Eco Printing with color, stitch meditations and Shrekkie

I have continued to create my eco print scarves, and decided to experiment with adding just a tinge of color to the scarves with my Procion MX dyes before printing.  Love the results!  At some point I hope to get into using natural dyes, but the process is more than I can learn in a short time, so this is my solution for now:

Pale coral pink

Seafoam green

Palomino Gold

Robin's Egg blue

I am soooo in love with Botanical printing!  It really makes me happy to be able to capture nature this way... 

With the change of seasons, I am busy collecting and storing leaves for the winter months, much like a squirrel gathers acorns!  But I did let myself use one of the oak leaves for a different project:

If you follow my blog, you may remember that I was doing a lot of hand stitching back in January.  Then I got busy with other projects, and haven't done any since then.  But I have seen examples of using real leaves in collages, and decided one of my beloved Oak leaves deserved a chance to show off, so this came about recently:  Leaf hand stitched to a fringed square and a hand dyed background, with a fern leaf stamped in metallic paint.  I happened to have a frame handy that was just the right size, so it now sits on a side table in the living room, to celebrate Autumn.  I think I will be getting back to stitch meditations with the onset of cooler weather... they just go together!

 I posted last month that we had to let our sweet Bubba go, which was very sad, but his health was deteriorating and wasn't going to improve.  So now, we have just one kitty left, Shrekkie.  

Shrekkie came to live with us in 2010, after spending some time on his own.  His original owners moved away, and left him with neighbors across the road, but the household was quite unsettling to him, so he decided to be a vagabond for awhile.  Before long, he was coming around our house and yowling, which caught my attention.  I kept water on our deck for our cats, and he would come up to get a drink almost daily.  I began sitting on the deck in the morning, and gradually we made friends.  By October, I had coaxed him into the house, and he has been here ever since.  Now that he is the sole cat, he has begun to spend evenings snuggling with me on the floor while I nap in front of the TV, and he seems to be perfectly content to be the last kitty.  I still miss my Sweet Bubba, but Shrek is doing a good job consoling me, and dispensing love and affection!

Shrekkie update

Remember this guy?

This photo was taken toward the end of 2010, when I had begun to get him used to being inside... he's my little orphan cat, Shrekkie. So fast forward about 18 months, and here he is now:

Completely comfortable with his surroundings, he sleeps belly up on the deck! I caught him just a little while ago, and our older cat, Double was just a few feet away. These guys crack me up, they're so dang cute! Had to share...

Lollin' on the deck...

I know... this is supposed to be a blog about my creative pursuits, but I just can't help myself! I have to share this with you:

I glanced out the back porch window, and saw this pose... my wildling, who has been mine now for over a year. Think he likes it here? Oh, yeah! My little guy...

Spring Coat

Earlier this year, I began to notice that my cat Shrekkie was losing his long coat. I got a little concerned, but soon after his visit to the Vet to have him altered, I noticed the fur was growing back, so it appears he was shedding his old coat in order to grow a new one! Who knew that cats go through 'molting' season?! Anyway, here he is with his new Spring coat coming in:

His tail is still a little scraggly looking, but I'm sure it will fill in as time passes. I can't believe it was just about a year ago I started to befriend him! He was such a sad little guy, underfed and homeless. I am so glad I decided to take him in... he's a real sweetie!

Cat napping

End of day one of recovery from his surgery... my poor little guy!  The vets didn't want him to eat anything yesterday due to the anesthesia, but he hadn't eaten anything since 8pm Monday.  I finally broke down and gave him a little food late last night, then heard him yowling early this morning and gave him some more.  I have meds to give him twice a day for a few days, so I crushed one of the pills in a little food this morning and he wolfed it down without blinking, then I gave him a larger portion... gone in no time!  So he has been sleeping and eating most of today... still not allowed outside yet, but we'll see how it goes.  I just want to be sure he doesn't do anything to rupture the stitches!  All in all, he has been a real champ about this!  More to come...

The deed is done!

For those of you who were following my blog last summer, you might recall that I decided to take in a stray cat... something I don't normally do.  But he was skin and bones, and I just couldn't see him wasting away, so against my better judgement I began to put out dry food and water on the deck.  Eventually, I was able to start coaxing him inside with some wet food, and was successful in being able to shelter him inside through the winter.  One thing I have had in mind was to get him in to the vets to have him altered, and today was the day!

I got this shot of him this morning, before the trip to the vet's.  I think he knew something was going on, when he discovered I hadn't put any food out for him.  I tried to put him in a small pet carrier, but he was too tall, so I had to drag out the giant sized one.  He was not a happy camper in that carrier!  Didn't speak to me all the way to and from the vet's office!  But he got through the surgery alright.  Now I need to keep him inside for 2-3 days (yeah, right!), no food until tomorrow... poor little guy, he's not that big!  Missing a whole day of meals could take off some weight he can't afford to lose!  But I guess that is so he won't get sick, following the anesthesia.  Anyway, he's back talking to me again, and right now he's looking for a way to get outside.  My other two boys have been banished to the patio room for awhile to give Shrekkie a chance to recuperate.  One thing I refused was the collar they usually put on animals to keep them from licking the surgery... there is no way this little guy would tolerate that!    Oh, yeah, and I get to feed him medicine twice a day for 5 days... sigh!  Guess we'll get through this somehow!

Sleeping Beauty!

I LOVE this cat!  He has come so far since last summer!  And I love to watch him sleep... look at this, isn't he just the sweetest?!!

I really want to sneak over and pookie his tummy, but a) it would wake him up, and b) he would probably wake up startled and grab me with his claws... so I have to just be satisfied with ogling him!  Purrrrrrr.....

In his chair

Shrekkie has spent the last two nights outside again, as the weather has warmed up from the cold snap we had over the weekend. But he is right there first thing every morning to come inside, have a nice breakfast, and let me give him a warming rubdown. He has adopted this chair in the living room as his napping spot... neither of the other two cats use it, so it is officially his now! He is such a beauty... just wish I could get his picture without the 'glowing eyes'!

Two projects

Continuing on my list, experimented yesterday with dyeing fabric that had a white design printed on a white background. The first is a butterfly pattern, and I applied unthickened procion mx dyes to a piece of the fabric which had been soaked in soda ash solution, then dried:

I used a 3 inch wide foam brush to apply the dyes, creating some wavy stripes, slightly overlapping the colors. I call this "Waves of butterflies", and I used part of the fabric to create a cell phone case:

I actually started another where I was outlining the butterflies with free-motion quilting, but I realized that would be a lot more labor intensive, so I ended up just quilting along the flow of the color bars... much easier and quicker!

So I have now made 3 cell phone cases, and I have removed that from my project list... not because I won't be making any more, but because I feel comfortable enough with the concept to feel like I don't need to keep it as a 'to do' on my board.

Meanwhile, I also did another experiment with a different white-on-white fabric, and I'm not as pleased with the results:

I used my eyedropper here to apply the dyes to the pre-soaked and dried fabric. I had laid the fabric flat in a bin, and really don't feel that the dye worked well here... I love the fabric, but I think next time I will either apply with a foam brush or roller, and I want to try this fabric with a bronze dye with maybe a touch of orange. I will post more pix as I go... meanwhile, this item stays on the project board for awhile longer. I still have at least 8-10 different fabric samples to experiment with, including a number of black/white, and a white with gold print... fun!

On an unrelated note, I posted an item on my Facebook page that our semi-wild kitty, Shrekkie, actually spent the whole night in the house last night, comfortably perched on a chair in the living room! I think he gets it that life can be a lot more comfy in the house in the winter than outside, freezing under the house! He's such a sweetie! Looks kinda like a furry bear when his fur is standing out, see?