ahead of me. Long quiet moments to restore myself.
I will not be so quiet here anymore. I am really, really back this time!

Hohenzolern Castle and Lorelei Rock

Goodies in a shop window in Little France

Little France, here in Strasbourg

I told you I would post a few photos of the trip. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg though. These were a few of the places we went at the beginning of our trip. A drive down into the Black Forest and the castle there. Another drive up to the Lorelei Rock. Both places are located in Germany. I will try to post some more photos in the future of other places we went. we took at least 600 photos if not more and I am finding it a challenge to wade through them all!

A view of the castle from the distance. Doesn't it look like a scene from a fairy tale?

In the inner courtyard

A little hidden garden, so enchanting.

A view of the valley below.


Wandering through the back streets of St.Goarshausen
Castle Cat
in St.Goarshausen

The beautiful Rhine River as seen from the rock




Hope you enjoyed the peek. It was an enjoyable trip!

More Tie Dye

Right before I left on vacation I went on a huge tie dye spree. We bought 10 T-shirts and a did a few others I had lying around. I already posted on the first batch I tried. These are from the final batch and I was very pleased with them. I am considering doing even more of them. They are a lot of fun!

Home again!

It's been a long time people, and I am glad to be back home. My trip was marvelous, being with my son was great. We hopped around all over the place here, in Germany, all the way down to the pyrenees and into Spain. We visited the most interesting little Artist Colony halfway between St Girons and Toulouse that I fell in love with and went blueberry picking (myrtilles) on top of a mountain. I have had an exciting, fun filled and packed holiday and it was much needed. I will post a few pics sometime soon. I dont want to overwelm you with photos so will try to pick out a handful of shots just to give you a feel of where all we went.

The whole time I was gone a barely had any time to stitch. I had packed several things I wanted to work on but most of them werent even touched. I pulled the threads to fringe one scarf but want to buy some bright wooden beads to add to the fringe before it is finished...anyone know a good resource for those type of wooden beads? (the ones with the larger holes so the fringe can go through and nice bright colors)


I worked mainly on a nice large cotton piece I am making into a shibori scarf. I started with a wide mokume band around the edges...and thats as far as I got. 12 rows of stitching around the entire edge. Its a rather large scarf, well over a meter squared. I took a measurement off of a keffiyeh I have.


I haven'tdecided exactly what design I want to set into the middle of this but find the shibori stitching to be soothing. I have a few silk scarves also that I plan on doing some tieing on but didnt get a chance to work on them while I was away.

For now I am resting up, sorting the house and unpacking. Soon I will be back in the studio...