Staycation week, day three

13 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Laurie in Back Forty, coffee pot posts, critters, tapestry, Tapestry Diary 2018, Uncategorized

What happened to Days One and Two? They went by in a flash and that’s okay.

Here’s the agenda for my art retreat/get shit done at home week. The idea is that I choose at least four of these every day to check off. The daily checkbox, in priority order:

Get something done you’ve been putting off. (Monday it was going with Sandy to a will planning meeting at the credit union and sewing buttons on my favorite pair of shorts. Yesterday I dropped one of the cars off at the mechanic for an inspection and oil change.)
Sort/purge/organize one box/drawer/pile. Goal: five paper shipping boxes of stuff out of the studio.
One small area weeded or tended in the garden.
Weave tapestry.
Stitch on apron.
Blog.

Today, I’ll probably clean and vacuum the front porch. We’ll see. Trying to stay off Facebook for the rest of the day.

So far I have not played with my apron, so I’d like to do that today, sitting on my clean porch. The weather is lovely this week. I was able to turn off the air conditioning and even give the fans a rest.

Yesterday, I spotted TWO groundhogs in the back yard! This wasn’t a big surprise, but I had not seen them at the same time before. So much for the water jet idea. They munched plants right around it. I don’t think that they are setting it off, although I hear it go off from time to time. They burrowed under a wire cage and ate the broccoli there, right in front of the motion sensor.

My thinking is that this needs to be a year of observation and reassessment of how to handle this. I’m not fond of the idea of trapping and relocating them, but that is still on the table. I’m watching what they like to eat the most – all varieties of greens, lamb’s quarters, broccoli, certain varieties of beans (Jacob’s Cattle and Cannellini), the cucumber vines, celery, the watermelon blossoms, rudbeckia and sunflowers. They also like the wild yam vines and violets, and I wish that they would chow down on only those. They are leaving alone, so far, the tomatoes, butterbeans, carrots, strawberries, pineberries, and herbs.

Now that there is a sunny forecast, I’m going to spray the repellent again. I also hung reflective hologram tape all over the place. I’m sure that the woodchucks think it is pretty, but maybe we’ll save some blueberries from the birds for ourselves this year. Other than that, I’m trying to let it go.

I enjoyed going through a box of fabric scraps and sorting and purging yesterday, and it makes me wants to do some more cloth strip weaving.

Blogging takes up a LOT of time so I’ll probably skip that for the next couple of days.

The tapestry diary is a scene from St. Simon’s Island in Georgia, where I went for the tapestry retreat. I’ve started it from the image in my head and will refer quickly to a photo later.

On tap for later today, a massage and maybe a trip to the farmers’ market. Right now I’m listening to an audio panel about Enneagram types 8, 9, and 1. I’m a One, and I’ve been working with the Enneagram for about 12 years now. It makes more sense to me than any personality type system out there.

Sunday brunch post

27 Sunday May 2018

Posted by Laurie in Alchemist's Apron, Back Forty, critters, dyeing, Nature printing

≈ Leave a comment

Coffee’s gone, eggs, cheese grits, and leftover chili devoured.

Listening to Michelle Wolf’s Netflix show in the background. She is really funny, but there’s a little too much screeching going on, so switching to Radio Heartland. Ah! Mountain Stage. That is perfect.

Today is muggy and damp but so far no rain. Sandy finally gave up and bought a new lawn mower yesterday.

I was amazed by two things this morning. One, the US Postal Service delivered my order from Pinetree Seeds that I ordered on Friday. On Sunday morning. On Memorial Day weekend. Two, I saw the groundhog on TOP of the fence munching on vines. Now I know that it can climb.

The Pinetree package contained small animal repellent spray, holographic flash tape, and indigo seeds. I sprayed the rocks and planters and landscape timbers and pots, since the rain is supposed to hold off until tonight. The motion sensor is working on human sized animals, but I’m not so sure about smaller ones. This repellent contains “Putrescent whole egg solids, mint oil, rosemary oil, and cinnamon oil.” Maybe it will helpful with the skeeters too.

Now I’m going to play in the studio today and tomorrow. Yesterday I only wove a little on my tapestry diary. Still wrapping my head around that and how to proceed, if at all. I dyed some iron/vinegar mordanted pockets in tap water with onion skins and the rest of the pitcher of red zinger tea. I wrapped up one with a sprig of deep purple plum leaves and another with the tea bags. The tea bags didn’t do much but the plum leaves worked blue magic. I soaked these in a really strong mordant for days so my colors are very dark. Love the olive color, though.

Oh yeah, I busted the back of my new smart phone a week ago, so it is now held together with packing tape. It shattered across the lens of the camera. Fortunately, the only thing wrong with my old one is that it doesn’t hold a charge very long, so I kept it. I can still use it for a camera and it hooks up to wi-fi.

I really can’t do much in this studio without cleaning up this mess, so I’m done here. I’ll post any progress on my little tapestry or the tapestry diary later. Tomorrow is another day off.

Sunday morning coffee pot post

25 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by Laurie in augggghhhh, Back Forty, coffee pot posts, critters, depression/anxiety

≈ 6 Comments

This is how it happens. I think this is why it happens. My mind says, “You have to do this! You should do this! You’re a terrible person if you don’t do this!”

I start to do it and my body says, “Yeah, baby, I’m shutting this down right now since you didn’t listen to my advice when I suggested that you stop.”

So not only did I miss the march yesterday, I ended up with a headache that prevented me from doing any artwork, which was part of the reason WHY I didn’t want to go to the march. The rest of the reason is that sometimes I just have to have a day with solitude. No music, no talking, no noise, no expectations. My energy reserve ran out when I went to Deep Roots for the Taste Fair, and I came home and went to bed.

Of course, the simplest reason is spring allergies. So I took an Allegra and drank elderberry tea with honey, washed out my sinuses with a neti pot. Then I sat on the sofa and did some simple stitching.

All night long I woke up with numb hands. ARGH.

Really, at this point, what the hell? So I’ll set up this free-standing frame I purchased back when my hands were really bad to hold my fabric when I stitch. I have a new chiropractor who I’ll see on April 17, and will try to get a massage appointment with Tonya, who fixed me before but made me cry.

The other bad news came this morning. I stepped out back to take another before photo of the Back Forty. As I turned to come inside, I saw him run across the yard and under that white building. When I looked at the photo and expanded it, there he is, on the left near the back.

Yup. It’s back. Now I know who pooped in the pea bed.

Now the friggin’ church bells across the street are playing “The Old Rugged Cross” which always reminds me of my mother. They play hymns twice a day during the week and more on Sundays.

I’m in a dark place right now so I’d appreciate any positive vibes sent my way. As long as they are not “thoughts and prayers.”

Saturday morning coffee pot post

27 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by Laurie in coffee pot posts, critters, tapestry, weaving

≈ 2 Comments

I spent so much time on other blogs, Facebook, and Instagram that the morning and the coffee is nearly gone. And some weaving.

Here’s the area in “Cathedral” that I’m concentrating on this weekend. I’m deviating from the cartoon in this area, so it’s a bit tricky.

Another detail. It’s nice to get back out of the shadow. Seems like a metaphor for my life right now, as I rise from a depression/anxiety phase.

I posted this photo for feedback on which tiny tapestry to send to the American Tapestry Alliance’s unjuried “Biggest Little Tapestries in the World!” exhibit planned for Convergence in Reno, Nevada this July. I’ve been convinced to submit the one on the left, which I wove during one of Pam Patrie’s workshops with Archie Brennan and Susan Maffei from a drawing I did of the pines on the seacliffs there.

I’ve always loved the other one, and the frame loom that I’m doing my tapestry diary on was originally warped with the intention of weaving it in a much larger version. Maybe I’ll weave it on the Shannock loom once Cathedral is finished.

More photos from my walk back and forth to work, on the UNCG campus.

Pablocito is the new spokescat for Slowly She Turned. He carries on a long feline tradition that passed from Miss Jazz (of Jazzcat Productions, the website of the 90s), Squirt, and Theo. Welcome to the staff, Pablocito O’Neill! Right now Pablocito is guarding the back of the laptop and purring loudly.

Pablocito O'Neill, new spokescat for Slowly She Turned

Okay, I’m done with computer stuff for the day. Will be back tomorrow with a tapestry diary update.

Catch-up

12 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by Laurie in critters, Tapestry Diary 2018

≈ Leave a comment

Just a catch-up post. I’ll have more time to write this coming weekend.

Nutty weather. High of 71 today, then predicted high of 35 on Sunday.

Walked a different way to work a couple of days ago and saw this gorgeous bush.

Once I got to work, this hawk flew by and settled low enough in a tree that I could get acquainted with him/her. Everybody was walking under the tree with their faces in their phones and headphones on. What a loss for them.

I hear this hawk often, and sometimes see a couple of my crow friends chasing it. The crows are almost as big as the hawk.