Spirit Cloth

time keeping

over the unplugged  weekend i got to spread out my time a bit. i jumped from one thing to another randomly without stress, which really helped my thoughts flow. the nine patch series that combined dots and grids came together in concept. 

.... i put together the first of a series i want to call time keepers. smaller pieces that you could even carry with you. if you had a fabric pen, you could use them like a scratch pad or something. capturing moments. a time keeper #1 (continued from a moment back here...) is now about 7" square, but i am thinking i might go even smaller. i drew the checkerboard. that drawing thing is creeping into everything i do.

and a little wild thing did fall together also. now aka coincidence. i am still quilting coincidence. i am overwhelmed with the way things just seem to bump into one another. and how the energy collides and gets transferred. i officially reject the idea of a plan. as of today i worship only consciousness, which to me is the same as creativity. an activity of free will that openly practices encouragement of coincidence. and the magic of witnessing the resulting change.

i will be posting one more time today regarding etsy and then i will be slowing down once again.

out of the blue

we enjoyed the long weekend. the sun has returned and there were lazy days laying on the sand or the grass. looking up.
...i've been stitching. slowly. and thinking a lot about blue...indigo mostly...and how shibori often reminds me of  the sky and how things float around, lining up and crossing paths and exchanging energy. i am a bit slow getting back on line so i will probably post again later...

by the way... i sent eva some fabric and look at this! (click on those pics for a closer look)

imagine all the people

 ....happy 4th.  have a good weekend.  be back monday. peace.

a little bit wild

i am about to unplug for a few days. another line up. a holiday weekend and a full moon coming and  i am wrapping up a few projects. whew.
i thought i would switch gears and do a bit of needle chanting.  a little slow repetition. you know... rocking yourself to calm the beast.  this time in the round. to celebrate the dot. and the moon.  of course that moon is singing in the background.
so maybe just a little bit of wildness.
...just a little wild. thing.

( thank you phyllis for that silk velvet...)

more wild things

this afternoon we had a storm with thunder and lighting that almost knocked me out of my chair.  and rain to match.  but the hot sun returned quickly and when i walked through the woods it seemed like it had become a jungle in 15 minutes.
inspired by the lushness of it all i started adding some garden elements for wild thing. because it is a jungle out there. right?  i used a fairly fragile vintage silk jacquard floral for the bottom border, stitching it down carefully to blend it into the indigo ground and give it stability. and then some exotic dotty blooms cut from a balinese print to define the frame. one inside and one outside to define the inside and outside of the box.  because that has been on my mind.  i am also playing with that star burst- 'x' marks the spot motif again, but more about that later.  it is coming together. 

doodle wednesday nine patch

what if  repeating the same thing over and over is a sign of a trapped ego?

a while back i caught jacki using pens on fabric and i got turned me on to faber castell's pitt pens for artists. they are pigment, permanenent and a bit pricey in a big set but wow, lots of colors and completely washable. i found the best price here. and you should be visiting jackie at blissfully imperfect....she is always trying new things.

and speaking of new things....cathie cullis has changed her blog address so be sure to update your link and if you donlt have one yet, it's here... her new format is wonderful AND she is doing a series on natural dyes...

hand and eye and coma

thanks to elaine lipson...and her quiet yet constant dedication to bring us crumbs on the textile trail of slow cloth, i recently subscribed to the new handeye magazine.  a wonderful new publication focused on textiles and connecting cultures in the spirit of sustaining craft.  my copy has arrived and the format is large and the concept clean and simple and the photos are enough to whisk you away.  you can read more on their website (click the image), the mission statement is here.  a great new read, i love it.  i have added it to the publications in my sidebar.

and so i have been whirled away. the sun has returned and so has coma.

quilting with shibori

...i remain focused on expanding the use of shibori in quilting, both for traditional and contemporary style. like all hand dyes, the one of a kind aspect makes it really special.  there is an element of light that is so inspiring and the glow of the soft edges brings a new dimensional element to fabric. there is a warmth contained in this technique that i compare to a good red wine. the spirit of an ancient craft.
my experiments are expanding with many collected scraps and generous gifts from friends. i did a post a while back about supporting this craft. and i am focused on doing just that. recently i came across laura of IndigoNightOwl. laura does beautiful shibori and and although she is focused on raising a family right now, i love her work and encouraged her to sell me a few scraps so i could incorporate them into my work. she has no blog, but do  visit her on flickr here...and say hi for me or leave a comment. what i like about what she sent was the array of wonderful fabric she has worked on which includes silk, linen and cotton in various weaves all suitable for quilting. the fabrics are soft weaves and stable, not shifting out of shape in any way, making them easy to piece with...
shibori fills my head, especially indigo....and glennis has been playing with indigo ombre, how delicious is that? if you are going to the Long Beach Quilting Festival, find her there. she will be offering some great stuff.
this is the beginning of my quilting with shibori series.  i working on an article about this. i am on the prowl for new dyers. i already have a list of dyers in my sidebar to focus on my sources, but i will break this down to focus on shibori specifically.  i have set up a flickr group if you have any show and tell.  let's play.

some new experiments are in the works but for now, the coming full moon has pulled the wild thing out for some night air. 

when the tide comes in

...it has been a quiet few days. the weather has been sunny and rainy and cool and warm and rainy and sunny. the extreme weather these last months has literally washed a lot of the beach away...leaving a narrow strip which means less humans and more of the natural animal life. we took some walks to check out the new shoreline.
..... and we were not alone.
i suppose i was inspired with the tides edge. 2 sides of the shift ( now aka 'the sands of time') have become blue. shades of indigo of course. one washed out and soft, the other deep and dark. and a few new details are starting to show up on the shore in between.
the other two sides were inspired by holding things together. symbols. keepers. strips of knotted silk. i think i can say that they are a tribute to the storm that life can bring, the battle we endure to hold it together. the simple beauty of that when seen from a distance.  and some attempt at immortality on a quieter scale.

... i am enjoying the slower pace. there are  new  old friends here.

quilting for change

yes it is raining. i added the evidence of some older spin. something traditional.  and i let the new shift interrupt the old arc.  lace always seems like a net of time somehow.  beautiful in its tangle.
change is the word that the scribble evolved into. what if we all grab a needle and thread today and stitch something up , mend something, sew for change.  and i don't mean the weather.
i will be slipping into a coma for a few days.  do check out jeana's teeny petticoats.  and check out  teresa ...her etsy shop has some great little bundles of silk and wool hand dyes. i got me one and i can't wait to dig in.