And moved all the computer stuff up to a corner of the sleep loft. For good. Out of sight until nightfall. Keeping me from sitting there too much.
Outdoors then. Except yesterday we got tons of rain and I kept stitching on this Kantha Moon (continued from here.). It has taken so long for the stacked stitch to begin to define it. But now it is getting there. It's a needle chant. I dyed some indigo thread but my estimate is short. The rest of the blues will vary because I am going to overdye some unused colored thread ends in order to complete the dark portion.
I like these two coming close. But I think they will move on to their own space. The deep orange square of cloth was a hand dye from someone else and it does not hold its color well as I recall. So as a blanket, that needs to be washed,not. A looking orb I think.
We live this way. Patching as we go. Using what's here.
Sometimes using the day to find just the right piece that might fit. Or fashioning one.
This is the sleep loft where it meets the stairs. The stairs I just painted white because I do have a lot of white paint left from something. And it makes a small room seem bigger. Photo by my boy. An early one that I have always loved because of how the distance eats the path forward.
I stitched two dyed corner patches together this morning. (dipped in Indigo twice, first clamped, then just dipped to get two tones.) I like the liquid path that formed. And the wings. I need to make more of them so I can complete a new Nine Lives Pat(c)h. I renamed the nine patch that a while ago. Nine Lives Patch. To imply the spirit contained in each one I make. The story really. Now, as a variation, I think Nine Lives Path would be a nice little series. The white linen here is still crisp and new,left over from the first linen blouse I ever made. I used to make all my clothes. I wondered why I am not doing that any more. I think it is because I am still wearing what I have. Yes. I am patching what I have. And I don't need much anyway.
Note to self:
The rectangle, the longer form, makes the Nine Patch into a Path.
It got real hot here, real fast. I let the color go for a moment.
So today we have:
A new Nine in cool linen. Nine for the Tendency to Wander. Just a play on lines, grain, off grain. Woven lines broken by seam lines. Just a simple slight shift brought movement. I concentrated to make sure that when I cut the pieces off grain, the lines would meet up and seem to continue. "Seam to continue" I was thinking. It's quite nice the way it waves. Almost curves, flows, in its illusion. And it's a path. And a kind of self portrait.
I did this. Like I do sometimes to make the cloth big enough to put in a hoop because I was thinking I might have to do that depending on how the tension played out. But then I thought how quickly it became bigger. And then how easily it could become smaller again. And then I began to think about the dynamics of a frame. How it might be a changing element. How often it is a hard edge to limit focus and contain and control context. But the frame as a space seemed to melt into some precious thought about holding center. And radiating outward again. And I am remembering an unfinished focus on windows a while back. What if Diaries? So anyway, some jottings and a direction I might collectively call Window Quilting. Obviously to be continued.
Note to self: How the morning made the blue so electric.
You might guess where I am going with this one. Some new paths for stacking stitch. I am working on a cloth woven base. You might catch the basics of cloth woven patchwork over at Spirit Cloth 101, the BASE section. I plan to add my cloth weaving class (Cloth to Cloth) to The list of Open Classes soon enough. This base was created with an anchored method which makes the cloth into sort of a loom in itself. So let me put that here now.
I have added a page at Feel Free, under Cloth Weaving- Weaving Intofor this technique. There is much more to say about it after all this time.
The stacked stitching gives body to a cloth so it works well to stabilize the woven base. A nice contrast I think. Also here, I will use two color fields to form the moon, the light area to form a crescent. I will use home dyed indigo thread for the dark part of the circle. So I will crank up the vat for that.
I used a dinner plate to trace the circle. Just to get a sense of scale. Most blues here have been dyed over-dyed in indigo. Scraps of blue self. I also added a few loosely woven silk scraps to accent the edge and add texture, and will see how well this kantha style stitch might blend them into the surface and hold them.
I have gone ahead and added a thin cotton lawn, dyed in indigo, to the back. Tacked it down. To give it all a bit more body before stitching. And again I am making no attempt to make a neat back, still concentrating on how the stitch might be a composition element. And using many many short thread ends in the process.
I think also, now that the weather is warming a bit, I will be entering a new phase of Feel Free. Like all things not focused on, it is beginning to get away from me and needs attention. Perhaps if I concentrate on recording one thing at a time, like the running stitch, for each month, it will help me build the page base on my new site. And I am considering a few other things. Like a community gallery page. And enhancing the information base by inviting contributors. And that's enough thoughts for now. Transplanting indigo today.
Thank you all for your support. And have a good weekend.
May 18, 2016
Slower than slow, this one did go.
Probably because it didn't have to go anywhere in particular.
MoonFlow
I'm here swimming it it. Starting over. Over and over. As it becomes clear how each moment offers that. Path is so liquid.
(this is the top section of the cloth shown here.)
