Rag of the Day - Spring Things for the Second Magic Diaries Cloth

-April 28, 2012; river bank near the falls; completely worked into the bank within a horizontal band of gravel between chunks of broken cement. Probably a pillowcase; the size of about 1/2 of one side of pillowcase. Probably cotton/poly blend? No pilling, supple, tears easily. I'm thinking of using it doubled as a layer that will abrade away.



-April 2012, but I can't remember which day; actually buried in the river bank behind the hospital. Loosely woven cotton, full of holes; machine finished like it was a washcloth or hand towel? It had been partially excavated by someone cutting into the bank to widen the narrow little footpath. Found the same day as a strip of black (below) and a wedge of brown plaid. Supple, intensely bright white where it is not stained. Sews beautifully.

-March 2012, but I can't remember which day; buried in the sand near the falls. An entire pillow case made out of over two yards of fabric, seamed on the sides. The picture shows a root grown through. Rust spots are from screws that were embedded in it too. Cotton/Poly blend, Made in Turkey. Wonderfully huge and interesting. Like a flag or a curtain.



-March and April 2012; cotton handkerchief (necktie beach), blue and white Cotton/Poly blend men's shirt (under the bridge?), faded black cotton shirting, (tucked in a hole in a log), little strip of black cotton with white paint on it (partially excavated along the path). 



-March 2012, weekend park near sandy beach; pillow case from a fibre fill pillow that had washed up into the park in a flood last fall. Probably Cotton/Poly blend. Worn, thin enough to see through, light and flyaway.



This last piece has been added to my second magic diaries cloth with a bright white backing fabric.

 I've just started to integrate it to the first part of that cloth by weaving ends from the first cloth across the new seam line between the two cloths.

I was originally going to sew them separately then join them together, but then decided to try and work on it as a whole. You can see that the pillowcase fabric is so thin, the colour of the cloth woven into shows through.

The black scrap in the photo above got worked in before I could record it as a rag of the day entry. It came in this shape, a real shred of lovely black wool that I found at the river last week. Despite being full of sand and once underwater, it is completely unfaded.

I just had to run out a few minutes ago and found yet another undocumented rag (white, full of holes) in my jacket pocket. When I found it, it was as if it had fallen from the sky and landed whole on the ground- as if someone was carrying it in the trees. I have also noticed that little scraps I see on one day are gone when I go back another day to get them. I wonder, thus, if some of these little rags are nesting materials for squirrels and birds. I think I should put collecting on a hiatus until after the spring.