Spirit Cloth

courtesy of nitch

Tendency

This is me. And the tendency to complicate.

I woke up in a frenzy. This is how my mind interferes with simplicity.

Tendency, is it linked to need? Or habit? Form is fluid. Choosing makes things seem more static, permanent. More useful to others maybe, that's all. It all settles out into everything.

I'm never sure if I can ever explain how clear this is to me.

Simply Keep at It

Sun's out but it's a bit cooler today.

What a relief.

A little quilting, just simple, around the edge quilting.  Seems to add a simple logic of building to the new day side.

And then around the sun. Hardly visible from the other side if you don't look closely. But it is there, the new day has come through. There are many choices for thread and stitch. Stitching does not have to scream, it can simply whisper. There is satisfaction in the way this is going. It takes me back to a simpler time when no one was watching. It is nice to know I am still that person.  That I have held fast to what I love. I like the place it takes me to. No, wait, I AM that place.

There is a huge hibiscus tree at the edge of the wood that I had not noticed until it bloomed. This morning it was all-a-buzz. You hopefully know that sound. I saw this pollen drenched bee and thought... keep at it, find a way, do the hard work, gather, take what you need and spread the goodness.

Let's hear it. With me?  bzzzzzzzzz

My Mother's Waves

I never looked at this so closely before.

I took my first actual quilting stitches on this one. That is, the ones that go all the way through. One single thread of embroidery thread. Outlining the cross applique. I did this to hold the center through all the layers and to see where those loose patches were in relationship to the center on the other side. I took the center red baste out and I moved them outward to make more space for a new day. A sun.

I did this before the sun actually came up here. 

In, seems like, no time...

continued from here

I completed the invisible baste around the edge of the patched applique. I could say it took about an hour, with coffee making, in between stitches, included.

I then removed the baste from just inside that area, and cut away as well. The backing cloth is not that thin, and there are already 2 layers from the applique. You can see the invisible baste I did to connect the applique to the front base cloth. It can stay. I think I want to do some stitch work on the center from the front. So keeping it thinner.

And there are leftovers.

I will use the red thread again to baste the center, where I just removed it from, when I add the backing. Which I am going to do right now. The cloth is small enough not to need additional baste at this point. It feels right. And then, I will have a 3 layer quilt base. Poof. Right now I am calling it HEAL. I can add a border later if I want to make it bigger. But it is big enough for a small person. 

I love the way a lighter more loosely woven cloth, in this case muslin, crinkles after washing. Because the threads have room to dance while drying in the wind.

A Layered Cloth

A quilt is a layered cloth.

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Big Baste.

With no knots.

Then glue stitch around the applique. To anchor the center through both layers. I will eventually do more glue stitching on the empty space, but for now, sympathetic to the central motif. 

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You remember this maybe, from when I started... (can't even find that post)( oops here it is) with the fragile center piece removed this will be layer 3, the back, the other side. 

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Let's Get Back

Simple then. A simpler time, a simpler way.

So this can be considered one way to make a quilt from a whole cloth base. I want to talk about that now as I go forward with this one.  One piece of cloth as the beginning, as opposed to lots of small patches stitched together. Of course you can only begin that way if you have a bigger piece of cloth.  We often do though, could be an old sheet or table cloth or curtain or just a piece of inexpensive muslin.  Or something that is not big enough really, for a blanket but can be made bigger later by adding a border. A quilt like this can move very quickly.

This one just simple then. Focusing on this one. Renamed. Heal. To recap, it is 44" square, the size of the cloth I began with. Square-ish. In this case, I filled the empty space by attaching a patchwork cross as an applique.  Normally I would cut away the back of the applique, but I did not need to. The cloth used for the pieced applique was so thin. And the slight thickness in the center is pleasing, yet it still seems weightless.  I have laid it on a similar size piece of very light weight muslin, which will act as batting.  It is ready to baste. I leave it there for now. And will talk, yes, talk, tomorrow. 

Yeah, so...

Another crazy day. I'll explain some other time. I'm done with it for a while.

But joy!

After a major deer attack which mostly destroyed my garden last week... I found one squash vine still dangling and crawling outside the raised bed, surviving. We used pee, don't laugh, around the perimeter of the garden with the advice of a neighbor and what's left has been untouched since then. And there it was. A squash. And more blossoms. And Bees!

Really need to finish the fence though, probably not till fall.

And I stitched this, this kind of shattered or cracked star, a crack in the logic of the pattern, mostly grew from frustration and fatigue and not caring if it was neat. And I went with it and  made it more so, and it is ok and very kind in a way. And persistent.

Small Cloth meets Large Cloth

It was a long day, not doing anything I like doing.

And finally as we approach sunset and it is quiet here once again, this is what I accomplished.

The green cross cloth, from back here. I put the green wish there. Somehow it made me feel useful.

Probably everyone has lost track of my large cloth adventures by now. I have. I don't mind tho, I will get to them.

The guys couldn't finish today. They will be back at 8 am tomorrow morning.

Not Really a Post

...just a loose stitched patch.

Fuzzy pic, sweaty day. Just to be here, to be hopeful, wishful. And ok.

Some needed air duct repair scheduled for tomorrow and guys will be IN the house. Masks ready, every little thing is such a production.

 

This old wicker shade was here. Porch light. Fixed it.