The shift has taken hold, this is probably the last summer like day here. Typepad is tired, as grace said to me, and so am I. Sometimes you just have to move on. I will consider how to do that, but today I am just talking.
(note, comments are off because I cannot see them, and I cannot comment back, and that is true with any other Typepad blogs I visit. I will continue to post pics at Instagram for now.) Found a temporary solution. Actually that's life.
It's summer and it is unbearably humid and hot at the moment.
Yesterday, Nest of Days, circle side toward me. Toward the rising sun.
This morning, the other side. I had commented that I might want to bring the circle through somehow.
Poof.
Today I am thinking about Oneness and both sides of the cloth as a Pairing. I am inspired to work the circle into the other-side so it is apparent without the lighting. I also love how the porch seems to become a tent with cloth hanging. If you ask me about process, I would have to say that although I am slow in getting to it, and some of you have fallen away with impatience, this is a big part of the process, how I get to where I am going. Lesson for today. Slow down. Let it unfold or just hang in the air...like summer dampness.
We are going out this morning. He's waiting.
So signing off for a few days. Trying to set up studio in the basement, do some bathroom repairs, get my car inspected, split some wood...address some chimney issues... a big list has formed. Need to get through it.
Pieced. Radiating outward. Back and white squares. Color in the center. But the black and white part. Different.
The black and white in the Nest of Days, based on a nine patch, and here, more black than white. Depending on the arrangement, could have been more white than black. The other cloth based on a 4 patch. Black and white are equal. Yes, I considered that. Both of these began with simple patched centers. I will make the new cloth bigger now. With equality in mind. And use a different method to expand it. If I have the cloth I need.
With a little quilting, Nest of Days is already a baby blanket. To make it bigger, well, I haven't considered how yet. I will probably keep stitching on this central part before I go there. Easy to get to. And then I can always be on the current edge as it grows.
It is hot and humid and all the baby phoebes are sitting on the clothesline, but I cannot take a picture because they fly away. Yes, they have learned to fly.
I am rather liking my little deck garden. Loads of greens to eat. Just enough actually. Thinking about that.
One cloth, two sides. Now, just pinned, using the quilt math as a common reference. These could be two cloths, with two different homes, yet still be one. When one evolves sympathetically with another they are one.
There is a habit, well, a need actually to see more than one piece of cloth at a time, to see how they relate. Especially if they are being considered at the same time.
They are parts of a bigger story. I thought OK, I need a longer line, a stronger line. Now, more than that, I need a longer "thread". To understand the One-ness. I might thread a clothesline all the way through the forest. Connect the strong trees. Cloth like markers, and if they are green, for now, no one/thing might notice, unless they were really looking. Maybe the line should be green. Or brown, I could dye the rope. Brown is easy. Maybe I could use thread. For smaller stuff. Yes, this IS my real life.
It's foggy, damp, and quite warm. The lion quilt is almost touching the ground. I think that is the size I am targeting for the baby quilt series. Big enough to be a small person quilt. Or a lap quilt for a big person. Or a bed topper. Or even a table cloth. About 60" square. Ish. That means the green cloths will need to grow a bit. Sometimes I let that happen first. Sometimes I let it wait for later. There are many ways. I have in mind to make at least 2 more green bases though, so I might count the ways. Hazel kept going with just piecing squares and look how big it got! And if you use bigger squares, it grows quite quickly. Working on one right now.
You can see in the background, there is a utility pole on the property. The previous owners had a street light installed. ??? We are finally having that removed this week. Maybe they were afraid of the dark? And we are paying for the extra electricity!
I love this picture.
I think while I am creating the quilt bases I will begin to consider theme. That goes beyond color. The lion quilt is a sampler style quilt. That is a base that holds many considerings around the theme of lion. Why did I pick lion? It was appropriate at the time. I was focused on the beast/human relationship. I used the beast to represent people in my life. Lions seem powerful. Each lion has it's own powers. But more about that later. I do like the sampler approach for a theme. Many versions of the same thing. There is an inherent learning in the process. An expanding of thought.
There are quite a few folks subscribed to this blog. Folks come in and out. For many reasons. I am hosting a class here through the rest of this year. Before I disappear. I will be posting, most likely more than once a day when necessary to record the the flow as it happens, because I try to teach by example. How it happens.. If you get frustrated with too much email, just unsubscribe. And have a nice life...
So to continue from this morning... One way to easily square up an old piece of cloth is to fold it diagonally against one edge. Cut , or tear, I prefer that, off the extra. Again, not exact, but closer.
There is a guy coming this morning to give us an estimate for cutting a few dangerous dead trees here. Trees that might fall on us. Trees we cannot cut ourselves. Trees too close to the power lines. Trees that have been moaning in the wind. Wood we will split ourselves. Fire wood for next winter. We have a chimney issue, so that's next. All outside work, so that's good. If we have the money.
It is cold this morning. But I hung the Lion Quilt outside on the porch. It has not been part of an open air ceremony for a long time. I wasn't sure how big it became. I loosely measured. It's 58" square-ish. I guess because that's how big it became. I don't remember having a reason. I remembered it as bigger.
(I wanted to talk today but my batteries are dead.)
Well sometimes I think I make up a story that might seem a little simpler than it is. More like something I can take credit for. Some thing I can own. Instead of telling the story as is. Because honestly, how it happens doesn't always make the kind of sense I expect. It's not a straight line or a path so easily followed. That is why process is so interesting to me. And why I tend to honor the in between more and more. Letting it be on its own. Because it is what I don't expect, or always give value to, that helps me understand how new form emerges. Eventually.
Loose thoughts. Loose patches. Loose implies free. Free to realign. Alignment implies a kind of useful harmony. Peace. Peace is a temporary state. It wears out. Must be mended. A life's work.
You can't teach creativity.
It's just there. You might simply try to make it more obvious how to find it. Demonstrate the usefulness of thought.
If it's too large to grasp, make it seem smaller. Perspective.
Today is an in between day. Letting thoughts out.
Wednesday is now Robe day.
Saturday is now quilt/Blanket day.
All the other days are like today.
That's about as clear as I will get. I have been listing Hunker Down posts in order in the sidebar under Hunker Down Diaries. Enough of that, the list might go on forever. No matter what they are telling us. If you are following, you are following. I'm tired of organizing. Day by Day it is, till it isn't.
2012, wow, I wonder if I would actually remember how it happened with out this record of days? I find this blogging such a great tool, well, digital recording, and sharing, in general, helps me learn from experience. Because I do not prepare ahead of time, the truth of how things happen is more present. Real. And what can be more powerful than truth. Marketing has a different kind of power which scares me really. The power over others. Instead of... well, getting off subject here.
This is my audio from 2012. And me in an old sheet. Silly me, not knowing what I am doing. Trusting in something.
I always say this...this isn't brain surgery or anything. If you cut something away and don't like it, you can always put it back. We are design mending here. Right? The sewing on a simple rectangle based garment, well it's simple seams, change can be easy. Even the add and take away. Sometimes even in the middle of the making, things might be deconstructed and reconstructed. And worn at any stage. Get to know it.
At this point I decided to call this Wind. It was even making it's own wind when I moved.
Next is cut and maybe shape, then some basic stitch to create the base garment, then look again.
It's just great if you can get someone to take pictures of you in it. Even a video of you moving in it. Great fun. And you can learn by looking. If you are posting pics anywhere other than Instagram (use #ragmates 2020) let me (us) know in the comments. It would be great to see ourselves draped in cloth! If need be, you can send me a photo, I can post some pics here or there if you are not shy. (If you are subscribed by email, there is a link to #ragmates2020 in the top menu bar of the actual blog, you do not have to be an Instagram member to view)
After cutting/sewing and deciding on a shape that suits and feels ok, well then you might think about the front/ neck edging and another layer or layers.
As you can see, I did go with the simple curved cut to make the sleeves. It didn't make too much difference but it bunches differently under the arm and softens the overall shape. I often sew totally by hand, but because of my aching thumb way back then, I used the machine for the long side seams. I don't have a sewing machine anymore. Long sticks are a great way to hang these garments when you are designing, so you can see the whole surface. I remember that the next day after this pic was taken, I went to take care of mom for a few days. Those were tough days, like these. I miss her when I remember this class. A big cloth can hold days.
And it feels funny to see the old house again. My studio.
Next, I will review how I attached a second layer to give this substance.
And there was a bit of Robe Storming last night...
Note to self: I'm amazed I still sound pretty much the same after all these years. Still the same person but so much not as well.
