Spirit Cloth

Everything is...

September.

A warm one really.

There are berries on the dogwood. The birds will be happy about that.

There are pears despite tree fungus. All the leaves turned black and fell off. But there are pears. Smaller but sweet. I will learn more about pears. These grow along the road in. Trees need to be trimmed along the wood's edge, too much shade.  Next year, more fruit trees and some learning.

There is a circle here on Everything is So Fragile.  Even though it is too big to see. More than one actually.  Suddenly it has occurred to me that there is no other kind of direction. In perspective.

Here we are

On the edge of season, again.

It was around this time almost 2 years ago that we knew we were probably going to move here. My sense of time is so strange now.  But a circle always helps me realize it doesn't matter. 

Moving some firewood today.

And I renamed this many times but today I will call it just that.

On the Edge of Season.

The whole forest

smells like grape jelly. 

I'm not exaggerating.

I need (to become) a bigger basket.

Composition

Compose.

To begin with something. To make peace with it.

That is how I use the word.

There is a the physical thing. The need for it to feel right, and to hold together, at least long enough to reconsider.  Letting it, helping it  BE.

There is also the thought behind it. I always hope that might become a tool and not a weapon. 

I make changes, often based on softening my original vision. Even though I was often taught the opposite. In this case my thought has softened as well, and this one has become more about that. How dark and light might lean into each other.  Which is really quite a concept if you think about it.  I remember how weaving taught me so much about that. Softening. The new form in that. Anyway, I am rambling today because that is how things come together.

Just Looking

Found the old mama loom (I still have the 3)at the bottom of the closet. For a long time I have been weaving on looms I make myself. And Considering Weave in the context of sewing.  I want to warp up all my looms. That is not something I would teach or show here. Just the cloth forming part. And the importance of weave to my story. I do imagine building a tapestry loom. Or maybe one outside and one inside. 

I am surrounded by old weaver me.

But now I am really Old Weaver Me. A New Weaver Me perhaps compared to years past.

Today I will just be scratching.

Yesterday I couldn't post here.

But I remembered some Free Selves I have in a box somewhere. Couldn't find them so I made one to remind myself to keep looking. Some of Deb's cloth here. But you probably know that, it has such character.

I let her wander from here to there, held her, carried her for a while and then placed her in a way to illustrate how sometimes we may seem free but we all might be held, at the same time, even trapped by some kind of personal darkness. Just a thought caught. Just a way to look at that thought while wondering why people are so confusing to me. To each other. How blind spots form. 

Today, I woke up covered in Poison Oak. It's been a long time and it ain't pretty. An itch that might prevent even thinking for a few days. I'm exhausted anyway. But then sleep might not come too easily either. 

 

Pause for a Moment

 

I worked on this one yesterday.

In the lamplight this morning, the colors are altered. The photo not so clear.

I added the red dot. Some stitch. 

 

 

Link to audio if you see no player above

Selling, Sharing and Common Sense

It's been a while since I focused on selling my stitched work. It is everywhere here.

Because I like that really, being surrounded by the history of process. 

It's time to let some stuff go.  I sell/offer the work that is closest to me in order to share something deeper about self and process, maybe just the time it took. And I sell stuff when I need to. When I need money, when I need to clear my head. And clear some space. Right now there is a little bit of all of that going on. I will be closing the Spirit Cloth shop. I left that place for larger works but I doubt I will ever let them go. Or finish them even. Supplies and Small Stitched Works will be available in the ThreadCrumbs Shop.  I think I will skip a lot of the official announcing of shop updates. Perhaps just a whenever dribble might work at this point. Just stop by if you are curious. I do an occasional shout out on Instagram and Facebook.  But not here really.  Let this just be about the going. 

Selling can be confusing. Especially pricing. I have often been "accused" of selling myself short.  It is important for you to know that this selling thing is more about sharing than what I might deserve.  Sharing is what I do. The best I can. Because I can. I put a lot out there. I feel good about it, even though some days I find myself disappointed in how others behave in the context of my sense of community... Sharing openly takes trust. I do not ask for much. And I don't like much that I need to put this here again, but after some shitty stuff this week, here it is:

Some days I can't keep my cool. I get knocked off balance. I think perhaps, well I would like to believe, that most hurtful stuff happens in some innocent way. Still, misunderstanding can never be prevented/resolved without dialog (we might say that about everything). I just recorded a rant to relieve some stress, but then I remembered a calmer time during PatchWork in Perspective-part 1 when I was Thought Catching and addressed a question about the copying issue with more composure. And I listened and I said what I still might say.

 

 

Here is a video link if you see no player above. Videos from this series are not public but I opened this one because it seemed to fit to the day. Of course some of you were right there. 

How Nine Might Become Less

A link to the audio if you see no player above.

(If you are subscribed by email, click the title of this post to listen to audio from the blog.)

The Shirt I call Nine

So this audio format seems the most reliable. More work  but not too much in the scheme of things.  It did delay my post a bit later though. I can adjust. Someone asked about podcasting. I could check that out but it probably costs something.

 

 

It's raining again. 

 

 

 

 

 

Later: like this morning, Friday, Ha, Grace!

Before More Rain...

The laundry.

(And a few sniffles.)

A joy that never ends. I love to hang laundry outside. We never had a dryer growing up.  So glad to have laundry line memories.  Maybe I love cloth more because of that.

The shirt I call Nine (you might remember from Contemporary Boro). On the line. I've done more stitching on it over the years. I am going to shorten it today. And mend it a bit.

I was considered dyeing it a while back, but I didn't.

I didn't plant these. They sprouted voluntarily in the path between the raised beds after I moved the compost for the fence building.  I considered yanking them out, it was so late, but I didn't. And they made it though Ida. In such a short while, full grown, good shit, this compost. Looks like all the rain and a warm enough autumn will allow full ripening. I am delighted with my late garden. Farmer jude is back at it. 

Weaver jude is on her way.

New

What's new?

I was supposed to visit  "the kids" today. But I have a sore throat and the sniffles. I hoped it was just allergies, but seems not. I am very sad about that, I miss the Boy and the Woman very much. 

The avocado pit has sprouted, we all know how long that can take. Well there's actually 4. Sprouted. After some new advice, I soaked them in water for about 3 or 4 days, peeled of the skin, wrapped them individually in wet paper towels, stuck them in a jar with a lid, left them for about a week (although I did peek a few times), and they split open and grew a big root.

And this one, the cat kept staring at it until I realized there was an earthworm, circling in a panic, in the pot recently filled with compost. I had to rescue the poor thing and put it back in the garden.

Trying to reNew these old pants. They used to be black.  I've a new idea about dipping them in the indigo vat when I finish the mend. Maybe.

Finally, some new eyes on the Grow Cloth. (the link to posts about that cloth over at Feel Free in case you missed that part of the story)

Now I need some ginger tea.