happy valentine's day

i did a little bit of nail bling for today; nothing too big. it's 24kt gold flecks and a pink heart. i noticed that the 24kt thing was popular in the nail circuit, and remembered i had some flakes left over in a jar from when i was in college and focusing on illuminated manuscripts.

i've got a couple of things i'm messing around with right now, one being spinning on my tulipwood jay spindle. it's bombyx silk and camel. it drafts smoothly and spins with a subtle tawny stripe. the other thing is i traded my violin for a ukulele; just waiting on some better strings, then i'll start to learn how to play it.

for dinner tonight i made vegetarian pot pie filled with asparagus, mushrooms, peas, onion, carrots, and beans, topped with filo dough, and served with rose wine. for dessert i baked white chocolate and cherry scones with strawberry rose champagne tea. the theme was hearts and pink. i used things i found around the house that fit into those subjects. it's really enjoyable setting the table for a special event, i should do it more often.

buzzzzz

finally found the pearls needed for the head! here's my honey and bee inspired eyepatch; a golden glow which is so warm compared to the weather outside.

i'm still contemplating which one to work on next; i guess it depends on the materials i have on hand.

honey bees are worth more than gold

i've found my new favorite drink, uji shimizu and cold almond milk; matcha, sugar, and milk, whisked to a frothy green. i tried it hot last night, and it was okay, but today i made it with cold milk and it is so very yummy!

i've started work on another eyepatch. the theme with this one is honey, and more specifically, the honey bee. i never really liked honey until i came to the south and tried the local tupelo honey; it's very sweet, similar to simple syrup or agave nectar. that was about seven years ago. i've since acquired a taste for acacia, sourwood, star thistle, and winter white honeys, as well as an appreciation for the bees which create them.

it's difficult to imagine what will happen to the honey bee in the future, and it's hard to not jump in and try to save them once you learn of the bad husbandry they've fallen under. a couple of years ago i read this controversial post about the honey bee, and it made me think. i've since learned more from radio casts, books, and magazine articles, but everyone needs a starting point. however, the book which made me love the honey bee was chalice, by robin mckinley. you may think it's hard to love an insect, but it isn't, not really.

i'm not quite finished with the bees on my eyepatch, i'm looking for black fresh water pearls for their heads, the ones i do have, being drilled in the wrong spot.

if

wishes were fishes, and pigs could fly...

stitching together

well, i decided to go ahead and just do some simple stitching on the mini quilt to finish it. there really weren't any disastrous needle incidents; besides the moment i sewed my thumb, but luckily there was no loss of blood involved.

i quite like the rippling texture, it's very much like viewing the crops lined up in fields while one is in a plane overhead. the backside came out okay, but not really photo worthy. i decided to create the whole piece by hand sewing; it's so small as to be a completely accomplishable task.

will i do another one? i'm not really sure, perhaps not anytime soon. but there is a stack of wheat and lavender fabrics i've been collecting.

first to finish

i had large ideas for the aqua textile piece i first wove, but then decided to focus on the yellow piece as it turned out so lovely. paired with linen (my love), minty satin ribbon (my obsession), and sewn into a kapok stuffed boudoir pillow (my soft spot), i think it is something quite special now.

i love how it turned out; this whole creating textiles thing is absolutely fascinating to me.

different strokes?

i'm finding that using different wefts create different looks, even if the warp is the same (hypothetically i knew this already). i looked around for some other thread to use, as i had made a longer warp then what i had blue yarn for, remembered my mother had a spool of crochet thread and "borrowed" some of it. so here's the result:

i'm thinking of something to use the finished piece on, and have several plans running around my brain. so wish me luck when i cut into these two pieces!

just a little peek

here's an inspiration photo for the piece i'm currently weaving:

and a snapshot of the material making process; i'll use this to construct a pretty something. it's funny, at first i wanted to use a green thread the same size as the warp, but i didn't like how it was weaving. so, i took it out (i had to anyways as there was a mistake in the threading), and looked through my stash to see what i had that could work. when i came across this novelty ribbon yarn, i thought, "blue-eyed, blonde", saw that i had two balls of it (surprise, as i'm a single skein purchaser; bad habit, that), sent a couple of shots through, and liked what came forth.

this is the first time i worked on my new loom. the two accessories, high castle tray and baby wolf trap, are really coming in handy! i'm so glad i let myself get talked into these purchases. i'll post more photos as it goes.

lovely outsides

now that the intended has received their present, i can post photos of the wrappings! i really like that by using a monochromatic color scheme it makes you focus on the different textures. again, i'm using the curricula silk; these little pods are just so beautiful, i have an overwhelming need to use them.

golden skies

the cocoons of the curricula moth are really fantastical; they've such a golden hue, it's simple mesmerizing to look at. they could've been spun from pure gold.

i incorporated a piece of a cocoon into my latest fiber pin, it's very lovely against the dupioni silk and aqua hues. i really enjoy making these pins, the yummy bits and pieces of cloth, a restrained color palette, working with different pleats and folds.