Birds, Grapes And a Bit of Studio

When we returned from our summer vacation, I discovered that the birds had mostly stripped the grapes from our vines. Yep, there's one of the guilty party above.

They pecked through all the little brown paper bags I had carefully placed over each grape cluster. I know - whaaat? Okay, Google is usually my friend! And maybe it works for other people, but the birds here in New Mexico are way too smart! With the few surviving grapes, I'm trying a new trick. I've attached empty plastic strawberry boxes.

So far, they've kept the squirrels out of my tomatoes so hopefully it works for grapes too. It's our first year and I'd like to at least taste the grapes.

Now, ten days after our vacation to Michigan, we're off once again - this time to Denver. As you can imagine, I've had little quality time in my studio. I did manage to design a new garment out of my flax-blend/chenille fabric.

The warp is a thick and thin yarn of flax, rayon and cotton. The warp is my usual rayon chenille. It's a much more casual fabric than the soft and luscious warp and weft rayon chenille garments and not nearly as pricey.