MOON AND CLOUDS--BEGUN!

I think I accidentally started the rug today:

I just meant to drop by the studio briefly with the background yarns I had dyed, and the other yarns that are "possibles" for the motifs in the rug.  I thought I'd be there 5 minutes.  But somehow I got tempted into sitting down and starting to punch, and before I knew it, I had tried two rounds of the background.  You can see my frame with the punching begun, and the background yarns I dyed, and also my chair with its punched chair seat.   Oh, and my messy table.

Here's a closer look at the background:

I'm still debating whether or not to include the green in there; I'll have to work with it a bit more and see what I think.  But overall, I'm liking this so far.  The entire thing is one giant experiment.

I'm not sure if that green is reading as too bright (or maybe what I'm seeing there is one of the lighter purples, and not the green). 

Next I will have to try various "test colors" that I've dyed on the motifs and see what I'm going to use.  And then it will be time, once I've settled on colors, to go back to the dyepots and finish dyeing the yarn for the rug.

I'm actually quite surprised that I got this started, and really pleased.

TAKE A PEEK AT A WONDERFUL BLOG WITH A SEASONAL THEME TODAY...
For those of you who are holiday celebrators, this is certainly a strange year here in the Northeastern US.  It was 70 degrees F today.  I seriously considered putting on the a/c in my car.  Needless to say we have roses in bloom, trees starting to flower, and absolutely no snow. 

So I was pleased when I received the following blog post this morning:  Click this link to read a short blog from one of my favorite textile artists, Mary Jane Peabody.  Today she's sending holiday wishes with a wonderful post on Maxfield Parrish's landscapes, and the illustrations she's chosen are exactly what nostalgia says this time of year should resemble.  She consistently writes one of the most interesting blogs I see and I make an effort to read it regularly.  Don't miss her rug gallery on the same site.  Enjoy!