Good Riddance to 2016 - but not to the silver linings

Here we are in the final hours of 2016 and all I have to say is, good riddance! What a year. Mostly the election is what made it the pits. The lead-up was excruciating. I have an appointment on the 5th to be fitted with a mouth guard because as of October I have been clenching my teeth so badly I can't actually chew. It was really bad until I realized it was stress from the election. Then it became only medium bad. At work I actually had to make myself drop my jaw to relax. The last two weeks of the madness, I could not listen to the news and instead switched to favorite comedian channels on Pandora.
Then the election happened.
And I still cannot believe it. Every time I hear "President Elect Trump" I feel like I am in an alternate dimension and just want to throw up. All of the consequent decisions about our country's future sickens me and I am scared. I am just hoping that some good ol' boys from The GOP can wrangle things into some semblance of normalcy. Otherwise, I truly fear for what we might be in for. Seriously - Senator McCain - hop to! And good grief, where is Arlen Spector when you need him!? Uch - Oy - Augh!
This election is the reason my blogging dropped off so drastically. Much has happened and while I wanted to post - I simply couldn't find the energy. But in the last few hours of 2016 - I have. I reviewed my photos and have found the following silver linings:

1. In August my fabulous tenant made Jalapeño bread again.

 Last year she received some of the jalapeños from my farm share while she was taking care of kitties in the summer. So I gave her this years' crop in hopes she would make the delicious cheddar jalapeño bread again and she did! It is especially good with fried eggs. When I cooked with it this year I couldn't have a cyclops so i put two eggs in and enjoyed the smiley face.

2. As of September, apparently I have a new cat. 

I have been telling people I have two and a half cats. This is Butch. Butch showed up a few years ago as a feral kitty in my yard. He and Jacques tangled often so I decided he had to get fixed and get his shots. It was quite traumatic for him and in spite of the fact that he was so sweet while he was recuperating, he eventually broke out and would not come anywhere near me for the following two years.
This September though, I tried to talk to him more than usual. Eventually I left a small dish with a little food in it for him. I think that did the trick. At first he would only howl at me - in a loud and complaining tone. Eventually he let me pet him and finally I was allowed to pick him up. The epic purring gave it away that this kitty wanted to be loved. He is really beautiful, an almost perfectly symmetrical tuxedo cat. He reminds me of those wall clocks with the eyes that go back and forth with the ticker. He is only half mine because he is going to have to supplement his diet with scavenging and continued hunting of the nasty squirrels in my garden. I feel a little guilty because I'd like to keep him as an outdoor cat to catch the rodents. But he also clearly wants to be part of a family so I am considering allowing him to leave to a loving family. There are two perspective folks. We shall see...

3. My Night Blooming Cereus bloomed. Not just once but almost 10 blooms.


 I missed the first few as previously reported. But the while cleaning the garden in September I noticed a few buds. I watched carefully and as they grew I knew they'd bloom. So at the end of September, Miss Mary and I sat outside one night and watched them for several hours. The scent is exquisite and the change in the bloom is minute by minute. I've pondered why they bloomed this year after several years of dormancy. I wonder if it had something to do with Katie watching over them while I was away in August. I must consult her to see if she did anything special.

4. Throughout the fall, I've been working on editioning my book from 2015, Luminary.

While it sounds fairly straight forward, it is anything but. Ten copies, total 150 prints - but they are sun prints so there are a ton of factors. Clouds, angle of the sun, how much solution I've applied, all affect the final result. Instead of just 150 perfect prints I've done closer to 250.


It is a rather involved production.
 

Which includes trying to find the best angle of the sun. Then of course, there is always the chance that Jacques will decide to sit on them. 


Or at least the paper for the covers ($22/sheet).


5. I also knitted a lot.

 

 I made a pair of mittens for my friend Melanie who lives in the fridged Berkshires of Massachusetts. These were so fun to make and it was really hard not to post about them on my blog because she actually reads my blog! I suppose I could have posted without saying who they were for - but I wanted them to be a complete surprise. 

I also knitted a pair of Owlie socks for my sister for Christmas.

I think I have to make myself a pair of these - I love them!

And then I knitted socks with yarn Melanie gave me from her travels to Italy. These are a single skein that knit up into stripes.

Fun, fast and easy! What more could you wish for!?
I also knitted my dad a pair of navy blue socks and Ann got a pair of sea-foam turquoise with a "fish-tail" cable stitch on them. Of course - that couldn't go smoothly. The day before I was supposed to fly to California - I was madly knitting away on her second sock. I finished early afternoon, plenty of time to block and dry it. I hung it by the heating vent so it would be really dry before packing it and didn't remember it until I was on the train to the airport. I was upset that she received a single sock in her box instead of a standard pair. But alas, there was nothing to be done about it. The second sock will travel in the new year.

6. General update on Swee'Pea

Swee'Pea is also doing fine this year in spite of a bout with epiglotitis. Good Grief. That cost me a pretty penny. But he is fine and happily taking his pills and that is all that counts.

7.  My semester teaching was eventful but also fun. I had wonderful students who actually wanted to follow my directions exactly! No kidding! They all consulted each other on "now what did she say, how do I do that?" I was floored. Many wonderful final projects and simply amazing people. In the next semester I'm teaching a class the students lobbied for. An advanced book arts class which is not normally on the schedule. I am flattered and thrilled and really looking forward to the class. It should be lots of fun.
In the winter the Academy of Natural Sciences, which is located next to the college, put out their animatron dinosaurs. We can't figure out if they move on a motion sensor or a timer. Either way it is fun to watch people who haven't encountered them before, start when they suddenly start moving and roaring. When it finally got cold, someone put scarves and mittens on T-rex and Triceratops. I actually laughed out loud. So witty.

8. Christmas in California

 

My nephew got his new obsession, a trash can. Yes his very own wheeley trashcan to put everything in. 

Now. He also got two Tonka dump trucks because his mommy and I think alike and both got him the same thing. That'll learn me. I gotta consult the mommy to know if he's already getting it. We decided it was okay as he now has one for outside and one for inside - or one for later when the first one is kaput. 

At the moment, Liam decided it really was only good for sitting.  

Grandpa made him a fabulous box of stuff to open and close, switch on and off, buckle and unbuckle and all sorts of fun things.

He decided at the moment the best use for it was to stand on it.

 At the end of the unwrapping the trashcan was once again brought forth to be filled.

 

We really didn't have to do much clean up at all. Just hand him the paper and tell him it's trash. 

 

All gone!

 

At the end of the gift giving marathon, Liam and I looked at pictures and videos of him on his mommy's phone. 

That right there would be the family trademark look-of-concentration. He is clearly "one of us".

I myself received a Cameo Silhouette paper cutter.  And I cannot wait to put it into action!

9. After Christmas my Aunt Lois and I got together so she could teach me how to make Uncle Ralph's mother's Rum Cake. It is a super secret recipe, carefully guarded and only made for Uncle Ralph. When I arrived, my cousin David, who was rushing out on his way out to the airport, implored me to learn to make the cake. It's a family tradition. Well - consider it done David!

This is an all day affair - the secrets of which I will not divulge.
Suffice to say there is baking:

 and cooking:

and inspection.
(that would be Miss Mittens - a big kitty).

And it is all worth it. The cake is delicious. You'll have to take my word for it 'cause I'm sworn to secrecy. 

10. My birthday was wonderful. We started out at an incredible new-ish coffee shop, La Monarcha, Ann's fabulous idea.
My sister and nephew met us there. And he was kind of the star of the show.

 

There was plenty of trash for him to put away under Grandpa's supervision. 

 

After breakfast we went for a little walk which culminated in Liam thoroughly inspecting Grandma and Grandpa's mini van.
There were so many gadgets and switches and things to open and close. He was completely entertained for a good 20 minutes.

The day was gorgeously warm at 82°F. We headed to the beach for a few hours and consumed the obligatory In-N-Out burgers while there.
The cup became the perfect beach toy even though there was an entire bag full of other more commercial toys. 

 

The water was a bit cold and after an initial trial, Liam wasn't really interested in taking the waters again. That was fine. There was plenty of sand for him to scoop and dump, and scoop and dump, and scoop and dump. 

Wishing you all a wonderful 2017 ~ xotara

Fiber Fun Day

All of the last few weekends have been spent in preparation for Fiber Fun Day. 

 

We have been talking about doing this for months:  a day where we* all get together and dye fabric with indigo, RIT dye, and Jaquard SolarFast. The fabric could be dish towels, canvas bags, pre fab napkins, or ??? Yesterday was the appointed day and we had a BLAST! if Ah do saysomyself.  

*"We" are friends, co-workers, and everyone of us - graduates of the UArts MFA Book Arts Program in Philadelphia. 

The Prep:

Well, first I wanted new clothes. But since I am not exactly flush at the moment - the new clothes would have to be a DIY situation. And I wanted to do something of my own invention.   

 

But, well, hmmm... this is not exactly what I had in mind. Parts of it are okay, pocket and stuff, but it just doesn't look, well, flattering.  

I tried again, sleuthing out styles on the interwebs and cobbling my own design between what I saw and patterns (Vogue, McCalls, NewStyle, etc.) I already had. Finally after a lot of ku-fuffle, I actually came up with something I really like. 

 I decided to prepare it for some Fiber Arts Fun. 

 

I put a running stitch on the front - to be pulled tight for dying so that it will look like this:  

And on the back I did some circular stitching and tied some ginkgo nuts into the fabric:

so that it would look like this:

 

I also wanted to experiment with the Jacquard Solar Fast to see what would work well with a resist. 

Origami out of wax paper works particularly well! 

As do printed films of sunflowers:

 What to do with one's test pieces? Well, one makes bento bags.

 Jacques, of course, was an excellent Supervisor. He made sure all materials were used appropriately.

The Day of:
We started of slowly, but towards the afternoon momentum picked up. I hope I speak appropriately for all when I say, we weren't sure what to expect? We had all been doing research on techniques, but as the day before the Fiber Fun Day was horrifically hot and sweltering, all good intentions of preparing were pretty much abandoned. It is amazing how much a humid broiling environment can retard one's production. I'm just glad I was mostly prepared for our work day. 

I had already pre-washed all of the dish towels we ordered from Dharma Trading Co.




But should have spent a little more time preparing. I think I made three finished (out of 12) towels. Melanie spent her time Sunday morning doing stitching prep: 
 
as did Charissa with folding wax paper origami flowers:
We certainly lucked out with the weather! The day before had been that overwhelming heat/humidity that we can only have in Philadelphia. But Sunday was perfect for our Fiber Fun Day, warm and bright sun with a very strong wind all day. The sun made the Jacquard Solar Fast prints very nicely:


The shade was comfortable, and everything dried fast!
 
I'm not sure which was the bigger hit - indigo dying or the RIT fabric dyes. Everyone had such wonderful results:
Indigo:

 

My shibori creation looked like this at first:  

And when untied, like the blue piece in the middle. All of the other pieces are friends' creations.  

  A different variation on the same theme: 
We had an honorary guest in our ranks on Sunday as well:

 

Gryson seemed to have as much fun as we did. He dyed some cloth and some napkins (with Mom's help of course). 

 

 It was really fun to have him in there. He and Mommy made a fabulous T-shirt, which he apparently wore to school today, much to the envy of others. And wouldn't you be too!?  

 

What a fabulous shark shirt! 

As if all of this Fiber Fun wasn't enough, Melanie planned a surprise "birthday party" for me! 

I am a December baby with my birthday landing squarely in between the holidays. Celebrating my birthday with friends is a challenge. Not only is everyone worn out from all of the other celebrating, but they are usually with family in the four corners of the world. Melanie said she saw the opportunity to throw me a birthday party and took it! :) Charissa made this delicious pecan-something-yummy-with-strawberries-and-mascarpone-whipped-cream cake. Wow. I was also given some very special gifts including totally awesome erasers, hot sauce, lavender syrup, and a new seam ripper. You have no idea - all of these gifts are things I really love and I was so touched by everyone's thoughtfulness. 

My read on the day is that we all came away satisfied. 

 

Some of us more so than others, but still, I think we all learned a lot.  Plans for the next Fiber Fun Day are afoot.  

The Supervisor will be consulted:

And plans for beautiful colors will be made: