Spirit Cloth

a new day in novemebr

the day is blindingly bright.

but the earlier sun was much appreciated.

i found this in the dryer.  now free, like a little shooting star, it obviously broke loose from some old stitched thing.

i am rather sure it used to be here.  i love how a bit if good stitching holds onto cloth.  i think i will patch the hole with something else and let the star  be free for a while. i am sure it will come to rest somewhere eventually... like a leaf.

mending can be like honoring a change of season.

 

what if...

So what if What If is just remodeled a bit?  As some of you might have noticed, there has been a password on the What If blog for a while. Some of you have inquired as to what is going on with that.  I have been redesigning it a bit to include some video.  My plan is also to host the Cloth Whispering series from there... because it belongs there I think.  I am actually starting the blog over again to make it more of a teaching tool and  to make it more organized and to integrate it with this Spirit Cloth blog.  So to make a long story short, I am changing things a bit, including my shop situation ( more on that soon)  and access to What if will be restored on September 1st if all goes well.

Here I suppose I was asking what if circles could be square? And that works here. A nine patch of silk dots, mostly tiny remains of Dolce ribbon stitched to a fabulous gifted and altered Fortuny print fragment from Phyllis. These are the smallest dots yet, 1/2", done in peekaboo applique which I will be demonstrating over at What If soon. A little bit of test Whispering. Thank you all for your patience with my never ending seasons....

composite motif

i think this is an embroidered patchwork nine patch magic star on indigo.  a very small one. just a few thoughts coming together. poof.  traditional but not.

becoming untangled

 today is friday.  the sun is out again.  i did a bit of pruning this morning.  to clear a path.  i go see mom on fridays.  we go shopping and have coffee and chat and tell stories old and new.  we check the garden and we laugh.  sometimes, well quite often, mom digs through some old things and uncovers little treasures from the past and shares what she remembers about them.  it is a gathering of many lifetimes. almost a party even though it is just the two of us.
i have been gathering a lot of the tiny things i have collected in my lifetime.  gathering them all in one place so i can allow them to meet and interact.  a little game playing.  some sort of ceremony.  they are small but the keep big dreams.
i have selected a few stories to share with mom today.  she loves to know what is happening with me.

...of course i am usually stitching all the while we are together and i am taking one of the stepping stone pieces today.  a couple of stray bits and pieces have begun to solve this crazy puzzle.  yes!

doodle wednesday- holding magic

.....more thoughts on holding things close. little keepers for tiny magical moments. old sketches, new ideas.

hey honey i shrunk the lions

 and the clouds...

regaining consciousness on a smaller scale.

what if(?) i try spirit cloth, the mini series.

little things

last night i found myself in a mood. it always helps to do something small when you are all jumbled up. to get away from finding the meaning in things and just pick up a thread and needle and do a little something. something to do when  you are  tired of thinking, not in the mood to get drunk, confused about what's next, needing to relax, avoiding cleaning the house or doing the laundry. when a quiet heart has slipped into a deep sleep and you need to let it be. when piecing one inch squares is not doing it for you. i just love how you can pick up a few stray threads and build some order out of them. when on the inside you really feel like this.

.....so now i am smiling imagining a whole nine patch of embroidered houses. silly maybe. but why not? little things like this are just fine for a gloomy saturday in the studio.

a little story in the making

another small chapter was added as i stitched on that holiday eve...that miniature coyote, who has been a long time playing a game with clarity, was finally able to transport the steady rhythm of a peaceful heart to a particularly chaotic and dark corner of time.  this small journey (part of that never ending series) is complete. clarity for mom. christmas 2008.
thank you all for your well wishes on my time out post. i just checked in to share this little story and i  will continue my time out for a little while longer . later.

(if you are new here there is more about where the coyote came from here, here, and here.)

tiny tuesday

......i am turning spring cleaning into a quilt. lots of whites and leftover micro-scraps. lots of clean-up to do so i will sew as i go and have something to show for it. i thought it appropriate to pack up some tiny gifts as well and recycle some of the beauties that are lacking attention... small pieces ranging from 2" square to 5" square. this one has 20 pieces. some sheers, some metallic, some vintage shirtings, a seersucker, a scrap of eyelet...mostly very lightweight cotton with a touch of linen and silk. pick a number from 1-10.

i will apply spring cleaning to my links also, hopefully by the weekend, but for now i added jackie's blog to the newlinks list. i.love her stitching..... one of my favs over at  flickr.

quilting smaller

......so. still in the spirit of getting back.....i have acted on a previous doodle wednesday...the lion block series. and i recycled an indigo ikat gift from acey.

with these blocks i will break my own record for teensy piecing. i don't think i can get any smaller.  these  tiny pieces are the keepers of my  life's purpose and the lions have become my personal symbol for  the journey.