Spirit Cloth

new eyes

new eyes, new story. it's raining, i'm playing. i am intrigued once again with the images we present to children. and redefining cute.

i also really like this.

welcoming november

well the boiler is fixed but the wood is also stacked and dried so today i started the wood stove in the studio. a ceremony to usher in a new season. i have moved all my junk to the center of the room anticipating some new shelves and things which should finally get going soon. what a mess.

a small scrap landed on the floor during the upheaval. how great is this little silk print? a combination of stationary and mobile dots.  i did a bit of on the spot machine piecing (while i can still get to the machine)  to create a story background for this one. and to test a new color field idea i have been thinking about.

the unfashionable refashion

today i interrupt the regularly scheduled activity for some real real time make-do and a short break from hand stitching.  a little quick cloth.  a moment when you  have to appreciate the sewing machine. a modern day boro experience...
if you think this patch is ugly you should have seen the hole.  now that was the real kodak moment.

feline addiction

she-bori. one of a herd. tribe.

undoing silence

....yesterday evening. after a quiet day a small story was forming.  the base on this one was free pieced on the machine but i appliqued the ears rag style.  it was easier.  that's a great yarn dyed check in 2 shades of indigo!  the shibori dot is a nice soft source of light and now she is radiating outward.  that dot is something beginning but also something that was always there.  cut from a recently gifted fabric. (thanks to all of you who have enhanced my dot collection)

this morning. many of the details on this one have to do with light and radiance.  the flowers are cut from a very sheer silk scarf left by my grandmother.  i noticed when i picked it up it still smelled like her cedar chest. 

the face gets its radiance from the shibori , but i added more signs by stitching some warmth around the face and using fringe, both real and stitched, to the tail.  i like the fringe as a symbol. it is a lovely extension of the cloth, an edge where something begins and ends at the same time.

....after so long, she was able to master a soft glow, which helped guide her on the darkest nights when there was no moon.  she couldn't help notice how a soft light made everything friendly and transparent.  this helped her see into things and understand,. and gave her patience for the moon's return. 

just when you feel confused and you don't know where things are going, you look closer or listen longer. and its all there.  you are the keeper. the story is in you.  just let it out.

continued from here.

moon face

breaking loose

.....i have finally worked up a bit of something against the doodle in this post...some comic relief in the form of the spirit of changing things. kicking up your heels. not worrying about missing the point (in this case more than one), music in the air, dreams of becoming more. finally getting to things that have been on the back burner forever.  i joined tonya's class free piecing class a lifetime ago and i just got around to doing something. she hasn't been feeling well and i am hoping this will make her smile.

the musical note fabric( thank you cathie)  was placed upside down to soften the music a bit. to give it some float.

the old house fabric in the corner ( which is actually really old) has given me an new ideas for drawing more on fabric. so it's a little movin' to the groove with a sewing machine on a very gloomy day in april.

a quilt as a learning curve

alphabet soup is a learning quilt for me. it was my first real sized machine free pieced quilt... a method i learned from tonya. and now that i am hand quilting it i am learning a few more things. when machine piecing lots of small pieces the seams become a bit of a problem in adding thickness. i used lots of different kind of fabrics so i aggravated the situation a bit. i think i will switch to ironing seams out flat from now on. just to reduce the thick spots (i tried that on some smaller pieces and it seems to help).  even though i started using 3 ...i have switched to 2 strands of floss  because combined with the larger kantha style stitch it makes a more drapey cloth and a softer surface (it is a baby quilt) ...AND i can squeeze the double strand into a small eye needle which is easier to get through the seams. i have also started to quilt the surface completely before applying an applique so i only need to quilt the applique to the top surface and not all the way through.
.....an alphabet quilt should be a learning quilt so i am adding all kinds of conversation pieces.  what a great opportunity for story telling at bedtime. the S itself became the Snake it stands for and the it sits near a Sunflower and under a Shibori Sky. the Snails have not arrived yet because they move so Slowly.

wind in your hair

it has been cold and dreary and winter has frozen my ambition a bit.  and i was thinking of chicken soup. which led me to alphabet soup, a quilt that is now my couch project. i am mainly quilting so it is easy to stitch in the evening in front of the tv, in lower light than usual, to the rhythm of the blah blah blah. (i really am sick of the media.)
i dedicate this little horse to florence who liked it early on and has worked hard to build  flying star toys and needs to squeeze a bit of time in to enjoy life. don't we all? florence inspired me to start this blog and i thank her for that. some gifts are like the wind.

winter green

yesterday i was out and around.  the hill at the side of the house was cleared not so long ago. it is frozen and still. yet still it gives....kindling for the fire, a place to wander and think, a view to the sea... and the promise of next season's garden.
today i have forgotten the blues. i am enjoying a spring thinking ceremony. the snow is free falling and i am free piecing a few cool cats in the garden. those old color blankets are coming in handy.  i guess this will be a quilt. you can never have enough green, enough cats or enough quilts. (of course you can never have enough pillows either...???....) 

the winter weather has caused major commuter train delays. and i don't care.