Two thoughts in stitch today.
The dots. In constellations, indicate (or honor) a change in direction.
A system is kind of like connecting dots.
I made thread bead dots to mark the corners of the ghost square.I connected the elements in the nine patch like a square solar system around the the sun dot(star). Now I am looking while considering what I just wrote here.
This old house is such a Patchwork.
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.
Looking.
I love corners. in this one, I see life and death. And patchwork. And an interesting set of lines. I like that the patchwork might be some sort of perspective. I like the idea of piecing a view. I like the how the crack in the glass adds to that perspective in some imaginary way. As if to extend ones sense of space. By dividing it. I love the leg lines and how they begin to form a nest. But not stillness. I love that this is all in a place I call home.
I am leaning in once again. Lest I vibrate outward so much I wander off and disappear.
I have so much to say. But that's enough for today.
Except that I reserve this February, which feels more like April, for holding center. In some quieter way. I'll be quietly here.
Just the way it is going.
Continuing from yesterday.
video link if you see no player
I like the apron idea. Putting this bitch in the context of something useful. Protective even.
For a moment, I pinned a square there, and old cross stitch embroidered linen fragment from Grandma. I made some of them into squares) Domesticate was on my mind. But really, I think it will end up with the little Home cloth. The bitch herself is already applied to one of Grandma's old linens. And now one of mine, in a way. Funny how a used contemporary cotton towel has become an "old linen" to me.
As I go, things are shifting.
It's ok because I am not following a map. I am making one.
video link if you see no player
(In this video I refer to a Small Journey from back here and the quilt math from back here.)
Ready to stitch the shift.
We did get a lot of Snow.
A February style snow. And it is melting. Fast.
The promise is a warmer (than usual) February. Seems like a nice promise. But February here should be cold.
I am thinking about life as we know it. How small that is in the scheme of things. How I will be sixty five this next month.
I guess all I want to do these last few days of January is to close this gap. Seems like such a small thing but really it involves so many things. One of which is to wake up tomorrow to another day.
I added the sunrise. It seems important to this nest of days. I might also sweep the floor. I enjoy that. I remember Mom being very disappointed that she couldn't do that anymore.
I feel like I have been a bit scattered lately. But when I look at this Nest Of Days I feel calm. Sensing the natural order of it all. How I can work with that. Rest in that. How new form springs from it.
Sometimes. When I light an early fire in the studio, the first smoke from damp wood fills the nearby forest with blue light before disappearing.
This morning I caught that.
The blueness , moving freely filled me with a sense of story. Mystery.
And then,I played around with those dyed corners. Again.
So yesterday's nine appeared as today's and nine ended up to have something to do with letting things go.
Nine for That Which Moves Through Me and Keeps Going.
So here I am.
Suddenly without a camera.
But wait. The phone! Not one of those new fangled iphones, mind you, but good enough. And some photos already taken. And some digital tools. OK.
NOTE TO SELF: Find a way. There are so many.
Some loose pieces hanging around, and then put together. A while back. Colored moons. The nine for a change of direction, and corners, some of which resulted from me asking myself, how about 2 corners? And then. This.
I swear, just that. And then, obviously, after a bit of looking....
I think the stray in me wants to come out. Or maybe my heart has simply just lightened for good. Possibly.
Anyway, a bit of Corner Storming. STORMING, a word that will turn green for going soon. But for now, something from the VISUAL JOURNAL.
I will probably spend the weekend backtracking a bit to catch up with the patchwork thing. And solving the camera issue. Also initiating a format for the Visual Journal. I plan to open Patchwork beasts as well, for free, because it is fun and my heart is light. It is an old class and I want to revamp it a bit. So Hey Ho and see you Monday.
PS. Thanks to all of you have contributed to the effort. I tried to send thank yous in response to PayPal donations, but many folks have different emails associated with their account and do not receive my notes. I know. So know your support has helped me continue in a bigger way. Love.
PPS. My posts are likely to have media in them going forward. Please note that links open in a separate windows so you can follow without necessarily cutting off the audio. This includes enlarging pictures when available. Just keep track of the open windows in your browser bar.
Thoughts happen. One after the other, as you let them. Little goings. Small Journeys.
My advice? Wander off.
Probably you even know where I might be going with all of this. Right now , only in my mind, because I have some things to do. I'll call it dyed patchwork, in general, for now. To save the thought.
Note to self: Even without the dyeing, changing the normal direction (or even angle?) of the points creates motion. Direction. Start with the norm. Make waves!
See you later. Really have a lot to do today.
So. Free. I feel freed from something unutterable.
And that's that. I face the open road with Joy.
I've been making a lot of these.
For the cloth I call Holding Pattern.
I am focused on patchwork for the time being. Because of it's traditional history, and my own, it is a perfect candidate for redefinition. I hope you will join me in that. Looking at it with new eyes. Oftentimes when you research patchwork, you find the details of a single technique. But patchwork to me is just making something from nothing. Rescuing small pieces and making them useful again. Creating a home for stray cloth. Stray thoughts.
I've also been making a lot of these cornered patches just to play with. Patchwork blocks are components for pieced quilt designs. As scraps are components for blocks. I am also planning on using them as a cloth language system. So they might speak for me. As patchwork. About patchwork.
I started working with variations of this idea in What if Dairies, In a segment on color, they emerged as a concept I called little bits of color. I will be pulling excepts from all my Dairy teachings for Feel Free as I go. Because they were sort of rambling day to day wanderings, there were a lot of seeds planted and now they are growing. Becoming.
A Patchwork of corner ideas then, excerpt from What If Diaries 1-Whispering Color.
Today's nine?
Splash!
Quick indigo dip. This has possibilities. Yes? Some clamped some just dipped. I call the soft edge approach marshmallow shibori. Let me find some old videos as I keep going with this.
Please note, I will not be teaching Indigo Dyeing here. Glennis has an online class for that if you are interested. I learned it from her. Here I will only present ideas on how I might use it in my work. Talk about my relationship to the Magic Blue.
I have had inquiries about hosting a forum where folks can post their work. No, I will not be doing that. But Feel Free to post links to any work you want to share in the comment section of any lesson.
If the path before you is clear,
you are probably on
someone else's.
-Carl Jung