Valerean

I've been sorting through the 1K card project I did ten years ago (has it been that long already?) I tried to give most of it away during that Megacon where I made my very last personal appearance as an author, but I still have hundreds of the artist trading cards I made that year. I'm sorting them into different collections; this one in the basket are all the quilted fabric cards and bundles. I've added in some of the stitch practice pieces from this year, too. I don't think of time as passing, but it does. What I remember most about 2012 was when Monica Jackson and Ray Bradbury died; both of them were terrible blows for different reasons. I think too often I mark time with losses. But that year I also took an online painting class, won NaNoWriMo, revived one bylined series, sold another and moved to a new publisher. I didn't know it at the time but my career with traditional publishing was coming to an end, too. I wouldn't go back and warn myself o...

I sewed all the fabric elements in place on the beach bag, and did about half of the embroidery. The canvas tote base has very stiff fabric, so a bit of a challenge. Once I finish all the embroidery I'll add the buttons, and maybe a tiny bit of beading. While I'm working on this I'm also thinking about what fall projects I want to tackle. Definitely making at least one new quilt, and picking back up on the linen quilt in progress.

Some days I feel like this old barn. No, most days. Yet the skin cancer treatment has my face looking much better, so there is that. I wish they could blue-light my whole body. This week's avoid-depression challenge: my diabetes doctor abruptly quit her practice and returned to India, and her partner refuses to see any patients who aren't on Medicare, so I have to find a new doctor to manage my disease. My options are pretty limited out here in rural nowhere. Since this was the doctor who first properly diagnosed me (and the only one who has been right all along) I'm not happy about my prospects. Yet I keep telling myself it could be a good thing, and I might find an even better doctor. Who knows. Also: some self-published author posted her books on a biography page of mine, and may be passing herself off as me. I've contacted the site and politely asked them to remove the books, and I'll have to investigate further to find out what more she's done...

I picked up this bundle of mostly solid remnants and bolt ends for my next quilt. I was hoping it would be gender neutral. I showed it to some quilting friends, and they recommended adding blue and yellow to balance it out, so I added these two colors to match the bird print. Here's the final palette. I'll be using that Yellow Brick Road pattern for the quilt, which I'll start after the beach bag is finished.

I don't often use kits, but when I see a small one that appeals to me I'll give it a whirl. I wanted to make some fabric pumpkins for fall, so I invested in this silk velvet kit. Here's the end result, admittedly a bit lopsided. I deviated from the kit pattern by using a packet of dry rice instead of play sand for part of the fill, and a plastic pumpkin stem instead of a twig (the ones we have in the yard are almost always infested with mites, moss and other things I don't want in the house.) Then I didn't like the plastic stem, which seemed too small, so I hunted around for another one. Final version. It took a couple of hours to complete, and I only struggled with gathering the velvet once I'd stuffed it (which I'll blame on my stiff fingers, not the instructions.) The finished pumpkin made me very happy, which is the whole point.

I'm considering eco dyeing my own textiles, so I invested in Abigail Booth's The Wild Dyer , which is both a guide to making natural dyes and a project how-to book. The author really did a nice job with this book by providing simple, clear instructions on how to make and use eco dyes, and adding lots of photographs for reference. The projects in the book are mostly small, and look interesting, so I might give one of those a whirl. There's also a handy list of eco-dyeing resources at the back that I found invaluable. At the back of our property we have a couple of plants that are perfect for eco-dyeing, like this pokeberry (note: these are poisonous to ingest.) The beauty berry plants haven't ripened yet, but they are even more abundant this year. The only thing that has held me back from eco-dyeing my own textiles is the time involved in the process, both to learn how to do it and experiment. So if I try it, I'll probably do a very limited amount...

The last project of summer I'm making is this slow stitch beach bag. The base is a blank canvas tote in a sandy off-white color. I picked a selection of vintage and new threads for the embroidery work. While I'm working I'm going to store all the threads and trims I want for the bag in the gift box I rehabbed earlier this summer. Stay tuned to see my progress.