Spirit Cloth

word fast- day 3

did i imagine a path?

the way back in will be a lot more complicated than originally imagined.

...it may take a lifetime.

revisiting the beginning

as i noticed of the oak leaves caught in a november tide, i thought about how the most interesting edges happen like a story .  they are not sharp and clear, they are nameless places of overlap, surprises that can awaken the senses.  i think sometimes in our never ending hurry we miss the transitions from one moment to the next.  the in-between that can hold the story of chance and discovery.  this is where communication lies hidden from ambitious eyes and profit seeking hearts.

the one thing i like about slow cloth is that it does not have to end.  the decision to make another round through coma has me taking deeper breaths.  transferring the story from the journal to the cloth will be a big task.  3023 DMC is the color of choice for the words.  i like it because it is very pencil sketchy looking and it is neutral against all the other colors in the quilt so far. 

and i have decided to start the story at the outer rim and work myself back to the center where i began the cloth.   in this way the beginning and ending will be the same and the overlap in the opposite direction will create a nice new journey through layers of thought.  i hope to see many unexpected meeting points of moments.  i fear i may get lost but maybe that's ok.

so here i am again.... surrounded by questions.

night and day

last night i woke up and decided to make this one into a wishing star.  i basted some points on it, put it away  and then went back to sleep. 

today i will be working on walking. the quilt that is.  i have found a piece of old white flannel to use as a soft spot, to warm it up a bit...the center is partially quilted and very thin. maybe i will just add a layer of the flannel to the back or work it into the front somehow...to mend the thin-ness and prepare it for the new season.

...it is nice to be handling a big cloth once again. something to get lost in. the cloth as is measures about 72" square. right now.

today i really like  and this.

dis-covering

when i start working on something...there is always a dig, a dig through the scrap pile.  i grab an empty basket and the fragment i plan to work on and rummage away, keeping in mind what was imagined at the out set.   one by one, the little bits of cloth are dragged across the piece to see if they connect some how. this is how i build a palette.

it is  mostly about color,  but it might be  pattern, or i might just pick up scraps that seem to hold the same story.  or something that has been hidden a bit too long.

....so i end up with a related pile of cloth tidbits. i never use most of them but i usually stick with the pile until the mood changes.  then it starts all over again.

stitching has progressed on the pottery piece and  i have started also to fill some of the spaces with tiny bits of ragged cloth, making a sort of cracked surface. i have experimented by using both the front and back of the snake print to form some shading.  this is nice and slow and  a story seems to be forming and i am thinking it is ironic that... as i am covering the base, i am uncovering  something as well.

shadows

it stormed yesterday (in more ways than one) and it rained all night.  as the sun returned this morning, i left the curtain closed to enjoy the shadows of mom's gift of dried lavender against the ancient pattern on the cloth.  the shadows in the thin fabric seemed almost a watery reflection of my dreams last night. i dreamed of fabric. i dreamed of brother nemo who is walking around some where in asia . i woke thinking of my son. a reflection of yesterday.  a day filled with life and fabric and a few unexpected shadows.

light and dark still fills my focus...so i'm working with another long cloth this morning.... the one where she looked outside herself... maybe to get a better look at her own shadow i thought, which was really her reflection.  i want to express that in cloth but first i traced and cut her form from a cloudy plastic sleeve recycled from an old discarded photo album.  the pages are aged and the photos can no longer be viewed clearly.  this is making a great stencil for me to use as a guide.  and the milky translucent quality is just what i want.  i will search for a very sheer linen for this layer of self...i think i have it somewhere.  i am sure it is somewhere.  in some dark corner.

auditioning a heart

 i have this scrap of shibori and i love its effect. a heart shining through the blues. a heart' edge defined by losing the blue. it is from laura at indigo night owl and i really love her work (she is on my supplier list in the sidebar).

i was doodling some ideas for doodle friday and i wanted to make a follow up to moon face with heart face.
...and i decided to use this scrap right on the paper to plan around it. this could be a very cool method to plan a piece around a special scrap in real size. i guess this was a what if that came so fast i didn't notice. but that's ok... it has given birth to a whole bunch more. introducing heart face.

doodle thursday

catching up because i slept through doodle wednesday.  a plan for twins. and a cool breeze.

... and just a heads up, sara has a new blog.

just the right piece

...it has been impossible to clean this section of the studio window without destroying this wonderful thin cloth that formed just outside.   i noticed this morning that autumn's first leaf has been caught and suspended there.  natures new story cloth is growing.
...later i got a good look at the keeper of this cloth.  she/ he? seemed to be mocking me....
...it is another lazy hazy day.  i am working on my own thin cloth.
...a lazy hazy day is just the right kind of day to catch the right piece to build a wing. sometimes it just shows up without looking.  it just seems to drift into the right place where it makes sense.  isn't that amazing?

last minute details

sometimes i think i'm done.  but i'm not.  sorting through a bin of scraps always gets me started again.  i added a few things.  a ragged star, a moonflower.  and the reflection of many moons that have gone before.

...i pieced together some dobby woven stripes for the back.  how i love yarn dyed woven patterns.  loom controlled embroidery...

ain't it great to be crazy?  is done.  so far.