Where did the month go?

I haven't been the most dedicated blogger recently, but still I'm surprised to see that it's been almost a month since my last post.

 I had company during that month -- three wonderfully creative and generous artists from different parts of the country. Joanna from Arizona, Roxanne from Oregon, and Bee from Massachusetts. And I didn't take a single photograph of anyone except for Teddy - Bee's dog.

 

. . . Who looks like the male counterpart to Scout. They got along great -- just like the rest of us --  who you will not see in any of the following photographs.

We gathered together to teach (Joanna and Roxanne) and to attend (Bee and me) workshop(s) in New York.

Roxanne, Seth Apter and Elizabeth Wix taught a wonderful workshop called The Need to Tell Stories, where we made a book and learned delightful techniques for filling it with art and writings.

I didn't take photos there either. However, if you follow the links to everyone above, you will see pictures and wonderful accounts of our time in New York.

We were just too busy. 

At least that's my story. 

Busy eco-dyeing . . . 

Covering every horizontal surface in my kitchen with leaves and fabric and paper and string.

I never tire of pulling those fragrant bundles out of the water and seeing the marks left behind.

There are surprises in every single one.

We used a lot of eucalyptus, because it almost always produces winners.

But, we also used leaves that had been dried last fall. Dogwood, roses, oak, maple.

We dyed wool and silk. Old sweaters . . .

Silk shirts from Goodwill . . .

Velvet scarves . . .

Even a pair of fingerless wool gloves that sat neglected in my closet. Love them now!

And when we ran out of things to put into the dye pots, we started dip-dyeing embroidery floss under Bee's guidance, because we're going to need a lot of thread to sew all that fabric . . .

A lot of thread . . .

Joanna showed us how to make beautiful headbands/chokers/cuffs/boot embellishments.

I'll be making headbands to place on sweet little newborn heads, because those are apparently the only people whose photos I'm taking these days!