In with the Old

French Silk Dyes on Haboti with Gutta Resist circa 1994/95

I made this piece in a fabric dyeing class back in the dark ages, Priscilla Sage was my instructor at the time and I was also taking a 2D Mixed Media course with Jan Friedman which landed myself and a dozen or so of my classmates in a local cemetery for some black and white photography inspiration.

So yes those are supposed to be tombstones I painted onto the fabric.  I never did anything with this piece but this weekend during the open studio one of my visitors proceeded to go through my fabric stash, yeah she and her friends REALLY did do that, and she pulled this beauty from the stash.  

Of course they all wanted to know why it was wadded up in an old suitcase with dozes of other pieces of silk fabric instead of perfectly folded and pressed into squares. It's very simple, silk is like your hair, so just lightly crumple it and drop it into the place you wish it to live, do not press perfect lines onto your silk unless you wish for them to be permanent.

I will spritz this piece of fabric with some room temp distilled water while it hangs, and the wrinkles and crinkles will gently disappear.  After that I think I will back this piece with some batting and a cotton backing and then add some stitching, or not.

Earth Pigment Painting Live Stream

I will be Live Streaming this evening at 8 pm Central Time (Iowa), join me for chat while I paint fabrics with earth pigments for an upcoming solo show!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-making-with-nature

French Pearl Cotton Thread

Some vintage french pearl cotton thread I purchased at a local haunt today!  I am thinking of dyeing with indigo and then overdyeing with walnut hulls and leaves!

French Pearl Cotton - Yummy!

Stopped by my favorite haunt today, JB Knacker in Gilbert, Iowa, and found five beautiful skeins of vintage french pearl cotton!

Some of the thread has some foxing but should come out with a gentle washing. 

Eggnog French Toast

An old friend was talking about this delictable dish on her FB page and I just had to have the recipe because I knew John would LOVE this, and I was right.  Above is the extra slices, cooling so that they can be frozen for breakfasts on the go.

Ingredients
8 eggs
2 cups eggnog
1/4 cup Imperial Sugar® / Dixie Crystals® Granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum extract
20 to 26 slices English muffin bread (I used Texas Toast)
Confectioners' sugar, optional
Maple syrup

Directions
In a bowl, beat eggs, eggnog, sugar and extract; soak bread for 2 minutes per side. Cook on a greased hot griddle until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Serve with syrup. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Brown Beef Slices in Au Jus

We browned the meat slices before adding to the jars, added water to the drippings in the pan and then added the juice to the jars.  These will be processed for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure (I'm below 1000 ft).  Can't wait to have a French Dip with Au Jus sandwich!

French Onion Soup

I forgot to put the sherry in the soup - oh well makes it less calories this way ;-) It doesn't look all that appetizing in the pan this way does it? Good thing it tastes much better than it looks.

French Onion Soup

We didn't have any of the fancy cheese so we used the three cheese pizza cheese on top of the soup - it turned out to be a most excellent choice! That's a slice of toasted whole wheat baguette you seen in my bowl.

A close up.

Six pints of French Onion Soup for future dinners~!