after helping CL-down-south tidy up, cleverly combining this with a visit to my parents and a long lunch with friend E, whom I've known since we were 8, I journeyed home with a humongous bag full of sample fabrics! dabbling with the colourful squares, Jude's lessons in the back of my mind as per usual, seeking out new 9patches, mixing and matching very different materials, I came to realise I would have to wash the new batch before being able to use them: shrinkage, coating, fraying etc had to be dealt with.....and once I started down that road I was in for it big time!
'cos now there was no excuse not to tackle the already present fabrics from Catharina, hanging mostly unused in my so-called Linen Library
First I had to cut away the plastic foil or paper edging along each individual piece that prevented fraying.....in some cases I also had to cut each piece off the backing
- the silk flowers are from Jude, goes without saying -
 |
| then there followed a series of multiple short wash cycles in the washing machine, matching colour as much as possible with same colour; then everything had to hang out to dry! but before that I had several laundry baskets full of moist, clean pieces where I had to cut away the threads that had come loose and I made piles of oblongs and squares..... |
 |
| if I'm honest there were moments where I despaired, such was the Herculean task I had set myself, or so it felt at the time..... |
finally they were dry enough to iron, I ironed each and every one on both sides; some found a spot in the renamed ClothLibrary
others were laid out on the studio floor in piles according to pattern
 |
| some I hadn't properly noticed before: birds, flowers, china vases jumped out at me |
I am going to have to find workable storage space for my growing stash
leaving work bench as empty as possible!
looking forward to that
 |
| the linen and linen/cotton all in one pile |
 | ||
| Nest, nestle, nesting urge
verb
|
