Hey!

In case you haven't heard....

I Opened An ETSY SHOP!
You can find it here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunkyCFiberSpree

I'm super excited about this!  To kick things off, I took the fabrics to a near-by art group and sold over half of them.  There's 16 pieces left and I'll announce the next update soon.

Because she's a good friend, Lynn is offering a give-away on her blog---3 fat quarters.  She's promoting a new surface design video class that starts soon and has at least three different give-aways going right now.  Be sure to check it out!

Happy, Happy!

Today's Washout.

Let's start with the good. Shall we?

These two pieces fill me with joy and happiness, for they require no angst, no second dye. Only a lovely soak in lava-water and a nice, soothing press with the iron.













On the other hand, the following pieces are being labelled 'for further study'.

They will require time to consider their future paths.  Number 1 looks like a virus slide.  Number two is anemic.  Number three, here, looks like it's been rolled in baby poop.  Lovely.












What remains makes my head hurt.

What you're seeing is only a selection from this particular family. Of course, I would make the most of the ugly fabric. I cannot even put forth a reason.





This fabric happened. It is spiteful and difficult. It will be punished and over dyed into submission.
And that is all.

What I did...

I cut out some felt,


and shaded it with marker.


And turned it into these!


Aren't they cute?


I'm in the process of refining the patterns and thinking about making lots of them. Who doesn't need an extra pair of ears?

Pen, Paper, Wood, Wool.

Howdy!  Here I am, snow bound again after being lured outdoors by a fake spring.  Hopefully, Real Spring will arrive any minute now.

After a day of fussing and gathering and scanning, looking for camera cords and answering to my name, this post is Finally coming together.  Having just discovered the Picassa collage maker, I will proceed to overuse it in one post.

First up:  a truck load of sketches from several Sundays.  You'll notice I've ditched the circle format when it suits me.



Secondly, one of my children went to Arizona to hang out with Uncle Jeff.  Uncle Jeff has a homemade CNC router used for his amazing all-wood clocks.  Said child was given free reign and came home to surprise his mother (moi) with these wooden versions of my mandalas. He gets bonus points and extra pudding.

























The wooden image on the left is less clear because they didn't program the router to cut deep enough into the wood.

Lastly, there has been yarn, much making of yarn:


Something about winter makes me want to spin and dream of knitted projects.  No knitting--just dreaming of knitting.  And in preparation for this summer's Ren Fest, my satellite has pulled out her drop spindle and begun to hone those skills.  I will be sharing a booth at a small local festival and plan to sell fiber of all ilk, including hand made drop spindles.  Our children will be shunted into the crowd and forced to spin in public as advertisement.  We'll pay them in yum-yums and free time to hang out with the belly dancers.

On the left, is my daughter's first hand spun yarns.  The orange merino is her firstest first, the lime she Koolaid dyed and spun herself.  On the right is her current yarn, something not-merino.  She's starting to get the hang of drafting and is producing what will be a bulky two ply, maybe for some leg warmers or fingerless gloves.

So, there it is, Lemon Drops:  a fresh post and a new week. I'll be back soon!

Grand Finale!

Presenting: Grade School Tie Dye Awesomeness!



There may be more pics than you care to see. All that tie dye kind of blends together. But the kids are so adorable, I couldn't resist.

Dye Day!

The second stage of our grade school tie dye project was Dye Day.

Dye Day is a Great Day!

This step was messy and fun. The team of adult helpers were fantastic. They kept kids moving, kept the mess under control, and kept everyone happy.

Two of my children came as assistants. They've both been dying shirts since they were old enough to hold squirt bottles. They were knowledgeable, displayed maturity, leadership, and encouragement. Much to their shock, I took them right to Dairy Queen and bought them Blizzards (this a very rare occurence, saved for only the highest of honors).

Here's the slide show:

Schools and Uniforms

*No Catholic school girls or plaid skirts were used in the writing of this post.*

I stopped by the school today to see the t-shirts for myself. They are pale--not the purply, grape soda color I wanted, but they are still pretty shirts. I talked with the principle and she said the kids are thrilled. They got to see the results of something they made with their own hands. It's all good.

There are still a selection of shirts that need to be dyed. Each grade's shirts are purple plus one other color (green, turquois, blue). Staff, such as the lunch workers, will have shirts that are purple plus all three colors. Friday, the whole school is wearing their tie dyed shirts! How cool is that?

On another note, have you been following the Uniform Project? It's a daily fashion project raising money for a specific school in India. The clothes are imaginative and the kids are....well....kids--wide eyed and sweet. Check it out here.

Tie Dye Pics

Here's a slide show of the school tie dye project. These were taken on the day we tied shirts.

The Good, the Bad.

....there's already plenty of ugly in the past few posts.

The Bad: My 400 t-shirts project has somehow gone awry. The shirts are pale. They either didn't get warm enough, or I goofed up the soda ash somehow. The shirts were left in garbage bags (one per class) in a room set to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure the warmth got through to all the shirts. As for soda ash, there's a good chance I used too much. Am going to the school tomorrow for a personal peek.

The Good: Scrumbling. I love it, though have never tried it. For those not in the know, scrumbling is free form knitting and crochet. Scrumblers know who they are and Prudence Mapstone is their Chief. Her blog makes me happy. Check it out.

It's Been a Busy Week

400 grade school children with t-shirts, a dozen volunteer parents, 4 full days, two of my children, and me.

Guess how much dye we used.

Thoughts on Motherhood and Alone Time

These images are not the best, but they do show what I've been up to:

Carving, lots of carving.

The big squiggle is mine, the others were done by my daughter.

Sample print of the squiggle:


My daughter made the letters as gifts for twin highschool graduates that used to babysit for us. I took the liberty of stamping some stationary for them. The tiny stamps were suppose to be lower case A's. They looked like leaves to me.



Sometimes it's hard for me to let my kids create along side me. This causes no end of guilt. I crave creative time for myself, yet am fully aware of the blink that is childhood. Soon they will be gone. There will be more silence than I can stand. So, I carve, she carves. We bump elbows and use the tool the other has been waiting for. She uses up all my stamp material, I order more. She learns the value of a handmade gift, the personal touch. We sing and chat about life. How can I deny the blessing of camraderie with my child?

She fusses with bows:


The gifts are ready and we're off to the party: