when i posted these flickr faves a few weeks ago, it seemed some people are not necessarily as enamoured with the colour as i am. but i'm quite happy to say that i love purple; it's one of the colours i wear regularly. which is funny, as my favourite colour is red, but i wear it a lot less often, although there are many red accents about my house. okay, back from that tangent...
this week i was definitely in a purple frame of mind with my stitching, as you can see from the collection above. a new sea urchin in natural dyed linen, a dark purple sea star in repurposed wool, a lighter purple sea star in natural dyed wool, and a varnish clam in bits of natural dyed cotton and silk.
the ochre stars and sea urchin are similar to items i have made before, but the clam shell is something new. after i made a half mussel shell, i knew i wanted to try a complete shell that could open and close. erin had mentioned on flickr, upon seeing some of my natural dyed fabrics, that the purple cabbage dyed silk reminded her of the inside of these specific clams. when you walk the beaches around here, there are many of these shells washed up on the shore, and their vibrant purple insides are a beautiful spot of colour. so her comment spurred me on a mission to make one. varnish clams (also called dark mahogany clams) have a curious brown outer layer (the periostracum) that peels off, giving them their name. it was fun to stitch on the brown layer, and the nature of my stitching helped give it that fragile, curling appearance that you see on the real clams. all the fabrics on this clam shell are natural dyed except for a bit of white repurposed cotton.
i heard someone on cbc yesterday refer to this as our "bummer summer". while i know most of the rest of north america is experiencing a heat wave, we are not seeing that here. it has been raining off and on for several days now, and temps are well below normal. it's a bit gloomy to be sure - no wonder i've been picking up my knitting more frequently, which is exactly what i think i'm going to do for the rest of the afternoon. if you are where it's sunny and warm, have a nice cold bevy for me, okay?
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what i'm like today:
• maggie's pinky summertime evening photos
• and i'm thinking about making these whole what raspberry ricotta scones later this weekend
8 comments:
Bummer summer exactly!! We are heading off camping soon, and have resigned ourselves to some damp days and cold nights. Tough after three years of sunshine every camping week. It's the cool temps that are frustrating.
Your purples are perfect. The items are so close to the real things it is quite amazing. Nicely done.
I'm knitting a toque. I thought I'd be doing lace this summer, but there's little inspiration for it. Yesterday we walked along the Quinsam, dodging massive puddles and getting soaked, and I realized a lightweight toque would be quite appropriate for camping this summer. Sigh.
Purple is one of my favourite colours- 5 days of the week I am wearing purple somewhere in my wardrobe :) And certain shades go really well with red, you should try it!
I love the colour inside of those clams- secretly flamboyant creatures.
We are having a heatwave here- over 30 degrees! But it's a great excuse to sit around on the porch and do nothing but drink lemonade. Glad you are using the rain as an excuse to knit :)
I love purple too, k, as evidence by the purple stars of yours that now hangs in my window. Love the clam. It's beautiful. I'll have a cold drink for you later today.
Purple is my favourite colour, I always have to stop and remind myself that it isn't everyone else's fav before making people presents!
As always, I really love your handsewn soft sculptures, but really? A varnish clam? Those invasive little beasts are horrible!
Bummer summer is right, sigh. I live just north of Seattle. The clouds were amazing yesterday, though, and thankfully there was some sun.
Your purples are wonderful!
all l can say is...stunning work.xx
It is July 18 and meant to be Summer..it is cold, rainning and blowing a gale...welcome to England!Hax
"Bummer Summer"--I think I'm going to have to start using this phrase. This grey weather and coldness, no matter how much I try to stay positive, is getting me down. But your new purple creations are lovely--it happens to be my favorite color, and I love the shot of them all together so you can really see the variation in the shades you got.
And so glad you like my photos! :)
waou... c'est magnifique... tes réalisations sont à tomber, que ce soit les baleines, les oursins ou l'otarie... c'est sublime, superbes, merveilleux, je suis fan!!!! as-tu une boutique par hasard? merci d'avance!! (do you ahve a -net-store or not? i'm interested! thank's a lot!)
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