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11:04
"Are you planning on getting out of your pajamas?"

"Probably ... eventually ... after all, we've only just had lunch."

That's how it goes when I'm well into something. Time flies by and I really couldn't care less about appearances (although in my defense, I will say I did brush my teeth this morning).

So what was all the fuss about? Well, I had two things in mind: yesterday's lantana patch and today's snow patch ...

Patch #22 and Patch #23

Because even though we are well out of the East Coast weather system, I remember what driving snow felt like. Not to mention Jude's post this morning, which reminded me what driving snow looks like, which was indeed like the B-side of Patch #10.

The snow was easily done. The lantana, on the other hand, took up most of the morning. First in tracing its outlines ...

A trick I learned from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
"trace" the visible outlines onto plexiglass using an erasable marker

transferring them to cloth ...

Drawn by eye using a permanent Pitt pen

looking closely at the colors in an attempt to find the right flosses ...

Look how much purple is in the leaves!


then finally committing to stitch ...


The leaves are okay, the flowers less so. I suppose I could call this an impression rather than a representation. Still, I learned along the way and didn't feel compelled to rip everything out in search of perfection. The patch records the reality of the process, which makes it good enough for me.

Finally, another weather week was added to the calendar ...


including a dark cloud seam on the horizon ...


Okay. Time to get dressed.
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18:42
Before I begin today's post, I want to say thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. Because I know that blogging in a vacuum just isn't where it's at for me. So your presence and the time you give to reading and commenting, mean a lot. Thank you.

Onward: I'm actually kind of late posting today, but I made the deadline with this lantana-bloom purple patch ...

Patch #22

Since daylight is long gone, the color is hard to capture, even in this extended view ...


So, I'll post it again tomorrow after I add some stitch. I do have a legitimate reason  for posting late of course. I just started another project and as I gathered my DMC together this afternoon, I found this ...


and I realized I just had to have the missing 925. So off I went to Hobby Lobby where I discovered there is no such thing as DMC 925. Really? There should be.

Fortunately, the trip wasn't a total loss. I went to the library to get another Mo Willems' picture book to read with G (even if you don't have any little people of your own, if you have ever been present at a toddler meltdown you must read Knuffle Bunny ... just trust me and take a look next time you're at a library or bookstore).

And I picked up some fresh flour tortillas at the food store. Gotta love Texas.

I even had time to stitch a sample when I got home, even if it wasn't exactly the color I was hoping for ...

 But I can't tell you what it's for ... it's a secret
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11:31
I'm here to say for the record that what Cindy Monte does at Handstories, creating gossamer swaths of stars, is very, very hard to do (well). That being said, when I awoke this morning to green grasses glittering in the early morning sun, I had to try ...

Patch #21

It doesn't quite capture the magic of the scene outside my window, much as Christmas tree lights don't capture the magic of stars seen through evergreen branches. Nonetheless, having stitched it will help me remember this morning's magic and appreciate Cindy's creations all the more.

Likewise, I tried to capture the sense of an overnight wash of raindrops in the gauge. Though there was too little to measure, the rainfall was worthy of recording with a fringe of blue linen and tiny pricks of pale blue basting along the edges of the sunlit yellow patch  ...


Other details I've stitched are too subtle to see unless pointed out, like these two weather patches joined with orange thread, a recollection of driving into Austin at daybreak last week ...


I've also stitched some seams in gray, a nod to partially cloudy days. They are beneath notice unless one knows where to look. A stitcher's conceit ... and therein lies the explanation for the fun I'm having. [Later: I just recalled that software game developers who hide images in their work call the images "Easter eggs"]

By the way, today's green patch was the outcome of a thrift store binge yesterday ...


The three table cloths on the top left are finely woven cotton/linen blends ... all 55" x 55" square and there were four more I left behind (2 beige, 2 a rather bilious yellow). They undoubtedly came from the same home, from someone who loved to set tables, someone like Dana at Raven and Sparrow. At least, that's what I choose to believe ... it makes for a good story.The teal placemats on the lower left seem to be the same cotton/linen blend, but I confess to being a bit unsure, even after doing a burn test, as they could conceivably be rayon or a rayon blend.

The shirts, on the other hand, are 100% cotton (the one on the left) and 100% linen (the two on the right). The green shirt is a men's medium, so lots of cloth to be had. The two ladies' blouses are another story: my favorite colors ... for stitching or wearing? I can't decide. Don's Solomonic recommendation is to put them in the closet to see if I actually wear them before putting them on the cutting block. Works for me.

And to finish the thought thread that I started last night, here's the Kantha stitch that I ripped out of Land of Flood and Drought ...

Double-strand DMC

And here's what I stitched in its place ...

Single-strand DMC

Visibly the difference is subtle (there's that word again), but to the hand it made all the difference in the world. 
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18:17
Dee Mallon has been an ongoing inspiration, most recently with her thoughts on gratitude realized after the fact. So today's patch is apt ...

Patch #20

It's a scrap from a trial piece of linen worked almost two years ago when I first stumbled onto the notion of slow cloth (which I first mentioned at the end of this post). It didn't take long for me to discover Jude Hill after that ... and all the Kindred Spirits began to appear after I took her interactive class Considering Weave.

The little blue stem outside my window on this mid-winter day is the only tall grass left, the others having fallen to ground and the Texas wintergrass not yet more than promising mounds of green. The blue stem isn't actually blue at this time of year ... having dried to a rusty red, it will continue to stand tall until next year's crop overtakes it. Wondrous stuff!

On another note, I've been meaning to mention that the daily patches aren't the only projects I'm playing with. I've been adding Kantha to Land of Flood and Drought ...

Two strands of DMC floss Kantha stitch on linen patches

And then taking it out again ... two steps forward, one step back. More on that tomorrow as it's now too dark to get a good picture of where things are headed.
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13:58
Yesterday's waxing gibbous moon got its promised stitch makeover. Better yet, we we were treated to a spectacular sunset last night at G's house, so it too made it onto a patch ...


Things are warping a bit from all the split backstitch, even though the patches were backed with harem cloth ...


I'm not worried though. By the time the January strip of patches is stitched onto the February strip of patches, I'm thinking things will balance out. 

And if not, I'll just blame any wonkiness on gravitational forces beyond my control.

Nota Bene: Roxanne Lasky's blog has moved to a new address and I'm flattered that she included my KEEP patches in her most recent post: 
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19:14
There was something special in the mail ...


A souvenir from Ronnie Ayliffe in Australia, the better to remember being a small part of her year of looking up. As if watching her year of watching the sky wasn't enough. I'm delighted beyond words and all the more determined to see through my own year of patchplay days.

So I looked up ... not literally, as there were too many clouds. I used my moon phase app instead ...


Then made a patch to match ...


A bit hazy, but then again, so was the sky. Perhaps some stitches will bring clarity ... tomorrow.
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