Linen, kittens & a walk in the woods

I was given some handspun linen yarn, a gift from Bodil. She teaches in the medieval art of nalbinding (nålebinding), and she made these pretty covers for glass jars from the linen yarn - in nalbinding!

This necklace is made using that linen yarn and a crochet hook, adorned with a few amber pearls and pieced together with some eco dyed silk scraps. The soft and light kind of jewellery that I've realised is much more my style than gold and silver ...

The tiny mushrooms looks like jewellery too, wish I could wear them as well ...

Overcoming the Fear of Squareness

Suffering from Quadratumphobia might not be that bad, you say? Well, it does cause a bit of discomfort if you live in a perfectly square house and also when trying to make square objects of any kind. The house thing is no longer an issue since we moved into this old house of ours, where everything is very off-level. Like very. Lego isn't an option at all, but I can live with that. But sometimes a woman can have the need for creating square things, like a purse, for instance. I've worked with this phobia of mine, and made a few square things:

All fabric: natural dyed, of course and using re-used fabrics. The purse on the top is made from the trousers my husband wore when we were married. Romantic, eh? Batting: old linens. Zippers: from second hand stores. I have a thing with old zippers. Embroidery yarn: second hand too.
Dragonfly: (deceased) found by little S under a pallet in a pet shop. He has a thing with bugs & insects. (He does not suffer from Acarophobia). 
I found an on-line phobia list - it's kind of funny. How about Barophobia- Fear of gravity? Or Disposophobia- Fear of throwing stuff out ... – DANG! I just realised I've got another phobia!! Well, never mind about that - that's one of the good phobias!
If the Quadratumphobia doesn't prevent me from making more square things like these – do you think I could sell them?

Peacefully Stitching

This embroidery box was a gift for a friend. It's an old cigar box covered in natural dyed cotton fabric with a bit of embroidery. The embroidery yarn is thrifted, and so is the scissors.

I so like reusing and repurposing. While making this I recollected memories of Inga, who smoked the cigars from the box. She was a friend of my mother and a very dramatic and choleric woman with a cigar hanging from her lip. I remembered, how I as a child collected tiny dutch tiles with blue printing on them, which was scattered amongst the pebbles, in their impressively large courtyard.

Everything in this little box has its own story to tell, and I hope it will whisper to the receiver and make her want to stitch a story of her own.

Eco print goes goth ...

 ... or at least I think this dress turned out kind of romantic goth. After too much thinking about plans, plants and methodes I resolutely took a break from my brain, went out and picked up some windfallen oak and mirabelle leaves and some wild rose leaves. Because that is what I have got outside my door.

I've decided I need another blog where I can write only about natural dyeing and the like. It'll be more like a logbook or notebook for my dyeing experiments and creations. If you want to join me there, please visit Tread gently on the Earth. I have moved over a couple of posts from this blog, but in the future there's not going to be any cross posting. See you!

Anorak

I 'discovered' this felted wool anorak in my wardrobe, where it has been - practically unused - for ...well, about ten years. (Yrk, ten years??)
Even though I love the colour of natural, undyed wool it doesn't really look that good on me. Especially not the almost white wool from merino sheep. Why I've never thought of dyeing it before is beyond me - but I found myself fortuitously pulling it out of my closet - while - incidentally - being in possession of some eucalypt leaves. They don't normally grow in these parts of the world, but I've been wanting to try them out for a while now. And I'm glad I did!

And happy Autumn, by the way!

24 x eco dye

Recently, I had an eco dye session with 24 1. graders! - 50% chaos - 50% fun - and here is the result:

I brought some leaves and flowers, and the children went out gathering some too. I made a great mistake, though. I brought some shredded madder root in a bag - and told them it was Magic Dust. Thinking,  that a tiny sprinkle could give an interesting effect. Ha, ha, it surely did - those 6-7 year old little ones quite boldly poured the Magic Dust all over (a lot of Magic Dust must surely be better than just a little, right), resulting in a kind of dramatic effect. Could that be dragon blood?

Still, they had lots of fun, learned a bit about natural dyeing - and there are some really fine looking pieces too.

 (The blue coloured leaf print above is Cotinus coggygria (parykbusk). Usually it gives some kind of purple colour, but combined with madder it seems to be more turquoise).

I pre-mordated the silk in a little bit of alum and cream of tartar (vinsten). Leaves, flowers et.c. was placed (with more or less care) upon the fabric. The fabric was then rolled tightly around a stick and secured with cotton yarn. Boiled in the school yard in an enamel pot on a bonfire for about an hour. Opened after two days (because longer is impossible to wait for small people). We're going to make table runners, wall hangings and perhaps an advent calender with the fabric - combined with some solid coloured natural dyed silk fabric - no madder!

strolling

Strolling in my garden and in our small woods while the sun is setting, trying to ignore weeds needing to be removed and toys that ought to be put in their proper place. Enjoying the golden glow from the low sun beams and the way it makes everything look enchanted. Flowers and leaves seem to radiate with an inner light in these short moments.

 Gathering windfalls and picking a couple of flowers ...

Trying to capture a bit of their beauty to keep ...