Update


Peppers doing so much better now, he's back to his ornery self biting and the like. I have to worm him again in eight days, not fun btw! I'm sure he'll be thrilled by the experience. I still have to worm The Old Man of the Woods, probably tomorrow now that things have settled down a bit around here.

Tomorrow afternoon we will finish filming the DVD, it was done, but I was royally unhappy with the dvd, no fault on anyones part actually but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I think this has more to do with being radically inexperienced with these sorts of things, it's times like this that one needs a stage manager to tell you what to do when being filmed.

I've been practicing photographing my fabric pieces, I need better bulbs for my photo lamps. The ones I have are way too blue, and the others are tungsten and won't work either - unless I use tungsten film which can get spendy and really quick like.

Pepper

He's doing better, letting me pet him and the like. He even managed to eat without getting sick so I have hopes that he will pull through this without any further intervention.

I wormed him last night, poor baby, without knowing that he had been in the bathtub -that hubby had put cleaners in earlier. John did this thinking he would let it soak and come back later to clean it, in an effort to help me clean. Needless to say pet wormer and tub cleanser doesn't mix! Luckily for him he didn't get too much of the cleanser.

And hubby has now learned that if you spray the bath tub with cleanser, if you plan to leave it to soak and come back later, then close the door; because the smell of the cleanser attracts cats!

Linen Thread


I bought this from Native American Visions, which went out of business in May, I'm looking for more of this thread, it was billed as French Linen Thread. It is considered, from what I gathered from the description at the time, to be authentic for re-enactment garb. Not that that really matters I would just like more of this thread as it is not coated in wax and has a nice heft to it. Also if I could get it in a cone rather than a spool all the better.

So if you know where I can purchase more of this thread please drop me a line, you can do this by emailing me at prairiefibers@hotmail.com

Update on Pepper

He's still very ill this morning, I need to call the vet and see if I can get him in, they always want cash upfront and I don't have it right now it's July and as usual sales have been slow.

I pay for the pets their food and their care and our food, hubby pays for everything else, try and explain it to the vet however that people just don't shop in July, but pets still get sick in July, the vet simply does not care.

I'll just have to call and ask, I doubt that she'd be interested in healing Pepper in exchange for artwork. And they could definately use some artwork on their walls in that office, all she has hanging up is the heartworm posters. I digress...

One of those days


Things just haven't been going right all day, period. It's like fighting an up hill battle, and the hill is muddier than all get out. And if things weren't bad enough, now my tabby cat - Pepper - is deathly ill! I'm not sure what his problem is, except he has the same symptoms that Angel had earlier last week, so I wormed him, I hope this helps, we will know in a couple of hours.

I might add that a liquid wormer doesn't sit well with a tabby cat that doesn't want anything in his mouth. Both John and I ended up bloody in the attempt to worm Pepper, we both now have battle wounds in an attempt to keep the tabby alive. I'm hoping it's nothing worse than worms, he's been barfing all over the house for the past hour.

He seems stable at the moment, laying on the floor gently wagging his tail. I'm keeping him in the laundry room for the moment - serves several purposes, one he can make a mess in there all he wants, and two it's very close to my wet studio, two rooms over, so I can keep an eye on him. And last but not least htere very few places for him to crawl into or under so I have easy access to him if he does get worse in the next few hours.

Art Cloth Symposium

I'm going to be part of the trunk show at the Art Cloth Symposium, July 22nd. The show is open to the public and runs from 7-9pm. I can't wait, I'll be there with my Mark Making with Nature DVD, Rust and Clay Dyeing book, Compost Dyeing book and all of my art cloth! I've been busy creating just for this show, so if you come to the show please stop by and say hello.

More Fabric


The only part about producing fabrics, scarves and the like that I truly dislike is all of the ironing/pressing, it's a necessary evil however.

Now to get the notebooks done for the workshop. I'm hoping to have the book in print, yes actual real print and not a cd rom, by the time we go to New Jersey but I have a feeling it won't be done until we get back.

Mark Making with Nature


I'm teaching Mark Making with Nature: Surface Design with Natural Dyes at Peters Valley the end of this month, July 28th to August 1st, 2006. Peters Valley is in New Jersey and from what I hear the area is just incredibly gorgeous! I'm hoping to get a few hours of R&R to take some pics of the wooded area, new tree bark and lichens, just give me 15 minutes I tell you and I'll be a very happy camper.

Part of this classes emphasis is Compost Dyeing and Screen Printing with Natural Dyes. We will do immersion dyeing as an aside while we wait on things to compost, cure and/or dry. I am anticipating a bit of fabric painting with natural dyes as well.

I teach this class online so if you really want to take the class but can't come to New Jersey then purchase it at Prairie Fibers I will be teaching the class again beginning mid August.

Some like it...

It got really hot here today, it's about time actually, it's a nice hot but it's hot none the less. The corn needs this heat to grow so it's a good thing, it's been unseasonably cool the past two weeks actually. I finally turned the central air on, about 20 minutes ago, I couldn't take it any longer it was 90F in the house. Mainly my dehumidifiers can't keep up with the heat, it's only 76 in the basement, however even with two dehumidifiers going it's still damp feeling down there.

In about an hour it'll be fine again, and I can go back to dyeing fabrics, been doing a lot of video taping of the dye pots, and making digital prints.

Speaking of prints, I've been wrestling a 24x36 transfer print for two days now and finally figured out it wasn't me but then new transfer film. I am unable to purchase the film I had been getting before, I'm not sure if the company (HP) quit making them or not, anyway... I'm getting my execrise wrestling with the new product. I guess the upside is I have lots of samples of what happens when you don't do it right the first time, and I'm writing it down on my samples of I know for future reference.

Prairie Dogs Again

Well the verdict is still out, they are not the kind of prairie dogs we call prairie dogs, but they sure act like prairie dogs, but they are definately NOT 13 or 7 striped ground squirrels either (commonly known as chipmunks). What we are suspecting is that they are a hybrid strain of prairie dogs bred for the retail market that have been "naturalized" if you know what I mean. What that means for the local environment is anyones guess. My neighbor is going to look up a few other native ground squirrels to see if by chance they could be one of these. Prairie dogs are a member of the squirrel family in case you didn't know. These creatures h act too much like meerkats, another scary thought, but are too small, but who knows maybe it's an import set free to naturalize. If we find out for sure what they are I'll post what we find. I'm bummed because I was really hoping for prairie dogs, of the non--hybridized variety.

Portrait Pic


This is the pic I chose, she doesn't sickly in this picture. Now I just need to figure out how to enlarge it to something like 18 x 24 inches in size so I can pick fabrics and shiny objects and get her done. I'm hoping to have it done by Sept 22nd, her birthday. I'll be working on it on the way out to New Jersey and back at the end of this month.

Shiny Objects

I've decided to make a portrait piece of my mother, she died last year at the age of 57. I was thinking quilt but I have a feeling it's going to be a bit more mixed media, though all stitched down, now.

I've got a call out for shiny objects as I don't collect those sorts of things, I'm into straight fibers myself, but mom was a bit of a crow - she liked bragging on that fact herself actually. The only one that could out do her in the shiny department was her cat Bandit.

I started to make a piece, it was of a pic I took right before she died, the day after my grandmothers funeral, and have decided against it, she looks horrible in the pic though it was her natural way to dress. Instead I've decided on a pick from the 80's she looks pretty healthy in the pic, and I'd like to think that she would prefer that pic instead as well.

Prairie Dogs

Ok your never going to believe this, I know my neighbor didn't and she works for the DNR seh's now way to go check it out, we now have prairie dogs IN town! Big deal, ya betcha! This is prairie pothole/marshland the town is sitting on, the entire county actually, and while drained prairie dogs are NOT native here. So this is just so so exciting! The dogs are moving east! I've been seeing more jack rabbits as well I think the climate is becoming more westerly here.