On and Off the Wall

Things have perked up around here since my last post.  I've managed to catch up on some much-needed sleep, and to get out and exercise in the fresh air, both of which bode well for creativity.  At least part of that exercise has involved wielding a snow shovel, but we won't talk about that.  ;-)  If it doesn't snow too much more between now and tomorrow noon, I've done enough shovelling to get me out of the driveway and down the alley to the street, where I can limp along in someone else's tire tracks to the highway and on up to Edmonton for the GRIT "Hope and Harmony" Gala Fund-raiser.

I realized while I was shovelling this a.m. that this snow was wonderfully clean and powdery, perfect for one last (hopefully last!) snow-dyeing adventure (until December, anyway).  I quickly prepped some fabric in soda ash, and it's now buried in two tubs of the white stuff.  Instead of concocting dye in liquid form, this time I decided to try sprinkling the dye powders directly on the snow.  I have one tub with sky-blue, turquoise and a hint of fuchsia (on one side only) and the other with lemon yellow, golden yellow and some scarlet as well as fuchsia.  We shall see...

The rest of yesterday and today have been spent in the sewdio, where I managed to do this:

1. Finish 2 more rows on that sampler -- and had the "two steps forward, one step back" on only a bit of the second-last one (the wee fishing boats):

Atlantic Seaboard Sampler
Jeannette Douglas Designs, Calgary, AB, Canada

2. Begin another larger piece, currently on the design wall:

This one is called "Waiting for the Train" -- based on a photo taken last year as I did just that at the Mirror tracks heading west out of town on Highway 50.  You can see the photo to the right, printed out at a full 8" x 10".

To make it a bit more colourful, I'm going to add the rear end of a truck:

Above's my sample truck...but it's a bit too small, so I've got to make a slightly larger one.  I also have to order some silk ribbon to do the grasses, as I have nothing in the colour I need and no white SR for dyeing.  As I can't use the CN rail logo on the train cars (no time to ask them for permission, either -- that could take months -- or longer!), I've decided to try to 'decorate' them with the other standard rail car embellishment: graffiti!  Now to do some research to get just the right look.  :-)

If this piece is finished for the show next month -- great; if not, so be it!

Before I get back to work, I'm going to link this up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and wish you all a great weekend!