Spirit Cloth

Just these things

This morning when I turned on the light. Just there.

Must have blown in on the wind. Or the Man is being funny.

When we moved here, Magnolia was blocking the front door. The previous owner was crippled and came in through the garage, unable to make it up the front steps. We trimmed a large branch. She has healed beautifully. 

Just a simple stacking. But yet an intricate exercise in balance. And alignment. I remember my first snowman. Back then I never questioned why it was a man.

A snow Woman she will be, with a fire inside. Sewing Small, looking forward to continuing with Small Cloth. Going to talk about that tomorrow.  Which can really be the birth of Large Cloth. Scale, like form is liquid anyway.

Antibiotics done. Head clearing.

I didn't get to the new email feed thing yesterday, I will try again today. 

Even more frigid days are upon us.

 

dec 13

The Thinning

Last Night, the setting sun set the distant mountain on fire. 

We can see further now. Many leaves have fallen. I even caught a glimpse of the roadside pond below. I used to call it a lake, but it is small, and it has no official name. So pond I guess. I should give her a name.

I taped the small cloth to the window this morning.

The cloth I now call Singing Woman. I examined the thin spots, how perfect they seem. I wonder which parts of me would let the light through? Do I need to work on that?

This kind of thing results from managing layers. Some don't like that word but for me it is about maintaining balance. Nature does it so well. I used to manage a design department. At one point 11 people. Balance ain't easy. People. Like a layered cloth, lightness was always a challenge. But a beautiful thing. Like  a thing and then not so much of a thing at the same time. Fluid. And I said to myself this morning... Natural Order includes chaos. I wrote that down to remind myself. 

So, I have been stitching. Without a lot of saying. Very slowly. Expressing the standing. Even while feeling knocked down. Or so it seems. Some days.  

Near Frost

The Oaks are turning.

Unlike where I moved from where it was almost all Oaks, here it is mostly Maple and Hickory which turn first, the leaves falling before the Oaks begin their transition.  I realize in this season, watching the colors has helped me draw a map of how things grow here, in my mind. I am learning by color and timing and relationship to climate. The woodpiles which we have just started to use, have hats fashioned from old pool covers.

In the Nest of Days, I focused in on that woven eye.  Vision changes from day to day. Some days I see with my heart. Other days I see with my mind.  An eye, for me, vision, contains both of them. Must contain this balance. I just said that to myself. Knowledge is a feeling I also hummed.

I would like to weave more eyes. What if I weave more eyes?

The Circus of Days

I considered adding another roof, a peaked top to the whole thing. Like a tent. But I think the stars are enough. Still maybe it needs a little wind. I like how it now seems like some sort of balancing act. Wind will just add a bit more challenge.

It stopped raining water but the wind is Big. Raining leaves. I need to go plant some garlic. Pick up some windfall for kindling. Make some soup from scraps of food. The freezer is too full. Stuff for dyepo(e)ts. Time to get to it. A more pleasant to do list.

The bobcat jumped over the stone wall while I was having coffee.  He/she is wounded, front paw, still quick and gone. To witness these sightings brings me such joy.

a little while later...ok, wind comes easy but never as planned:

Let It Be Thin

Everything Is So Fragile.

I named this that. Awhile back.

Form is temporary...

Direct link to audio if you see no player above.

Game Over

I picked a name from the Game of Chance Basket this morning. 

This one I renamed All Mixed Up, I am letting it go, because I don't feel all mixed up anymore. I will just weather the storm. 

This helped.

There will be an internet service guy in the house today. Even though the previous provider miraculously fixed the service they denied was their problem. I don't much like being smeared, tricked or lied to. Switch-a-rooni. Ok. Time to mask up and keep our fingers crossed...

Earth Yellow

The mellow yellow of the pomegranate dye is developing nicely after being heated and cooled for a few days. Adding more skins as I go, the walnut part of the dye becomes less influential. I've yet to find a source here, I am still using the concentrate made last year before I moved. The color seems to develop in sympathy with the drying leaves here. The days wiz by, my mind has slowed to balance them.

Just Here

I am here.

Just building a path.

To what?

To what's next, I guess.

72 aka Path.

The colors look funny here but hey...

things are not always as they seem. 

Maybe we might even rest in that for a while.

Wednesday Words

Pear. Pears. A Pair of Pears. At woods edge.

A Pair is a positive thing. In my mind. In any form. Because it represents the birth of a pattern. And pattern is a form of natural order. And natural order takes a while to play out.

I keep making these. Pairs. Pair-ings.

Pare. Trim. Pared down, putting patchwork into the simplest perspective. 2 pieces. Connection. The beginning of bigger. But this simple balanced component, that moved away from the ones, then threes I usually work with, takes me away from 9.

Why am I saying this? Because I notice it. Perhaps as an evolution on form and the sense of a change in center. A new balance.

And then. Just one pair a day. How hard is that? One small connection. Maybe not just black and white, just dark and light. Like night and day. Maybe just a record. A way to document, use what is here.  12 days:Surely it might be a blanket by winter. Or next winter. A nest of days.

So piecing. It just goes like that. Small Cloth+ Just Going. I don't work Fast. Just Steady. Even if it can be 10 minutes a day. I don't do it to prove anything. It is simply reassuring. Piece-making. I know it will grow. I will name it for how many days I keep at it. And enjoy using it. 

The other one, on the basement wall. I am going to dye it before continuing. Reduce its harshness.