Spirit Cloth

March tease

Almost 70. Yesterday. Ha, like me!

Rain, sun, wind, fog. No snow. That's coming next along with cold.

The Japanese Andromeda bloomed. Must have been overnight. Reminding me that life goes on even when it doesn't. New York, they say, now has 40% of all cases in the country. The car won't start, even after replacing the battery. The small repair shop within walking distance, a loooong walk, is thankfully still open. We'll see. 

I saw my first groundhog this morning. He comes to eat the kitchen scraps I dump in the compost. I haven't rigged up anything official yet in terms of a bin. 

I have nothing to show you today, and I have not done a video test yet, but pop over to Shibori Girl Studios. Glennis has set up a page for Moon Making Videos, some how to for all you indigo lovers. I know a lot of you have asked about the process and I don't really teach that... And if you are learning something and enjoying her gift, please consider dropping a few coins in her basket, there is a donation link in her sidebar. Things are tough, more so for some than others, especially those who rely on small business that has all but dried up in this crisis. Every little bit helps. And when things get tough, the tough seem to keep going and giving. I learned my indigo skills from Glennis and I am for ever grateful for her generous spirit.

And say hi for me.

.........

So Ragmates, the audio seems to work as is, and video is just a matter of getting my ass in gear. I will begin soon. With no plan, no agenda, just going. Here, where the group is more likely to be smaller, more intimate. Safe. More like simpler times. I will ratchet down a few details over the weekend because all I know now is:

Patchwork in Perspective part 3

Large Cloth and whatever else gets us through

Thank you as always , for your kind support and company.

 

 

 

 

Bigger Cloth, higher ground

For a while, smaller cloth.

But the unrolling has been a reminder.

Coma here again, still ragged and raw, still holding together after years and years.

A documentary, a teacher, a blanket, a world. A timekeeper. A journal. An open heart.

Something as simple a upside down (or inside-out)patchwork. That thought caught, tried. Tested. Remembered in the wee hours of a cold rainy morning. An unfinished wishing star that says it doesn't matter. An early Deb Lacativa dyed cloth that celebrates a friendship. Actually I remember where all the cloth came from. And some old classes when some of this happened. 

Large cloth is where I began. Spirit Cloth. The blankets, the gift giving. The long, slow journey with cloth making. Because it is a story, it keeps going. A reminder of that.

I like working small. Firstly because if you are working with scrap, you have to begin there. You need small to build big.  And small is endearing. Portable and easy to manage. Good for practice.  But there is another reason to work small and that is if you are so inclined, selling is easier. Finishing is easier, letting go is easier. A large cloth is never selfish.

I've been here before, reconsidering large cloth, but I am here again. In a new frame of mind. Unrolling the bigger ones. They are like Pandora's Box. In reverse.

This house is a split level. I never liked them much. But there are highs and lows. Which offer new perspectives. 

A Place in the Fog

Unusually warm and wet.

This morning there is real fog. Not just the brain kind.

And no back pain. What a gift it seems like. Just to wake up without pain.

An early rise and some arranging. Finally I can say a Studio. Two tables, some stuff. And a place for Soul-o to keep me company.

This house was not my dream choice. Still, it is a house and it is now warm and easy to be in. Now that I have a place to sit and put words together and gather cloth and paper and things, I might begin to tell the story of how we got here. And what's next. The man and I will share this work space. As desk space and such. When we need to. Because we know we can. Because we are working with a different kind of space.  We will add windows to the outside and inside walls if we stay long enough. To open it to more light. 

And I have new socks. A kind gift that made me smile.

Also, maybe I'll vacuum.

OK. It's OK. 

Yesterday and then Today

 

There were people.

Walking through my house yesterday.

I'd rather they were foxes.

I'm used to a cloth community when it comes to my work.

I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of my place in it.  I have lived here so long and I am still a stranger.  I just don't get it. All the goings on in suburbia. Seems so much about nothing.

Magic, the cloth here, has caught my attention today. I wonder where my thoughts will go. There are several large cloths here.  I want to make them into gifts.  That thought has been lingering for so long. That's what it has always been about really, the big ones.  After I move.  As I unpack them...

 

There is always something...

Looks like I'm just a morning person, I cannot post in the evening...

I offer scraps of self.  Sometimes they are thread, sometimes they are cloth, and then sometimes just loose thoughts.

 

There's a new post in class.  

 

 

And a new bloom on the bromeliad.

Karma

Offerings to Place

Here we are.

Right here, a not so cold (so far) November.

Feeling grateful for so many things.

Looking forward to the longer view as leaves fall.

This season brings, again, new eyes.

 

Story takes time to tell. Maybe we might all find quiet kindness, resting in places in between the words, sharing what moved/moves though us, while imagining new possibilities for how it all might happen.

Joy as a Component

There was deep sleep. Dreams.

Something needed. So many things have kept me from that lately.

I'm stitching long and slow on this little cloth. Pinning it now and then over other frames of mind. And thinking about that concept that holds all I do like a big basket.

This morning I let Big Sanity be a frame for the Ring of Joy.

Joy at the center of sanity. This brought new thoughts but not words. So later.

It was a  basket over flowing with names. Too many to answer all the emails. A ring of Joy in itself. It brought back the old days. When the title of this blog read Spirit Cloth, an adventure in Gift Giving.

I squeaked Gayle! Because it's been a while, and I missed you. I'm sure I speak for many of us.

I think to myself how important this ring of joy symbol might become. How many things it might encourage.

 

The Heart as a Patch

Because I was thinking... My heart is a patch if you need it...while just going and considering simpler times. Just checking in, testing mobile upload (which didn't work here yesterday) and waving.

See you in July. Most likely.

Small Offerings

 

The intention was to post about selling what we make today.

But I got caught in the beauty of the day while taking photos.

So here's to that. Leaves are kindly falling and soon we will see the sea.

34 winter sea views is a lot. Thank you Place.

Surprised...

Surprise at the mailbox!

...'tis the season, I know, but gifts arrived in the mail yesterday.

Thank you Mary and Elaine.

It's been warm again. No fires. Yesterday there was some leaf raking. And then some quiet stitching before bed.

This is the 4th corner on the new found space ring on Holding Pattern. Oh!  How that little nine was woven right into one of the small squares at the bottom of the basket. It now holds pattern in a new way. Hadn't thought about it in that context before. Can you imagine a whole blanket with this concept?  What if....?   Some days are more surprising than others. Suddenly Eventually, with a slight change in direction, I find myself filled with new dreams. Based on old ones.