MD Distortion Ideas

Yesterday I pulled out quite a few fabrics from my stash to add to my magic {diaries} cloth.  I had left this one to stitch down today, and as you can see I hadn't pinned it very well to the whole cloth.

 So when I swung it open {had folded it last night} and lay it down in front of me, I suddenly saw IT.  Distortion. Jude has been talking about it this week in the class, but I have felt rather stumped by it.  Until now.  I couldn't see the forest for the trees.  I couldn't see the 'distortion' because almost all of my pieces are already 'distorted', cockeyed, crooked, whatever.

 So bending the weave to fit this area between the print on the top fabric was exactly what I needed to do with this simple 'weave.'

Below is a prime example...I had made and stitched this one yesterday. There isn't a straight line anywhere!  {click to enlarge}  This fabric had been chewed by a dog, but I had saved this scrap anyway because I really like it.  So I just included the hole.

 Now this section is disturbing me.  The flowers are from Grace, her bright ass orange shirt she had shared a bit of with me.  It's the white part of the "D" shape on the right side...I will have to fix that somehow....

Family History

Turns out my son in law has an interesting ancestor also! Jose Antonio Yorba.

memememe

this amazing looking place is in China...can you imagine having this for a view??  i can!

 So on Sunday, we went to a GD [that's GrandDaughter, not god damned] birthday party. Not either of these 2 GD's, this is Lily, GD#2 and Avery, GD #4.  The party was for Rhiley, GD # 3.  I took the camera, but no batteries, so this is the only picture I got.  

I have done some stitching, but don't have pix.  Last week was a 'have the girls' week, so this week  I am having a ME week.  Laundry? if you insist.  Dishes? use your fingers.

MD Cloth By Day

My magic cloth by day reveals some hidden things.  Things you don't see at night.

 like butterflies...

 flying geese....

 'rusty' spots....

 In this yellow spot above there is a rusty looking shape of...pliers???  I want it to show up, but only if you are looking for it.  

Birthday Week Begins Here

Birthday's today are Ben's, my oldest, and his youngest, Lily, who was born the same day and almost the exact same time...missed it by 3 minutes!  

Ben and his Lily holding niece/cousin Avery

Who is this?  This little girl is Charlie. Ashley and Danny really wanted a dog, now that they have a house, 2 kids and a garage....isn't that a song??

My mother in law holding Avery.

 The 2 youngest for the time being, Charlie {canine} and Avery {human} and their parents chins....

 a little girl and her little pup.  

Rhiley has a birthday this week also, she will be 2!

 In all the chaos of family gatherings, someone said, "I hear Avery, she's awake."  Next thing we know, Grandpa Dan is coming out with Avery.  First time he has held her!!!

{Avery was pretty delicate as a newborn, which was a bit scary for Grandpa, so he just waited until she was stronger. She is nearly 2 months old now}

He Did, He Did

I got a special little package in the mail, from Grace.  A bit of a thrifty shirt.  I had told her that my Ben would wear that shirt in a hot minute, and he did!  *with much laughter*

 and of course lily wanted to wear it....

 ....and Megan....

We all thank you Grace!!!!!

and the 2 extra pieces are so colorful too, thank you for those too!

Don't Dye

J. asked if I had dyed the yellow piece that I am using in my Magic Cloth....no J. I didn't.  I can't seem to get the hang of dyeing fabric, though I have tried.  My tool of choice is a needle and other tools just don't fit right.

More more more

Magic cloth.  Weave.

 close up

 Today I found yet another fabric in my stash and O.My.Golly.Willikers.  The whole piece is perfect with this cloth. {2 more pix at the bottom of this post}  So I took a large part of it and maneuvered it into place...it will look better when I can get a see-through shot.  Wonder if there will be any of the gauze backing left when I am done????  well..besides the parts scattered around on the floor...because of course I cut away more of it today.

 I also found these two geese sections....they might get worked in too. 

the back

With the Girls Away...Gup Does Play

I am Gup {grandmother} to Meg and Lily....Lily started it, it stuck. 

I had tossed this weave on top of the whole cloth and loved how it looked, so I found a place for it and stitched it down.  I couldn't hide the butterfly though, so I cut out a window.....and folded back a corner to show the leaf beneath.

 I added the satin stitch to this area because it needed more stability.

 I stitched a leaf shape in by hand....

 ....looks more like a star....but I had to satin stitch around it because the sheer is not a tight weave, so it frayed fast!

 there is a spot there where the added weave to the back didn't quite fit the section I cut out of the gauze....I rather like it this way.

 And of course, here is the back to that area.

Way Fun. Way.

Up to now, or last night really, I have done my cloth weaving on a background fabric.  I decided to try doing it without the backing to hold it all together.  It worked!

So the front......

 ....looks pretty much the same as the back....

I had not a clue how I would do this until I actually began.  I tore the fabric into strips, then lay down a gold piece.  Then lay the brown ones in the opposite direction, under and over the gold in a weave.  Pinned those, stitched across the gold strip, stitching over all the brown end bits too, of course.  Row 2, added another gold strip, over and under the browns.... I should have taken pix of the steps.

Today I am working on Magic Cloth again...I suddenly had ideas coming faster than fast.

We don't have the girls this week, so that's the reason for so much creativity.  I have time to spend in that part of my right brain.  I get ideas when the girls are here, but they are scattered in with child-stuff.

Cloth Whispering

I have started adding to my large cloth, which is the 2 fabrics, the sheer on top, the striped gauze underneath, that I am doing as part of Magic Diaries with Jude Hill.

without flash

from back

back again

 stitching from the front

with flash

 my design curtains

 braid experiments

Thought I would gather most of my recent cloth weaving's and pin them to a curtain.  I am curious to see if they play nice together....or sort of together.

Megan and Me

After the scary fire adventure of July 4, I needed to make a tree weave....to soothe my nerves, since it was the flames whooshing up the tree that effected me the most.   As I worked on it, Meg and Lily wanted to sew too.  Meg had cut the owls out of a 5 inch block and added the spot of blue.  

"Here, Gup" she said. "This one is for you." 

So I added it to my little cloth.  {not quite as big as my laptop}

I think I will date this one because I know I will forget the reason it was made. 

Because  the fire wasn't that traumatic for us.

Blueberries, Weaving and Granddaughters

 All these pix are clickable to see larger.  See the yellow thing in the blueberries?  That is a piece of fabric that refuses to be changed.  I spritzed bleach on it...no change.  I drowned it in straight bleach...no change.  Fine. Dump it in old berries and squish it up. Leave it in the sun to ferment.

 I needed to work on something with trees after that fire across the street.

 I cut into and tore the pine tree fabric right in the middle instead of tearing it into strips. I am hoping the closeup above will show you that.

 with the low contrast in the two fabrics I thought you might need some help seeing the torn areas.

 the strips on the right were rejected for this piece...the contrast was TOO much! 

I wanted subtle, not loud, quiet, not boisterous....

Ashley took this great pic of my older 3 grandgirls.