Spirit Cloth

thank you, sorry and goodbye

.....it is thursday, and i am overwhelmed and tired.  a grueling work week and a period of personal strain has left me ready for some real rest.  i want to say thank you to many people for their support and kindness. i have been stitching and posting but my computer time has been limited and i am sorry for not responding to many wonderful mentions i have noticed on the blogs of others. i will be back after a while, i promise.
my january TIF is complete. although i had intended to do much more with this one, time has run out and well, isn't that quite appropriate after all. so with this mended heart i say goodbye to my father. it is a fully functional comfort piece and  suppose i can still take it further whenever i feel the need. i added a kantha stitch banding around the edge to give it more depth. the back is partially uncovered, with some added scraps from his mother's old quilt, and some words unfinished. the heart sampler was planned to be a slipcover, another layer of mending. i won't need that for a while.  the photos are too yellow and not great. that is the way it goes. sometimes you just can't focus.

quilting the edge of time

collecting carpets has become a hobby. not the big expensive kind, no. can't do that. i like the small ones, hand made, odd shaped, folk textile type. i especially like square ones that are hard to come by. anyway, for the fever quilt i am  leaning toward carpet motifs for the borders, so the whole thing will have the feel of an old rug or ancient textile.  i am considering applique and direct painting. i am still considering.  this is one cut-out to play with and it might be noticed that the background is  an old what if, one of many already recycled and sewn into this piece.

take it further tuesday

the sunrise this morning was all pink and red and rosey. and i felt warmed. and it occurred to me...the only thing that could be better than a good heart, is lots of them. on golden velvet. cotton rayon velvet that flows and catches light. keeper of the sun's first rays.

hugging stitches

at first i was just knotting but then tying bows seemed appropriate, bows are like knots with wings.  this was a ceremony of holding the heart of another close to mine.  to express admiration.

stitching hugs

thank you, all of you for your comments on my last post. i started answering everyone individually but i just couldn't keep up!....my take it further challenge for january, has taken shape as something to hold as well as something held... i chose a pillow because it is a source of comfort which i needed to take further. i chose the heart for the simplicity of the symbol which i want to take further. i did a bit of what-iffing on the technique....and i am moving forward with a heart pillow, wrapped , woven and patched, with rough edges and memories, a symbol of ...as someone put it...love remains.
i started with simple heart strings, knotted together. red velvet was laid unbound as the base over the pillow form so it peeks through the strings of story. like some sort of regenerating red moss.

take it further thursday

just notes. better make it simple. it is almost february.

i have chosen to dedicate this one to my dad who passed away yesterday. 

quilting a second chance

this weekend was one filled with hospital sitting. i sat by my father's side and  wished i could fix things. and so i started fixing this instead. after being inspired by tonya's comment over at what if, i gave this a name and an official second life, just to make things seem a bit better. i will continue to make this experiment into a finished piece. or maybe i will combine it with this.
so much fixing to do. some of it i can only dream about.

day 13- quilting confusion

part of the theme of this quilt lies in an overwhelming confusion that takes over now and then. i become delirious and cannot seem to get out of my own way. with the intention of letting that fever just run its course i am moving forward and accepting what form this state of mind can manifest.
so this block is just fragmented with random cut outs and the attempt to define form with some sort of borders.

i have also added a section of binding, an edge for me to lean against, some sort of horizon. and for some comfort, i am alternating chaos with kantha stitched blocks, which give this side of the quilt a rhythm through repetition.

the dot quilting i experimented with yesterday has offered me an opportunity to anchor this quilt with what i will call the burning stitch. red dots, quilting dots. that burn right through to the other side. embers, keepers of my hearts desire. i will use them as a symbol of the trust in myself. some element of consistency. toasted breadcrumbs. i like the way each little fragment now has a tiny heart. and they are all beating as one.

i suppose we are all together in this state of confusion. it may be our common ground. our source of creativity. i suppose that it could help us to understand one another.

doodle wednesday-boundaries

re-catching an old  thought.

i think it is kind of funny that after setting up this post i had to go back and check if it was wednesday.

day 11

some kantha stitching (on a commuter train) has also softened that white leaf motif.

i love a running stitch.  i want to count the ways.  and this would be number ONE. and this might be  TWO.  THREE....and counting.....