Singing Woman of the Woman Series. (a series of Selves)
I darkened the edges of her world. The indigo vat was so ready.
I am going to set up a project page at the Forever Zone(part 4 of Patchwork in Perspective)for her. For selves. Because she is not done. Not even close. I suppose you might be able to relate.
Fire.
We can have a fire. Chimney is OK now. Still need a woodstove installed. Good enough on this November day that is hardly above freezing.
Yesterday a bit of Fresh Leaf Indigo dyeing. More pics on Instagram. I cut back most of the leaves on the pot grown plants which I had brought in with the frost. Maybe I will get more leaves, but I don't think there is enough light. I used the salt method. Leaves + salt+ cloth + squishing for quite a while. A bit difficult with my thumb arthritis but worth the push.
I tried to use every last bit so kept adding cloth and ended up with nice gradations. I don't know why the ceiling looks violet in the morning. Maybe it's the yellow walls.
I had to close comments here today. Tomorrow is another day.
Coating the edge of the other side of HEAL. To even out the layers.
link to video if you see no player above
I posted this video on Instagram a little while ago. Now I was able to put it here.
I am all over the place, here, there, everywhere. I need to make some decisions on how to continue.
Where, how, this is all too chopped up.
So I will. Soon.
Basted. Just regular old big stitches. No knots, from the thread nest, later to go back to the thread nest.
Just to say OK, let's try this.
Link to audio if you see no player above
The weather is warmer and now I don't need to worry about the room with the window that is too high to see out. I have a new design wall without edges. And lots of light.
Big Cloth, now small cloth...just had me thinking about scale...we think we are so important but we are so small in the scheme of things.
It took most of the day to do this much, just pinned in place there is about 12", give or take, around the edge. Just trying to sew scrap end to end with the minimum amount of cutting. You can use any kind of seaming method, even a sewing machine. I am hand stitching using the fold and stitch method here, I don't have a sewing machine anyway. I am using a foundation method here, let me talk about why that has evolved for me.
Link to audio if you see no player above.
The oaks are flowering, allergy alert.
It's wonderful to see indigo wear in sympathy with stitch.
I ripped this in two just to see what might happen. In the spirit of curiosity.
Probably all we we all might explain what happened differently. Even though it is the same. And then to share that, might expand the experience. How is it that we might be convinced to lose sight of the beauty in that ?
A warm one. Before another polar vortex. I put my winter bitch in the closet.
I will build one small fire, warm up the stove. Since the sun is out, that's enough for the day.
On a lighter note, this will be a Stoodio Day.
The lightness took over yesterday. When I patched Joy back to my center.
Stitching, anticipating February, weathering a storm before it happens, stitching, sewing snow, S(new)ing...? Snewing. Probably with out the context, we might read it Snoowing. Oh ha.
The patches are half dipped indigo, two stitched together seemed to be a snowscape. The cloth is doublewoven, from an old baby blanket, so I did not add my normal extra layer. Maybe you remember this Cloth Story. More of those to come. Materials are like good friends, every day you learn a little more about them.
Years and years ago, I made this patchwork for a pillowcase.
I gave it to my mother.
It was one of my first patchworks where I departed from commercial fabrics. In fact the yellow squares at the border are cut from my high school gym-suit. I clearly remember high school gym. Probably because I was always embarrassed by the teacher because I was not athletic.
I got it back to repair. But time passed and so did Mom. It's not a pillowcase anymore. It's a story fragment. I cut part of it off to use in something else. I don't remember when or what. But it's probably buried in this blog somewhere. The indigo is new. I can say I patch with dye. And of course, there is a lot more to say about dyed patchwork when I pull it together. I hung this on the wall to remind myself to do that. I've not time for a lot of things right now.
It's raining. Way more rain than we need really. It just keeps raining. Yesterday, after waiting so long for a dry day, I had some wood dumped. I covered it with a tarp, not having time to stack. And expecting a shower. It's been raining all night and still raining. Like a monsoon. At sunrise, no tarp and a big pile of drenched wood.
Excuse me, but SHIT.
Some of you have followed for so long.
Remember MoonFace?
I suppose this patched format was the original "stray cat" format, although I was mostly thinking lion back then. Something more comfortably wilder. I made this one as part of a Faceless series, still considering face, how we share that, but yet how personal it is. Face. Is this one faceless or is it all faces? The face of time? Don't mind me. I'm in between. Asking a lot of questions and reconsidering all things.
I dipped the edges again here. Haphazardly.
I forgot to put the trash out this morning, but I still remember exactly where all these fabrics came from.
My final online workshop series will be 9 segments. The method used here, I call Skitch-Skatch (stitching and patching over a sketch), will be one of them. Each segment will be 1 month long. There may be spaces in between depending on the "move". You will be able to subscribe separately to any one or all of them, choosing the format that works for you. I will create the series description soon enough. I feel emboldened. I'm gonna work right though it.
Someone came by to take pictures of the inside of the house yesterday. He politely asked me not(!) to remove my work from the walls. He thought it created an interesting mood. Oh ha!
Acorns have been falling.
Mostly encouraged by squirrels.
I've been thinking about my folks. It always comes in between seasons. The two acorns reminded me of them. Together. Through whatever was.
Yes it's been a bit cooler. But this week will be hotter still. And humid. I always remember the late heat that often coincided with going back to school. The hot un-airconditioned classrooms. The difficulty concentrating. How Dad would be home waiting to whisk us off to the beach for a late swim. Like a little bit extra summer vacation.
I stitched a moon cabin. Because I am preparing for my Patchwork in Perspective. I'm looking back fondly at my patched past. Gathering. Documenting. Reconsidering its use to give it wholeness. There's a bit of Mom's wedding dress in there. The silk velvet. Dyed blue like the old sky. She gave it to me and said make something out of it, make it useful. I could have altered it and made it into a dress. But I don't much wear dresses. I like it better like this. Holding the late August moon. For all of us. Part of the bigger basket.
If the path before you is clear,
you are probably on
someone else's.
-Carl Jung