Spirit Cloth

In Between This and That

Just time for Noticing...

How this place seems more at home with me. 

I feel more welcomed now that I have connected with the soil. The Old Earth here.

I have heard that Celosia is edible, the leaves, anyone had any experience with that? I had a hard time starting these, slugs and things, but ok, yay! They are everywhere.

Mullein. Wild. But a couple in the garden.  I could sleep here.

I imagined a moon roof. And this beast, a loose drawn patch, more about that later...

A moon roof and a different sense of Home.

Packing for another short road trip this morning. Mostly things that need to get done that involve going somewhere. But the air is clear the sun is out and the season is high. And we are just going. I will be back to a normal schedule in a week or so. 

Getting Back

 

So here I am we are, today...

So many thoughts went through my mind as I stitched.

Yet, I was not prepared to catch them. I long to really get through it, making a cloth with a true sense of how it happened, openly shared. Even if for my own curiosity, because it's as much of a mystery to me. It is quite a challenge to remember to let it flow. How interruptions are just as much a part of it. The forming.

I am calling this The Uphill Climb. There is no figure yet. I am not sure it is needed.

I (the man has been a little bit low energy lately) began the clear marking of paths that will span this hill.  Only the birds will see the spiraled plan.  I am using some of the wood, split before we came here and left under the non protected part of the porch. I was clearing under there, too damp and moldy, and the wood too rotted or full of bugs, but ok to line the paths, to define them and later we will lay wood chips to keep the undergrowth at bay. And that redbud, nice in spring, but doesn't really get enough sun. It might have to go, for a longer view.

just Being Part of It

 

 

Mostly I planted perennials this year. They will return. And reseed, populate.

But I also did a lot of dead heading and trimming, I brought the spent blooms in to make pretty and and consider the in between. And then they dry.

Soul-O likes to sit near them. Likes the way they smell.

Likes them so much sometimes he butts them with his nose. Seeds fall out, if they are ready, I collect them.  I lump them all together  and store them in jars, put them downstairs in the cool basement. So many from one flower. I will plant them before deep winter, spread them around at wood's edge. And along the outside and inside the garden fence. Some down at the end of the road in by the mailbox. The deer will eat some of them. Hey ho. 

And what has happened here? Playing with vertical and horizontal stitch lines, which is taking like forever, but then poof!, this old self has begun to have the feel of being woven in. I'm not done considering this and I will talk eventually. 

Live and Learn

Hickory.

New to me.  There are 2 kinds of hickory trees here.

Three have tiny bitter fruit, further in the woods.

But the big one by the road in...

Edible and delicious.  Have you ever tried to shell a hickory nut? Now I know why they are not sold in stores.  Gotta pick the fruit out mostly. 

Still, thousands from one tree and still falling. So worth the work.  Kind of a cross between a hazelnut and a walnut. The hull breaks open when they fall.  After some research and advice. Gather, put in a bucket of water, discard those that float, dry for about 2 weeks (drying, the tree guys says, will make the fruit come out easier, but still...), enjoy. The slow snack then.  I have some hulls soaking, not much color I don't think but tannin, for sure.

The forest here is also a garden, I never felt exactly like that before.

These old eyes on the Magic Cloth keep showing up. Like new eyes.

New eyes are my symbol for learning. This patch started out as a sampler. 9 eyes. I love making them. 

The weather has cooled.  Preparing for winter in these weeks leading up to Halloween... Always a season's marker. You know, frost, pumpkins.  I ordered some bulbs that need to go in the ground before then.  Was hoping for porch roof repair, we'll see. Dave, the local fix it guy is real busy and that's something we can't do ourselves. 

Once things settle down, weaving. For now, finishing up some small works here. Letting them go. The walls are clearing.  Feels good.

the garden

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.

January Pause

Typing a quick note. Did not expect to be here.

So the issue is rationed bandwidth which has no particular pattern so I never know when the upload speed will allow photos. That is not legal, but in these weird days I've grown used to these things. I will take the high road. I'm an old woman and I've seen a lot of things.  I cannot really sit here all day trying to post. So we are switching providers (which require some extra installation efforts and expense) and will have better service after the 25th of January. I will use the extra pause to settle myself. My January self seems more unsettled than my December self. Some how I've become undone once again. I will open update the shop with the New Moon and open Feel Free, which has it's own issues, on February 1st. 

There was snow on the Magnolia buds yesterday morn. They form, they wait, while I hope they make it. The sun came out later and all has melted away once again. 

I want to call these pocket cloths now. The pocket is such a personal place. I'll do some pocket storming. Be back with that when I can.
This one. I was going along and then suddenly it occurred to me. The Tendency to Bloom. We all have it. Maybe just a wish for us all to realize it. To know what kind of environment might encourage it. To understand how  sneaky poison can be.

 

Just to put something here...

Been Loving Deb's exploration in photo layering lately.

This morning real life provided it's own example.

This photo was taken in the mirror across from the bed, already a reflection. And the window on the wall is a layering of the light and shadow from the actual window. Over cloth. Cloth layers. Ha!

A fire this morning. A freeze.

No woodstove yet. So hard to get anyone to commit to any work around here. Strange culture really. Not in a bitching mood though, too much of that everywhere, so let it go. The fireplace insert (the fireplace is on a sunken level) has a blower. Keeps everything upstairs warm. Works quite well actually. Not a bad plan. Maybe I will save some money.

And the frost is on the parsley.

It's obvious that media will be an issue here. So I suppose I am now going to be more focused on returning to Feel Free as the teaching place. I will do a new post about everything. Over there. Soon. Let's just get through this year.

Just a Bee on the Indigo

No, a forest yellow jacket 

Yesterday...as October passes.

Time for a large cloth review. Where am I ?

Can I just continue? No video here for now, but I might manage audio. Next challenge then.

October

 

A bit like these tomatoes, that's how I feel.

The ones that struggle between seasons. Trying to hold on and let go at the same time. It's getting cold and I picked everything down below in the raised bed, so I can let go of the stress about critters and just let them roam and graze and ready themselves for winter. I will just watch.  There is still stuff growing up on the deck planters.

Japanese Indigo setting seed. We'll make it they said.

I did some dyeing yesterday, but I'll save it. Trouble loading photos today so I will leave it for another day. It's crisp and clear and I will mend the sweaters. The moths have been busy.