Spirit Cloth

genuine

i received an unusually wonderful gift.  i opened the envelope and out poured these twisted, tied and dyed (!and undyed!) shibori fragments.  speechless.  i am thrilled because i have been so much involved in thinking about shibori for quilting lately.  and now i have the privilege  to be next to this step of the process.  to enjoy the purpose these scraps contain and wonder about their potential.

i have been blogging for a few years now and it always amazes me how someone you never met can be so sensitive from such a distance. to give a real gift that is not about them but about you. you know it when it happens . and it happens over and over again.

today i have renamed a link for mary stanley of art spirit.  i have listed her under givers and genuine. she is a giver, always lifting others with her big heart. and her feel for rescuing cloth is amazing. she just gets it.

i have also created a new list in her honor called 'tell the children the truth' and for starters included art from scrap , a good cause that i learned about from mary. i think we need to help our children reconnect with something real. mindful teaching and giving are really the same thing.  teachers can keep things going, they connect us with what is real, they mend gaps.

and.... glennis is teaching a shibori class,  a great chance to get some details of this wonderful craft from an expert with heart... glennis is a special kind of teacher. she gets it too.

memories in cloth

i form long term relationships with fabric.  i bought 3 yards of this one when i was 14.   i bought it from a little fabric shop around the corner from my home.  the shop was run by a small rude man, elderly and curled, mr. bazoza.  his son was in the textile business somewhere and shipped all his mill ends and things to be sold in this small store.  it was long and narrow, bins on both walls and a small aisle down the middle.  rolls and rolls of fabric.  it was always dark because he never put the lights on to save money.  he did a cash business and made the prices up as he went along.   he was a real crook but we became friends and i got some pretty good deals as time went on.  i used to make all my clothes when i was 14. 

and so i have had this fabric for a long time.  i used it for a dress.  and then i used it to line a bag. then i used it in the back of a quilt.  and then for the patchwork front of another.  when you love something you  understand its usefulness.  so i used it a lot because i always had a thing for black.  i used it because it is a kind of print that is spread out and  is easy on the eye.  i used the motif... you can cut it out and use it as a leaf or a feather or just a graphic.  i used the front and then i used the reverse side.  the back of a black solid print has a nice sketchy quality.  and then, i made use of  the spread out pattern because you can use pieces of the solid areas in between the design when you run out of solid black fabric, especially for small piecing projects.  today i am using  that motif (a few leftover fragments from using the in between for something else) as a feather and a leaf and that soft sketchy back and fits nicely into a winter scene...like a memory... to keep a little story alive a little longer. tomorrow i will use this motif as a magic feather... part of a new story.

i am off to mom's today, but before i go, i must say i really like this... because it is squares and because it is brilliant.

bits and pieces

....i am looking at the details of a little quilt woven sample fragment i just completed. the little dots are secured in their little boxes. all safe.  squares can be little boxes, little containers, neat and definable spaces to be.  dots were a place to start and it would be a shame if they were a point to end. i like the woven surface because it make little squares, little boxes to put things in. but i also like the little boxes i see  between the strips when they are opened up. the spaces between things are also little building blocks. this little fragment has turned into a small community of some kind. a community is a sampler of some kind, isn't it? a lot of safe beginnings, and a lot of little blocks to build that with but also some space to grow.  past, present and future woven together. holding together. but by no means the end of anything.

i did a bit of writing for Art Quilting Studio over the last year. the what-iffing on quilt weaving will be my last article, to be published in the march issue.  i hope you catch that one, it is the beginning of a personal journey where i try to take all the little pieces of things and merge them into some sort of whole.  

today is friday, so i am off to mom's with a few scraps to put together. and magic on my mind.

thanks for all you kind comments on my last post.

a place to be

someone was interviewing me today (more about that later) and asked about my studio. i laugh sometimes thinking about all the romance surrounding "where women create" ... my little space has lots of windows and we are expecting an arctic blast i think they are calling it.  the wood stove is cranked and i have made do with some extra fabric.  ha! not a fashionable sight. but safe and warm.

meanwhile i have spent some time with a new fragment... trying to move this heart outside the box  with a bit of magic.

2

...i have decided to stop dating and titling my posts. i am numbering them for cross reference only. i will talk more about this journal format and how it works in the days to come. it is meant to be some sort of teaching tool.

and please don't miss this.....or this

mending

mending can be a place where fragment touches fragment....many fragments coming together make a small whole. 

the burned finger is better but no stitching for a while. unplugging for a few days. thanks for all your well-wishing.

fragments

...a fragment could be a little piece of something that you put together without knowing where it will end up or how it will become more. just the spirit of cloth as it moves you forward.

...or a fragment could simply be a little piece of the past that needs mending. something to renew.

....and oh!  a fragment might also be an orphan of sorts, the result of an unfortunate accident that has caused you to cut off the good parts and give them a new start.  something to rescue.  and since this one was not planned to be cut, i have placed it on a like colored scrap so i can work it outward to give it a little room to breath at the edges.

fragments in all cases are small pieces of story.  mine, yours.  things to build on or with.  like squares.  yesterday i though what if (?) i post about fragments a lot,  on fragment friday.  i meant to post this yesterday but the pieces of my week got away from me somehow.  

and...of course when i think of fragments i also think of  the fabulousness that goes on over here.