Spirit Cloth

thoughts on layout

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the story of the little rag bag

i made this bag years ago.  it was my first bag.  i designed it to be small and useful and i made it to give new life to some old denim and indigo scrap used in a pillow.  i used it to revive the  patchwork pattern i used in my son's baby quilt (he used that one right up)  and i used it to experiment with sashiko embroidery and ragged edge.  i lined it with  linen just to see how that would wear.  i filled it with an old cotton batting salvaged from grandma's quilt.  i almost cut it up and made it into something else... but i didn't.

i have posted about this little bag before.  it is a favorite personal treasure because it has taken that shape of persistence.  i admire it for working so hard and hanging on.  i always let it wear a bit more before mending, because those soft and bare spots are some of my favorite places, places where heart shows through.  i relate to it as i myself  get older.  today i will mend the tender spots... with more indigo. because really indigo ages like no other dye.   it was made to persist, to mellow, to be an example of how to go on and the beauty in that.

i have been asked to make a bag like this for someone. and i will...as a gift.   and i thought i might make a pattern while i am at it.   because it is a small and gentle useful object.  my favorite part is the bottom that is engineered to fold up, making it even smaller, to encourage less... and allowing it to stand on its own.  

this bag and i, we are friends. maybe because we share something. some mutual respect and understanding.  and the magic in that has me thinking about  the magic cloth  that waits patiently for me to return.

almost full

if...then maybe

it is reasonable to suggest that if the moon could sing, then the trees might dance... off to mom's with a light heart, a little something to work on and a plan for unplugging for a few days.....have a good weekend.

genuine

i received an unusually wonderful gift.  i opened the envelope and out poured these twisted, tied and dyed (!and undyed!) shibori fragments.  speechless.  i am thrilled because i have been so much involved in thinking about shibori for quilting lately.  and now i have the privilege  to be next to this step of the process.  to enjoy the purpose these scraps contain and wonder about their potential.

i have been blogging for a few years now and it always amazes me how someone you never met can be so sensitive from such a distance. to give a real gift that is not about them but about you. you know it when it happens . and it happens over and over again.

today i have renamed a link for mary stanley of art spirit.  i have listed her under givers and genuine. she is a giver, always lifting others with her big heart. and her feel for rescuing cloth is amazing. she just gets it.

i have also created a new list in her honor called 'tell the children the truth' and for starters included art from scrap , a good cause that i learned about from mary. i think we need to help our children reconnect with something real. mindful teaching and giving are really the same thing.  teachers can keep things going, they connect us with what is real, they mend gaps.

and.... glennis is teaching a shibori class,  a great chance to get some details of this wonderful craft from an expert with heart... glennis is a special kind of teacher. she gets it too.

O is for Obviously...

....Out of control. or Oh, i just couldn't help myself.!

 

this sampler has taken on a nice storybook quality. i came across some leftovers from the alphabet series i did a while back and used them for corners...!  i might call it "Once upon an alphabet..."

revisiting detail

well here we go again, the thaw is a thing of the past and the snow has returned quietly without notice. the quiet woke me up early this morning.

...taking a break from new things today.  just rethinking seam details, maybe adding a bit of magic in between blocks. two stands of floss in a double running stitch.  revisiting the corners, thinking about the cross stitch and how it is a meeting place, four corners. and how care is needed to engineer this meeting point. and how i need that little tie down stitch again to hold the course of the threads as they touch as a keeper. a corner is a touching point. paths crossing.

....and revisiting coma to add some new eyes. 

the snow is a nice quiet backdrop for detail. i feel the need to escape into that for a while.

corners

the one thing about old linens is that the the corners are rarely right angles.  sometimes you don't notice how skewed the pieces are until you try to frame them or hang them up. still... i like to retain that character.  there are 4 layers on this one and although i originally lined up one side to match the others don't come out straight. my solution to this is usually to keep placing  the piece on another fabric that is torn on the grain to square up the over all frame. and this rotating idea helps also... to draw the eye away from the imperfection.

in any case, i cut one of the corners off and then put it back so it would line up better.  i used a cross stitch to mend it back, in keeping with something traditional  i took an extra stitch to tie down the intersection over the break line.... still ragged but held in place. 

because the center is woven and then applied to these thin linens, even with cutting the extra layers from the back , the corners were still way thinner than the rest of the piece.  i applied patches to the back, just to cover the corners and give them more body.  i also used this extra fabric to square up the final piece, letting it hang over to straighten the square where needed, it is a bit darker and leads the eye. 

i like the peek at another grid and the extra cloth allowed me to drag the projected lines into the edge with quilting.

and the bonus is there is another revolution on the back caused by many corners coming together,

another little story

"what if trees had eyes" is inspired by a question of consciousness. maybe just a feeling that things are looking back at me. looking around, wondering what is happening just like me. these trees might be wondering why the other trees want to fly, or who is that in the moon, or simply looking for the first signs of spring. hoping we don't poison the earth first.

tell the children the truth... bob marley