Did someone ring the breakfast bell ?

 hell yeah .....

this season's brood of baby starlings are raucous, squabbling, ever moving and always, but always hungry. We are constantly delighted by their scuffles over the food we provide them in the garden - this feeder is the latest attempt to stop Badger and Squirrel from carting our offerings away wholesale after a bit of inventive breaking and entering! It works well so far, allows access to the smaller birds while the larger ones can feast on other food in a nearby tree. Sometimes there are as many as 20 all flapping and squalling and fighting over who gets what! The little ones are just beginning to learn to feed themselves instead of sitting in a row on the fence shouting for Mum.

Just now

We sit in our garden of an evening and feel a huge gratitude to the Universe for providing such a spot in which to dwell.

Columbine, my favourites, always scattered round my childhood gardens, the infinite variety and sheer gaiety of these flowers always delights me.

and then .... later ..... I stroll into the siting room and there he is, huffling and snuffling just down the path

oh delight

All unpressed

as they are, and not very good iPad photos 

more May shibori - goes rather nicely with the soft turquoise from here 

doughnut tied

folded and clamped

pole wrapped

ploughed up (like in tray dyeing) tied and clamped

vintage linen

Evening shadows

 

 and highlights

of differing kinds

And in between,

the garden grows all by itself

all right dear?

May Shibori 3

So I dipped and dyed, and dyed a bit more and generally faffed about for a couple of days. And here is where I am now

This piece speaks to me of dandelions in a field, very pleased

This needs more work I think, though I'm not sure where to take it. Studio 11 tomorrow, show and tell, I'll see what people think, which is one of the pleasures of being there.

The blue ripple that had been stitched back and front is so subtle that images don't really show what little pattern is there, but for the record, here it is. Again, more work, much more work, but still developing layers.

There is a faint extra ripple there, but I think one of the bits of stitching worked loose, which didn't help. I'd like to repeat this process, but on a different scale

So I learn a little bit more. In particular this time, about quantities. It's good when I can experiment at home; I can be more systematic and understand the results better. None of these pieces are anything like as deep in colour as I'd hoped they would be, but have still taught me as  imade notes of times and quantities on the way there.

May Shibori 2

So I took the cloth out, let it dry looked

and thought, not quite rich enough, just shadows of triangles and ovals, rather than brilliant jewels. Perhaps another layer?

And then there's that bit of linen I ran some stiches into, having folded and layered first

That could be drawn up and popped in as well 

May Shibori

Klimt cloth - ritualistic cloth magic recipe, goal, something Klimt'ish.

Take a couple of bits of pre dyed cloth. Gaze at Klimt a lot. Investigate acrylic shapes, clamps, stuff. Then

2 tbsp salt

Boiling water where possible

1/8 tsp turquoise

Two pinches  ultra blue

Add the clamped pre dyed pieces

Then after ten - fifteen minutes another pinch of ultra blue dissolved in boiling water and added. No stirring, just let it sit.

Then after ten minutes swirled the bucket around, Hubble bubble

Stirred every ten to fifteen minutes throughout for first hour. Then added blue ripple 

Screen printed in a previous class with Christine

Stitched in a regular pattern, with rows alternating front and back

Drawn up tight ready to throw in the pot.

Then add more boiling water and a pinch of turquoise until all the fabric is covered, stir once and leave for a while, stir, leave stir

This is where I am just now.

Evening sun and shadow

Evening light in the front garden, where the lovely sinuous brick bed contains

a weeping birch,

glowing tulips

wisteria brought from our previous garden, just coming into flower

and pasque flower, just beginning to set seed, named for the Passion,

while down in the Dell there is a great old silver birch netting shadows amongst its branches

dandelion clocks and bluebells amongst the wild plants

a planter and next year's winter warmth, not yet cut to size,

plantain,

apple blossom

and playful cats.

Further up the garden sunlight bathes the shed in warmth,

seagulls chat beneath the moon

and away above the trees, piled clouds are catching the evening light