Spirit Cloth

square diaries 1

if you have been reading here for a while you know i have an obsession with squares.  they are my escape. the first quilt i ever made was a postage stamp quilt.  i have no pictures.  i think one of the main reasons that i like the square is because it can be divided up into many smaller squares.  it has an easy logic.

and i like how those little squares can be used to build bigger squares. i like that they are building blocks.

this is an old hand pieced patchwork sample. many squares coming together. something to build on. a personal game board.  the first square is a place to begin.

thanks giving

it is a beautiful moody warm day here. my words have returned in smaller form.  and i will eat today.  a bit more than has been usual. ha!  i am feeling thankful today.  thankful for many eyes and the fire inside.

...i think i have a new stitch. the magic eye.

recovering purpose

the last month of the year is always transitional for me. a shape shifter. maybe this year seems more so. i will be in and out of coma and on and offline without schedule.. .a few things will be put in the shop simply because they are still hanging around in my head and i will finish them and move on. i am not sure about the shop thing going forward.

the one thing i am sure of is i need build on what i am doing... and for this reason i have chosen to change the shape of my focus. i enjoyed the dot, the range of its natural occurrence and its playful dance among friends. but next year i have chosen the square, the shape that has no existence in nature, the shape that defines human intervention and purpose. i think it represents structure and building and frame of reference. i like its relationship to woven cloth. i think it could be a symbolic metaphor for making. so i will slowly let the dots out of my system and let the square creep in. this morning. a small ceremony on woven gridded linen with walnut squares. and a bit of magic. for now they can be square dots.

and today i really liked this and this .

the where am i ceremony

...what a coincidence, that as i look for a way again to continue with this project, that i am asking the same question i asked almost exactly 3 years ago when i started this blog.  a different cloth, but the same journey.  so where am i?  coma is a longish cloth.  it has been edged and it now measures 46" x 70" with a small triangular protrusion outside the frame when i was thinking that it needed to be square.  but i like the shape.  it is a nice bed runner and easy to wrap around my shoulders as a sort of cocoon.  i also like it because it emphasizes the shift in direction that the color blocking created.  instead of just a spin it also has an implied wobble.  something imbalanced. something that might fling itself off the edge and out of sight in a moment.  without notice.

and in its calmer moments it is longer and narrow like a pathway.

each corner has a different color scheme, meant to symbolize some seasonal order amidst chaos.  after a walk outside yesterday i noticed a fern that had been totally bleached by the coming cold.  still intact but colorless.  and the colorless corner of coma fits so well with the idea of a cycle of drain and renewal.  time as a coloring book. 

...i liked this picture of coma on the rail of the deck that was also undone when coma began.  (a link to that thought, in case you don't remember)

so here i am, looking forward to where i will go tomorrow.

time to wake up

the moon was allowing me no sleep last night. it stared in the window with unnerving brightness. it seemed angry so i got up and performed a time keeping ceremony with thread and needle. and then i went back to bed. poof! zzzzzzzzzz.

this morning i have noticed how my walnut and water concoction has turned dark in so short a time. my first nayural dyeing project in a long time. slow dyeing but not really.

welcoming november

well the boiler is fixed but the wood is also stacked and dried so today i started the wood stove in the studio. a ceremony to usher in a new season. i have moved all my junk to the center of the room anticipating some new shelves and things which should finally get going soon. what a mess.

a small scrap landed on the floor during the upheaval. how great is this little silk print? a combination of stationary and mobile dots.  i did a bit of on the spot machine piecing (while i can still get to the machine)  to create a story background for this one. and to test a new color field idea i have been thinking about.

welcoming october

the slow transition into winter has begun.  i enjoy how everything is just in between, half this, half that.  you get a bit of a special color palette at this time of year.  a mix.  great inspiration.  a cool and warm thing. 

the little heart sampler i was fiddling with behind the scenes became  a seasonal piece after the center heart changed into a leaf.  another in the soft spot series.  i took the final photos out on the old garden bench, because it too has become softened by age.  a soft spot to rest and watch the time fly.

i am transitioning with this piece.  i am thinking more about style, about folk art about cultural mix, about fabric mix (there is a bit of wool in this one) and about the evolution of traditional design.  i might see this one as a new take on red, white and blue.

the back is a soft thin corduroy plaid which looks woven but it is a print. it reminds me of those traditional wool lumberjack plaids. but in the 'wrong' fabric.

today is cool enough to start thinking about gathering wood.

...i found a feather in front of the door this morning.

the heart of anticipation

this september is one of the most beautiful i remember. the sun is bright, the air is cool, nights are clear and the color is moving in slowly, teasing my senses.

today was the kind of day that you just lay down in the grass and look up at the changing foliage, your heart is excited. anticipating change. a little september ceremony.

. a great day to stitch outside.  a heart filled with anticipation is an incredible energy source.  it swells with possiblility and explodes with inner visualization of the future... at the speed of lightness.

just a day in september

was and i are just what-iffing today. and enjoiyng a change of season wardrobe ceremony.

harvesting thoughts

the moon last night made me spin (in my head) . i managed to freeze a moment through a moonlit window.

WAS was watching too.

...my moon ceremony consisted of  stitching dots, playing with that patterned quilting idea once again, and catching a fleeting thought about a dot as a knot with wings.  it all seemed connected some how.

so i connected them.  the image reminds me of the beautiful art of tricia mckellar.  i felt dizzy then.  i went to sleep.  today i will be with mom and i will finish an article for Art Quilting Sudio which is long overdue.