Spirit Cloth

darker days

well it might be warm here, but winter approaches. the short days are darker and darker and when it rains, darker still.  you have probably heard there is a shortage of acorns this year.  like none.  i have a lot of new and very close friends.  they all look alike, but they have different personalities. It is fun to pay attention to that.  i will call him Hey. Then when he comes around, I can say Hey Hey!
today's ring is  a solstice ring . more contrast between dark and light. the extra pomegranate soak over night gave it a nice moon cast. wait till you see them all together.

PS. i have a little stack of feathers here, i will be loading them up soon....

and one more. the evening ring. goodnight.

just a day

still way warm here, damp and spring-like even though the leaves have fallen. there has been a lot of water this year.

there was water on everything this morning, even though it hadn't rained.

many storms and extensive tree damage have opened the view, the old sea down the hill seems close enough to touch now.

the dampness here is part of life. it leaves its mark on everything. today i noticed that my studio has a ragged edge.

i spent the day walking and didn't stitch a stitch.

i hear it may rain tomorrow, the day after that and the day after that.

what's left in novemeber

the leaves are worn and tattered, but they are still here, like an old blanket, patches of season, still useful, keeping the earth warm.

and she, remember her?, she has fallen over, hollow in spots, she is tired. resting in leaves, maybe posing. maybe.

a squirrel friend has found the basket of unused walnuts. he ate the nuts, but left the husks nearby.  a reminder that in a small and careful world, we work together and there is enough to go around isn't there ? i have a little bag of leftovers for him for when the snow comes. i will know him. he will be the one with the brown hands.

got leaves?

this is my studio from the outside, looking from down the hill.  and that is Was in the leaves. she will watch over them while i go cook some nice food for mom.

color and things

all the leaves are brown. or just about.

funny how each leaf is like a tree

so yes, everything is turning brown. including all the pinks. thanks to the walnut pot.  this is the beginning of the browning of a mountain of cloth.  color is how you see it.  in my new context, i see these as brown.  i separated all my commercially dyed cloth into color groups.  i am stitching them together in panels, on the machine. and dyeing them walnut brown. i will use them as curtains for the winter studio . layers of them. maybe make something from them later.  maybe cut them up. for now they just seem kinder, and at least more sympathetic to the surroundings.

funny now that this leaf is still brown, but it doesn't seem that way. this is not a black and white photo. it is just the way the light tricked me.

light plus dark = magic.

and go watch the little film in this post... thank you michelle

november mending

as the weather gets colder, i wear this in the studio, in the morning, while tending to the fire.

one moon needs mending. i watched it fade away for a while but now i will fix it before i lose it.

and i need a pocket. i think this left over demo block from the cloth to cloth class will do. and maybe a silk velvet lining is what i was dreaming about. a soft hiding place. a bit of mom's wedding dress dipped walnut brown of course.

a few pins later. a test. something like this is what i am thinking.

walking in novemember

these simple stone fragments. they catch me.  i intended to put a leaf (or two) on this one. but the moon fell in my path last night.  a late night walk with no wind.

each square is a special scrap of cloth. little things i have picked up along the way. cloth has been a path for me. it is startling sometimes to realize how much it has paved  my way. i suppose i am just patching that story together as best i can.

today there is big wind. and there are leaves on everything.

fall.

seems like the right word.

extending a sense of home

a silly cloth. but not really...

first of all, this silly cloth contains a lot of  serious stitching.

and i like this one because the  sense of home has extended to include community, no silly matter. and a reminder.

i am just about done with this one.  but not before i add some leaves.

i will leave it edgeless.

continued from here.