What I Did On Superbowl Sunday

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t been blogging much lately.  That’s because we’re HOME!! John and I haven’t been travelling, which is when I usually do my blogging.  We are getting together with friends, working, and going to concerts and plays when we can.  But today I had a lovely time with fabric, and I wanted to tell you about it.

I took a class from my friend Susan Purney-Mark today at the Satin Moon. She is becoming an expert in changing perfectly good “normal” fabric into art – and is very happy sharing her techniques with others. Today, I tried  silk screening for the first time.

There were four of us in the class, and we got all the teaching out of the way in the first hour, so we could spend the rest of the day playing.  With Susan’s expert advice and help, we tried discharge silk screening, cutting our own stencils and using some commercially available stencils. I think I could lose many many hours and days trying out new designs in this technique. Combine that with hand-dyed fabrics, or embellishments, or beading, or….. the sky’s the limit.

Today was also the day for the annual Chinese New Year’s Day Parade. The Satin Moon is situated within sight of the gates to Chinatown, and we were right in the thick of the festivities.   All the shops in the area hang a bunch of lettuce outside their doors - with an envelope of money – to entice the dragon to bring them good luck in the coming year.  After the parade, the dragon visits all the shops, knocking down the lettuce, collecting the money, and getting luck’s attention by lighting firecrackers.  It was great fun, and very loud and vibrant.  Here are some pictures of the day:

A piece of batik, discharge silk screened in a commercial quilting pattern.

This design is clearly inspired by our recent trip to New Zealand!

Two different designs of leaves, silk screened with different colours.

Another discharge design – the black fabric bleached to a greeny-yellow.

Here’s the lettuce and envelope awaiting the dragon’s arrival.

The dragon leaving the Satin Moon. The gates of Chinatown are behind.