TeeGee Studio

What’s for Lunch?

I just asked the little dude to make a quick snack for himself…..

and this is what he made:

When asked what it is….

“It’s a pooping sheep.”  he says.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Adventurous Cat Regrets Adventure

So I cut a bunch of flowers to put on the table last night- since the lilacs were awesome.

And indie…dear sweet kitty indie…

couldn’t
get
enough

Wouldn’t leave them alone. As soon as I got him off the tale, back up he jumps. WORSE than the computer obsession.

So – when he wasn’t looking- I moved them to the kitchen window. He found them.

I finally had to put the out on the ledge on the porch so he can’t get to them.

He then proceeds to cry at the door, (much like he did when I had the lemon grass plant out there before I planted it) and run out every time someone opened the door to go out.

He cries, he rams his head, he scratches at the door.

He paces, and jumps on the couch, then on the shelf where the keys are just to get a glimpse of his beloved flowers.

Pace cry jump pace cry jump.

I’m trying to nap, until I hear a distinctly different cry and see this:

pacing, pacing, (and meowing)

and of course the obligatory cat butt picture…

Eventually, after about 3 minutes of frantic pacing and a final gaze out the window at his beloved flowers, he jumped down with more of a splat than feline grace, but he’s fine. I think if he hadn’t been so scared- he would have tried to go through the screen to get them.

(thanks to the hubs for his catching the action)

If I Could Marry an Iris……

It would be this one

This shy beauty was found among a bed of irises along my driveway. Some of which had been transplanted 2 seasons before from my backyard. I’ve never seen her before, but she is stunning, and the nicest surprise.

It is also amazing what has grown from a handful of seeds, haphazardly tossed in the side yard 2 seasons ago.

Funny how big this guy grew, happy as a clam in this crappy, unamended, compacted soil, from questionable seed, and the pots I purchased from the garden center 2 years ago- died the first year.

What’s nice is this one has a bunch of friends in this bed. Maybe it’ll take over the whole side.

And lastly

This lilac hasn’t bloomed like this in the almost 3 years we’ve been here. It smells DIVINE.

Well my friends, clearly there hasn’t been much dyeing going on. Lately I’ve been reveling in the color in my yard. That’s where I plan to stay as long as it’s sunny out.

Front Page!!!!

Warning Warning! Gloating Ahead.

This, my friends, was what I woke up to this morning. Boatloads of views and about 15 new hearts on my shop. Never does that happen, as I’m a small fish in the BIG ETSY ocean. But alas, apparently the treasury I was in was on the front page overnight. And this was the lucky listing.

This gorgeous Treasury was curated by juliegarland . She was kind enough to send me a screenshot of the front page that someone took for her.

I’m just a wee bit excited. Just a bit. And please be sure to check out her shop as well.

Survey says……

Nope.

In response to Shiborigirl’s challenge to try to figure out or replicate this pattern, I decided to start simple.

Rows spaced half an inch apart, half inch stitches, off set each row by half an inch. I knew looking at the original fabric this wouldn’t get the same pattern- but it could be a jumping off point. About 3/4 of the way down the fabric- trying to sketch the stitch lines and lining up quilting rulers to make sure the off set was correct (and frequently winding up with wonky lines) it occurred to me that drawing an actual grid would have been a helluva lot easier.

So would have been doing this without trying to watch Deadliest Catch at the same time.

Anyhoo, onward we go.

Started with this (stitched ever so carefully on the bus yesterday)

Pulled the strings tight.
Then immersion dyed in dark green mx dye bath, probably swishing too much,

and got this

Clearly, not what it was supposed to be.

Things I know:

I need better thread. I’ve been using nylon coats and clark thread for the silk tying. But it is not thick enough for using with this fabric I don’t think. Or maybe I just need something less slippery. I had a hard time tying the threads tight enough to get clear resist. In digging through a box of samples that I’d done, I realized I had tried this technique a few years ago- before I really started getting into dyeing. I had used a heavier weight “thread of unknown origin” that had been in my grandmothers stash of sewing/craft supplies. It was the perfect weight for that- there were threads still in there, and I remember the cone it was on. I also remember chucking it when the basement flooded 2 years ago.

I think I over swished (agitated) in the dye bath.

Not entirely sure that original fabric did get immersed. Not even sure it was mokume.

So I will think about this some more and try again on the weekend, after I get the veggies in the garden.

And I will chuck that green dye stock, it seems shot anyways, and it’s a really icky color.