Spirit Cloth

Liquid Place

Reconsidering home once again.

Expressing a sense of gentleness. Perhaps softening the edge of ownership. Making home more of a welcoming determination to survive without interrupting that right for others.

I suppose this is a new symbol. I call it the Mending Star. I might trace it back to prior musings, But that will take me some time. Perhaps I am indeed reconsidering wishing. My stars became wishing stars along the way. Linked to hope more than anything. But romanticizing a fix for something isn't really a commitment to anything concrete. So I bring it clearly back to a type of patchwork. Such a simple and useful thing with a clear intention.

 

 direct link to audio if you see no player

Liquid Place Guided by a Mending Star. Calling it that. Today. A long cloth, which implies it might be a path. A way.

A Puzzle of Days

It's snowing again.

A dusting predicted. Not.

Here comes February.

I'm back to a bit of quilt math again. Just wanting to mention a little something I do sometimes.

I have a basket full of prepared squares for what I now call Puzzle#1.  It is based on a 1.75" square that I used for Holding Pattern and Nest of Days. There are leftovers to play with.  The little house long cloth was pieced using a freer fold method. No measuring.  I decided to make the whole thing into a puzzle piece for Puzzle 1. Since it fits to the C piece which is equal to 3 of the squares, I was able to fit it in as the center of a would have been more regular nine patch.  The mismatching of seams gives it a nice freedom. There are many ways to solve a puzzle.

I ended up with this. I like a lot of things here. Especially that little white triangle that seems like a hint of a new neighbor.  The center panel is almost a path though it. And I like how "the way it happened" is held securely by a simple system of consideration. A simple system can be kind. 

 

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.

 

No Scrap left behind

It is how it might go.

Form might emerge by considering second chances. In this way it becomes the shape of kindness. Patchwork was born of that. The intention to rescue and the beauty in that.

Leftovers from yesterday's divided circles. And somehow I am back to feathers. Which works for I shall reconsider wings in September. A segment from an old diary series, many thoughts never quite completed. I hope you might join me.

I've a few houses to complete before then.  And a few end of the summer chores.

These can also be leaves. Like the ones falling from the Dogwood already. Falling leave are a lot like feathers. Tree feathers. With all the rain, this will be a big tree feather year.

How it Becomes

She Becomes.

She, being story, when you step back.

I often fill in around a design. To mend it. Using the original base as a kind of foundation. Not always covering it completely but sometimes that too. My work often vibrates outward, from a center. As a building method. Not always apparent when looking at the final piece. Because each moment is a center, as that happens.

I used a butterfly patch here, another dyed component. More about that symbol later...

I wanted to mention the sympathy factor here, as it relates to the evolution of form that the piece takes. And the term Sympathetic Evolution that I began using way back while trying to explain to myself how it might happen, what I do . It's about not having a plan, or the judgement about what's best. Or fit. Or permanent.  But it is more about a sensitivity system for becoming. Not necessarily logical or rule bound.  The evolution part is  simply the focus on gradual development of what I am working on. Process. The sympathy part is really focused on compassionate placement or choice of elements. And how one thing touches another in the moment. Intention simply becomes a cleaner energy.  Which makes the change in form tied more to the immediate personal love of how it might happen, how one thing touches another, than to any theory of change or presentation. Which, makes it into new form in my eyes. And magic in terms of how things might appear. Which always amazes me. As does how they might just disappear. Poof.

Building form through compassionate change and sharing it. Makes art into a form of kindness.

Was that cryptic? I hope not. Today this is the best I can do. One of my goals was to communicate something through cloth-making. I hoped I could. Use it for that. Since my human connection skills were never good. So you see all of this searching for explanation is as much for me as it is for you. Thank you for the opportunity.

The roof materials were just delivered by forklift. They are loud just sitting there.

Kindness

 Just like people...

One cloth might carry another .

For a little ways.

TwoGether

Together. Like one.

But Two always.

I used the last of some old roll of magic. Sometimes things run out. Get used up. Sometimes you can make more. Depends on what's on hand and whether your heart's in it.

I still have so much more to share about technique. Sometimes it is hard to stay open. But I'll keep going. In these times of selfish discontent I am happy to have this as what I can do to make  america great again  the world  a kinder place. Share without boundaries.

The cloth weaving method here goes beyond what was presented in Cloth to Cloth. And I have taken it much further without showing.  I want to share more here then, opening up part of the advanced cloth weaving methods with this new year. To prepare the way for brand new content. 

Cloth Weaving Without a Foundation then... I made the roll of magic weave on a larger loom, but not everyone has one of those, so you might start like this.

 

 

click here to watch video if you see a blank box or no player

 

I will add this to the index at Feel Free later today.  I am still needing to learn a bit more before switching to the new site.  For now it's fine.

OLD Earth Beast returned last night.

Fireside.

Roaming outside the ""box" which this time happens to be a circle. A comfort zone has many forms.

The original stray.  1973

Mending today has been interrupted by the need to go somewhere and help someone out. Then again, that is part of mending too. Maintaining usefulness. Lending a helping hand. Being Kind. Patient. 

Closing the Gap

Yesterday I stitched the corner and closed the gap to complete the third ring on the Nest of  Days.

It now actually measures 46" square. Just about. I will let it rest. Adjust to its new edge.

There was warm sunshine and wet earth.

I shot some video and I want to talk about sewing triangles but I shut the computer down and spent a lot of time just enjoying the day. Considering so many things. So I will probably do another post later after I process the video and piece my thoughts together about all that.

Soul-O becomes more loving every day.

I feel I have to spend some time honing the Feel Free format. Perhaps taking a little time to do that. I want to say Thank You again  as another flurry of donations and kind notes have flown my way. I think 2016 will be a good year as I walk this path to sharing. Catching a dream. There is much work to do. I will enjoy every minute of it.  For I am finding myself in the process.

Outward.

 

 

 

I'm still working on it.

Up into the night. Awake early.

It's not easy Feeling Free, she said to herself.  But it helps me look into my heart.

And the hearts of others.

And no matter what's there it's probably worth it.

 

Holding Center and Vibrating Outward has a lot to do with the cloth I call Holding Pattern. Time to get back to it.