Gosh, when was the last time I blogged here? Too long ago, I'm afraid. There's a reason for everything. Mainly, I was so occupied with teaching online classes this year that I didn't have time for anything else. And we did grand in the classes. The participants were interested and interesting and curious and wanted more more more and it was great and it is not over yet. Because we did so much, I just prolonged the last class till November.
But in the meantime, DH, dog and I were on holiday in Brittany. Just came back on Sunday.
Oh Brittany, the wonderful place at the Atlantic. I need just a really good idea on how to make a living there and I'm gone. Brittany or Wales, I'd take one or the other any time.
But being on holidays is nice too, better than nothing. And since I am always in a creative high when I don't have to take care of business in kitchens, laundryrooms or of my Mum, I came back with some nice new things I made.
When we left I didn't have much time to pack with a thinking mind, so I just threw in all of my dyed embroidery yarns on skeins just as they were and planned on sorting them out when I was in Brittany. Which I did. I began with some wool yarn and some improvised bobbins.
It doesn't take much to wind bobbins. A thick pencil and some paper is enough.
In spring, I sewed some shirts and dyed them in the indigo vat. One of them was a wool shirt (or it could be thick cotton as well, I am not sure and I don't have anything left for a burn test). It wears nice enough but it looks a bit bleah and meah. Nothing special. So this is what got under the needles first.
As always, I begin small, a bit hessitant. But the top was definitely improved and it wears much better now.
During embroidery I listened to some audiobooks and while I was reading or watched DVD I knit. (Yes, I read more than one book at once. And yes, I love watching movies and TV series on a binge while I'm on holiday. I wanted to catch up with season 9 of supernatural but only got to half of it because some movies sneaked in as well. And still yes, I do go outside. I am at the Atlantic. Of course I am outside. I live with a dog. We're outside half the day. But when there is next to none work in the kitchen, nearly no laundry and no Mum to care for, there is so much time during a day, it's incredible.)
Then I grew bolder. I found an old linen night shirt a while ago. It was one of those really long night shirts from the late 1900. Almost 2 m long so your feet wouldn't get cold in the night. With long sleeves and - as always - a bit tight under the arms. People back then were not that ample endowed. So I shortened it, inserted some gores, removed the buttons and was about to dye it. But, the linen looked so nice, so ... interesting, so wonderful that I didn't want to spoil it by some dye. So it became my canvas for embroidery.
It's not quite finished yet.
The whole will be: We're all Stories in the End. Just make it a Good one.
(For all non-Whovians out there: It's from Doctor Who, the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) said that and it is so true.)
As I said, not quite finished yet. But it is so much FUN. And I really love it. And it's all embroidered with my own hand dyed yarns. Supercool. Though I highly doubt I will ever wear it in public, I'm not that bold. Or maybe I will. Who knows.
For now, we're back, I'm back in the kitchen chaos (while we were away a shelf fell off the wall and I have to find some solution for that problem now, luckily none of the pots broke) and back to washing tons of stuff from my Mum's (they offered to wash for her in the care home where she was during our holiday but she said with a smile: 'No, my daughter will do that when I'm home again.' *sigh*) and doing all the other things that have to be done in a house with some more people living in it.
*waves*
Oh, I am planning on teaching a dye online class in English next June/July 2015. About 6 - 8 weeks, covering the basics of an indigo vat, bundle dyeing, dyeing with what is in your vicinity, some katazome basics and some printing. All on cotton, linen and plant fibers in general. Animal fiber dyers will be welcome as well but the main interest of the class will be on plant fibers. Sign ups will be starting in my Shop in about 3 or 4 weeks.