Monday, October 22, 2012

SCRAPS

I made this quilt in 2000. It's still my favorite quilt.
 I still have plenty of scraps left over from it and, every once in awhile, I come up with an idea for using some of them. I started these over the weekend and have plans for many more. Bring on the cold nights.

Monday, October 1, 2012

October's Bright Blue Weather

Happy October. Here is one of my grandmother's favorite poems by Helen Hunt Jackson.
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)


October's Bright Blue Weather



O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather;



When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;



When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;



When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;



When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;



When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;



When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,

And count like misers, hour by hour,

October's bright blue weather.



O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October's bright blue weather.



Thursday, September 27, 2012

STOCKING UP

I've neglected my Etsy shop all summer long and now have begun the process of stocking up for the coming season. I am sooooooooooooooooo slow at what I make and the listing process. It's just my way. I like to think that my work reflects attention to detail and careful thought and execution. Yesterday I listed this bracelet which is my all time best seller and also my favorite to make.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/110556259/beaded-fiber-bracelet-pearl?nc=1

Next week I will be adding more items and also a new section of items to my shop. More on that to come.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Gone too long

I didn't plan on being away from my blog for this long, but life called and it's taken me awhile to get back in the swing of things. It's been a very long hot summer here at the foot of Pikes Peak. Living in the mountains we always worry about the possibility of a major wildfire. Those fears materialized with the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire at the end of June. 346 homes were destroyed and 2 people died and what was already a poor economy became a lot worse when our usual throng of summer tourist decided to go elsewhere.

Since the fire there's been a noticeable uneasiness in people as we all try to get back into a routine. The only thing that has kept me sane has been having a creative outlet. I decided to take the making lemonade out of lemons approach, and used all the scrub oak people have cleared away from their homes in my neighborhood  for ecoprinting and dyeing. Scrub oak gives a nice warm brown dye, very similar to tea, but without having to waste any tea. Our trees having been dropping leaves since early August, so I have a good collection of aspen, cottonwood and fruit tree leaves for printing. I have noticed that I haven't gotten strong prints like I did last summer (maybe because the trees are stressed), but with the help of copper pipes and iron bits I am still happy with my results.





The journal is made from a vintage apron that I dyed with an oak bath.

Friday, June 22, 2012

FOR ANDREA

Proud to call my daughter a graduate of Santa Clara University.


Ithaca

When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don't in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
Constantine P. Cavafy :

Thursday, June 7, 2012

MORE BLUE

It is finally consistently warm enough that I can keep my indigo vat outside and dye when the moment strikes. The following pieces were all done using the pre-reduced indigo. The first one I used my favorite shibori technique, just small rubber bands bound around a section of the fabric. I love how every circle is different--makes for great texture.  And then I have been making moons for a project I'm working on. More on that later. Plexiglass circles compliments of http://rossie.etsy.com/ .

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Don't know where the times goes but after a long break, I've started ecoprinting again. Leaves are back in Colorado and after a big windstorm I gathered up cottonwood, burning bush and ornamental plum leaves and made this first ecoprint on a piece of raw silk. Looking forward to lots more fun with leaves as the season progresses.

 In March and April I took an online indigo dyeing class from Glennis Dolce http://www.shiborigirlstudios.com/, a master at the art of indigo. I have learned how to make and keep going to different vats, one natural and one synthetic, and plan on more indigo dyeing this summer also. The lighter blues are from the natural vat and the darker blues from the synthetic vat.




 Lastly, a new bracelet, TIDAL POOL to be listed in my etsy shop shortly http://pdlugos.etsy.com/
To all my followers, thanks for being patient with me while I took a break.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

FINALE--I BEGAN MY INTERIOR LIFE ON A SWING

When bringing this piece to a close I decided it was looking a little too literal for me. So I made some changes--like slashing half of it off. Happy now.
Two little girls
trying to catch a breeze
under the shade of an old oak tree
in a lush garden
at a place in time
that kept them apart
long ago but not forgotten
still together
bonded by a shared wound
and courage.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PART 4

...at a place in time long ago but not forgotten

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

PART 3

...in a lush garden

Saturday, February 25, 2012

THE STORY CONTINUES--PART 2

...under the shade of an old oak tree

Thursday, February 23, 2012

THE BEGINNING OF A STORY OF...

two little girls trying to catch a breeze.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

CONSIDER SEEDS

"Underneath the drfits, seeds are waiting. Their courage is incomparable, their patience unequaled. Hunkered down and hopeful, they sit out the frozen tundra, knowing and trusting that spring eventually will arrive. If ever you feel unsteady in the face of life's winters, CONSIDER SEEDS AND THEIR FAITH."--Tovah Martin Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Victoria magazine

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

...STANDING STILL AND LEARNING TO BE ASTONISHED

 Created with eco-printed and dyed fabrics and one commercial fabric because it went so well with the leaf prints
Ecoprinting has taught me to  be much more observant of the world around me. Enjoy this Mary Oliver poem:

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird--
  equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my  boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
  keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
  astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
  to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
  that we live forever.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Still Stitching

I'll be stitching on this till January 6, Epiphany, the official end to the Christmas Season. Maybe I'll have it finished by then.